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As we go into the weekend, a few updates on the overnight attack at the Pelosi home in San Francisco.
Paul Pelosi remains hospitalized after undergoing surgery. Various press reports refer to the surgery as “brain surgery.” That may not be precisely accurate. The San Francisco Chronicle refers to the surgery as “repair[ing] a skull fracture.” I’m of course no expert on any of this. But that at least sounds like repairing the structure of the skull at a fracture point rather than addressing some sort of brain trauma or a brain bleed. It will likely take a day or more to get a precise account of the injuries. Regardless, the injuries were clearly very serious.
The alleged assailant is 42-year-old David DePape, a resident of Berkeley. DePape had some distant counterculture background which the online right at first seized on. His recent social media was littered with the whole panoply of far-right conspiracy theories, QAnon memes, antisemitic rants, Big Lie activism. The whole thing. So he’s that guy, another person radicalized by the incitement that is the mother’s milk of current Republican politics.
Various commentators have speculated about what could have happened if Nancy Pelosi had been at home. Accounts say DePape was trying to tie up Paul Pelosi and wait for Nancy to come home. This counterfactual probably doesn’t hold up. Likely DePape would have been stopped much sooner. Press accounts suggest that when Pelosi is home there is substantial security around her home provided by her protective detail. There was much less or none when she was not. This may seem strange. But unlike with a President’s family there is not mandated protection for the family members of congressional leaders.
DePape is being charged with a long list of crimes including attempted murder.
