Republicans "fed a misinformation loop" after the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked by someone who believed far-right conspiracy theories in San Francisco.
"Within hours of the brutal attack last month on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, activists and media outlets on the right began circulating groundless claims — nearly all of them sinister, and many homophobic — casting doubt on what had happened," The New York Times reported Saturday. "Some Republican officials quickly joined in, rushing to suggest that the bludgeoning of an octogenarian by a suspect obsessed with right-wing conspiracy theories was something else altogether, dismissing it as an inside job, a lover’s quarrel or worse. The misinformation came from all levels of Republican politics."
The newspaper listed 21 elected officials, candidates and "other prominent figures who spread misinformation or cast doubt on the attack.
The list of politicians includes Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers, and Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini.
The list of other prominent figures includes Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, conspiracy theorist Dinesh D'Souza, Elon Musk, Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes, dirty trickster Roger Stone, and former President Donald Trump.
"The flood of falsehoods showed how ingrained misinformation has become inside the G.O.P., where the reflexive response of the rank and file — and even a few prominent figures — to anything that might cast a negative light on the right is to deflect with more fictional claims, creating a vicious cycle that muddies facts, shifts blame and minimizes violence," The Times reported. "It happened after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which was inspired by Mr. Trump’s lie of a stolen election, and in turn gave rise to more falsehoods, as Republicans and their right-wing allies tried to play down, deny or invent a different story for what happened, including groundlessly blaming the F.B.I. and antifa. Mr. Pelosi’s attacker is said to have believed some of those tales."
Prosecutors charged David Depape for the attack.
"The San Francisco district attorney said it was imperative for prosecutors to present the facts to the public, given the misinformation circulating widely about the case," the newspaper noted. "But by then, it was far too late. In a pattern that has become commonplace, a parade of Republicans — helped along by right-wing media personalities including the Fox New host Tucker Carlson, and prominent people including the newly installed Twitter owner Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man — had already abetted the viral spread of lies about the attack, distorting the account of what happened before facts could get in the way. Finding life on far-right websites and the so-called dark web, conspiracy theories and falsehoods leaped from the fringes to the mainstream."
Disinformation is likely to be a focus of the prosecution of Depape.
"According to federal charging documents, Mr. DePape was enthralled by the conspiracy theories that have portrayed Ms. Pelosi as an enemy of the country. His online activities show him ranting about the 2020 election being stolen, seeming to deny the gassing of Jews at Auschwitz and claiming that schoolteachers were grooming children to be transgender," The Times reported. "His attorney has said he planned to argue that Mr. DePape was so influenced by disinformation that it should be considered a mitigating circumstance."
Read the full report.
