Liberals across the country have charged that right-wing rhetoric was to blame for the brutal attack against Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi’s husband last month. Since 2020, however, there have been at least seven instances where Democratic elected officials were slammed for spreading violent rhetoric.
“We don’t settle our differences in America with a riot, a mob, or a bullet, or a hammer. We settle them peacefully at … the ballot box,” President Biden told the nation on Thursday, alluding to the attack on Paul Pelosi.
Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home last month by a man with a hammer and left with a skull fracture. The man, an illegal immigrant from Canada named David DePape, allegedly broke into the Pelosi household in San Francisco through a glass door and was on a “suicide mission” to “kneecap” the House Speaker, according to court filings.
The attack set off a firestorm of condemnation from some in the media and liberals that right-wing rhetoric was to blame.
“The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow,” Hillary Clinton, for example, tweeted after the Pelosi attack.
Democrats, however, are not free of making comments that were accused of calling for violence, according to a review conducted by Fox News Digital examining 2020 to current day.
“I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said in 2020 during a pro-choice rally hosted by the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The remark was slammed by conservatives across the country, and even spurred a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who called the comment “dangerous.”
Earlier this year, after the Supreme Court effectively ended the recognition of abortion as a constitutional right, an armed man carrying a gun, knife and pepper spray was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home. The man was charged with attempted murder of a federal judge.
In September, Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono came under fire for saying Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill proposal to restrict abortions after 15 weeks was “literally” a “call to arms” to go up against the pro-life movement.
The remark was made on the Senate floor and was hit with condemnation in light of how dozens of pro-life centers were vandalized, set on fire and damaged in other ways over the summer in response to the Supreme Court voting to strike down Roe v. Wade.
California Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs also made controversial comments this summer following the Supreme Court’s opinion on abortion. While attending a protest, Jacobs did not condemn nor condone acts of violence against the pro-life movement, saying people should do what they think is necessary to protest the abortion ruling.
“Frankly, the government trying to tell me what to do with my body feels like an act of violence in and of itself,” Jacobs said in June.
“I think people should do what they think is the most effective way to stand up to this hateful and shameful decision,” she said when asked if she condoned the violence.
After the protests and riots of 2020, California Rep. Maxine Waters called on those gathered in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, in 2021 to “stay on the street” and “get more confrontational” if former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was acquitted of killing George Floyd.
“We’ve got to stay in the street and demand justice,” Waters said.
“We got to stay on the street. And we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business,” she added.
On the day the court struck down Roe v. Wade, California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier appeared on MSNBC and called on abortion supporters to “armor up.”
“There is a war out there and we need to recognize that we’ve got to armor up,” Speier said, which was supported by fellow guest on the network, Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
“That’s right, this is not a drill,” Pressley responded.
In August 2020, as riots plagued cities such as Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis following the killing of Floyd, Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley called for “unrest in the streets.”
“This is as much about public outcry, organizing and mobilizing and applying pressures so that this GOP-led Senate and these governors that continue to carry water for this administration, putting American people in harm’s way, turning a deaf ear to the needs of our families and our communities – hold them accountable,” Pressley said on MSNBC’s “AM Joy.”
“Make the phone calls, send the emails, show up,” she continued. “You know, there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives.”
Similarly, Vice President Kamala Harris came under fire ahead of the 2020 election, and before she was named Biden’s running mate, for saying “everyone beware,” protesters following the killing of Floyd are “not going to stop.”
“They’re not going to stop,” Harris said on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in June that year. “This is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not going to stop and everyone beware, because they’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop before Election Day in November and they’re not going to stop after Election Day. Everyone should take note of that on both levels. They’re not going to let up and they should not and we should not.”
FLASHBACK: KAMALA HARRIS SAID NATIONWIDE PROTESTS ARE ‘NOT GOING TO STOP’
Harris, who had also promoted the far-left Minnesota Freedom Fund which worked to bail people out of jail amid the riots in 2020, was lambasted for the remark as condoning violence, though she used the word “protests” and not “riots.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, and the offices of Waters, Pressley, Schumer, Hirono, Jacobs and Speier, but did not receive responses.
In September, Biden doubled down on rhetoric that “MAGA Republicans” threaten democracy, and pointed to instances such as the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Republican efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol has largely been condemned by Republicans, including by Trump who called the incident a “heinous attack.”
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Biden said on Sept. 1 during a speech in Philadelphia. “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of the law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election.”
“They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country,” Biden said of supporters of the MAGA agenda in his speech.
Since Biden’s speech in Philadelphia, however, a handful of Republicans and pro-life organizations were attacked, a previous Fox News Digital review found.
An elderly woman in her 80s was shot in Michigan as she canvassed in support of a right-to-life group in October. Two volunteers on Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s re-election campaign were reportedly assaulted while knocking on doors in a Houston suburb in September, and a canvasser for Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign was attacked and required hospital attention last month.
A handful of GOP offices were also reportedly vandalized this election cycle, including one in Florida that was graffitied with the phrase “eat s*** fascists” days after Biden called MAGA Republicans “semi-fascists.”
Democratic campaign offices have also been targeted, including one in Florida that was also vandalized with the word “Nazi” written in graffiti.
In September, teenager Cayler Ellingson was fatally mowed down by a man who believed Ellingson was part of a Republican “extremist” group that was targeting him. North Dakota law enforcement later said there was no evidence Ellingson was a member of such “extremist group.”
“President Biden condemns these attacks and has been clear that violence, threats of violence and vandalism are absolutely unacceptable – regardless of who is committing such acts or why,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital in October of the attacks.
“Like he said in Philadelphia, ‘There is no place for political violence in America. Period. None. Ever.’ The president believes that leaders in both parties should uphold that same principle, including when violence and threats are targeted against women seeking health care, members of law enforcement like the Capitol Police and the FBI, or the previous vice president,” Bates added.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this article.