Violence hits U.S. politicians

by Roberto Morejon

The brutal aggression against Paul Pelosi, husband of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, sends a startling signal of the extent of violence in that country, also exercised against politicians.

The well-known and wealthy stock market operator Paul Pelosi was not attacked by a common thief, but by a citizen in desperate search of Nancy Pelosi, who was not at home in the city of San Francisco.

Nancy Pelosi is one of the most powerful politicians in the North American country and was reelected for a fourth term as head of the House of Representatives, placing her second in line of succession after the nation's vice-president, Kamala Harris.  

The assailant, identified as David Depage, was apprehended and according to the initial inquiries would have had political motivations, since he spread conspiracy hypotheses on social networks about the vaccines and the setback of former President Donald Trump in the 2020 elections due to alleged fraudulent maneuvers.

It was the real estate tycoon's ploy used to turn the vote in his favor and to carry out a coup adventure, unbecoming of a democracy described as a model by the powers that be in the United States.

Trump's insubordination reached its peak when his followers, never restrained by him, entered the Capitol, the seat of Congress, like enraged hordes, at the cost of five deaths, at the moment when the victory of Democrat Joseph Biden was to be ratified in the hemicycle.

Although more than 400 people face criminal charges for the violent intrusion, many Trump supporters frantically repeat that it was a robbery.  

Not coincidentally, the Capitol Police accounted for an increase in threats to congressmen since Trump's setback, rising from more than 3,900 in 2017 to a number exceeding 9,600 in 2021.

Sources claim that this body considers additional protection for legislators' families, especially when Senate leader Mitch McConnell has also been the target of vandalism.

He is not the only one, though. Ilhan Omar, the first African-born woman of Muslim faith to win a seat in the House of Representatives, claims to have received death threats.  

Thus, in a highly polarized society with high levels of violence, especially against minorities, threats to congressmen are beginning to generate alarm, at a crucial moment, due to the proximity of an electoral race.