Analysis | Assault of Paul Pelosi was attack on democracy. The risks keep growing.

The backdrop of today’s politics includes a climate of possible violence, with rising numbers of threats aimed at individual lawmakers. It includes threats to local officials and citizen volunteers who administer elections. It includes intimidation of individual voters depositing ballots at drop boxes in Arizona.

All this comes amid declining trust in the integrity of the election process itself, the reluctance of some candidates to expressly say they will accept the outcome of their elections and the possibility that many 2020 election deniers will be elected to important offices this year, potentially putting at risk future elections. A majority of Republicans on the ballot for Senate, House and key statewide races have denied or questioned the 2020 presidential election, echoing former president Donald Trump’s unfounded claims. It all adds up to what has been stated repeatedly for the past two years: democracy itself is at risk in this country.

Politically inspired violence has been aimed at leaders from both parties. This past week, three men were convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). Earlier this year, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, a member of the Supreme Court’s conservative bloc, came under threat and a man with a gun was arrested near his home. In 2017, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was badly wounded by a shooter who opened fire at Scalise and his GOP colleagues at a baseball field in Northern Virginia.

In the Scalise attack, it was later revealed that the shooter had a hatred of Republicans. But the more consistent threats have and are coming from the right, from White supremacists and other groups, those who helped organize the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Trump’s ongoing and baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen have spawned a sea of election deniers, some of whom could become elected officials who will oversee future elections — a noxious mix at a perilous time for the country.

The intruder who attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer reportedly said, “Where is Nancy?” when he was inside the couple’s San Francisco home. When and where was that first heard? Few will forget that it was chanted by rioters who were marauding through the Capitol attempting to disrupt, delay and possibly overturn Joe Biden’s victory over Trump.

Pelosi’s staff was in hiding that day, terrified. She was rushed to safety by security. On Friday, her husband — lacking security by Capitol Police when the speaker is not at their home — could not hide from his intruder. The chants about “Where is Nancy?” were frightening on Jan. 6; they must have been chilling for Paul Pelosi in the middle of the night. After the attack, he was taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery for a fractured skull and injuries to his arm and hands.

Is there an American politician, other than Hillary Clinton, who has been demonized so much and for so long as Pelosi? She was the focus of a costly and relentless Republican campaign during the 2010 election, four years after she first became speaker. In every campaign since, Republicans have singled her out for criticism. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on political ads this year in which she is named. The ads include photographs showing her in the worst possible ways.

Was it any surprise that the rioters who invaded the Capitol were talking about her the way they did? There is no way to know what impact all that had on the man who attacked her husband early Friday morning, but the long process of demonization is also dehumanizing, with obvious possible consequences.

The attack on Paul Pelosi was widely condemned by elected officials across the political spectrum, just as Democrats joined Republicans in condemning the attack on Scalise five years ago. That is the necessary and easy response. But some Republicans put an addendum on their comments, unable to stay on the high road.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) was campaigning for GOP congressional candidate Yelsi Vega in the hours after the first reports about the attack on Paul Pelosi. “There’s no room for violence anywhere,” he said, “but we’re going to send her [Nancy Pelosi] back to California to be with him.” This from a Republican held up by many in his party as an antidote to the vile and degrading politics practiced by Trump.

The demonization of Pelosi is the example of how the practice of politics seeks to destroy individuals. The same is happening to the system of democracy. The more Trump and others baselessly claim the 2020 election was stolen, the more his believers adopt a similar attitude and the more the foundations of democracy are weakened.

The electoral process depends on the collective good will and confidence of the American people. Trump traffics in conspiracy theories and lies. The more he does, the more his followers take it as gospel. Confidence in the electoral process has declined among Republicans since the last election. Does that raise the possibility of violence? Jan. 6, 2021, provides one data big data point.

The problem exists in many forms, some now ingrained. The vernacular of political campaigns today is almost entirely negative. Read the press releases from the national political committees of the two parties or individual candidates’ reactions after a debate or after primary campaigns that select general election candidates. Opponents are routinely described as radical, extreme, dangerous, liars. Appeals for funds are couched in dire and often dishonest language. It’s now the routine, a template of negativity.

Apocalyptic rhetoric courses through the system; it’s a mentality of we-must-win-or-the-country-will-be-lost. This amped up rhetoric is reflective of the nature of politics today, the need to supersize everything to grab the attention of voters focused on their work and their families and their friends.

The news media also contributes. Politics as combat is the routine metaphor. Debates described as boxing matches are the norm: “It’s fight night!” Politicians are “targeted” by their opponents. These seem like small things, and all of us who write about politics have succumbed. But to many citizens, this kind of language contributes to the degradation of democracy.

But there is the issue of proportionality and no doubt that the single biggest contributor to the declining confidence in the electoral system and the related threat to democratic processes is Trump and those who spread his lies. The 2020 election was securely run and fairly counted, no matter how often Trump and his acolytes — elected officials, candidates and ordinary citizens — spout the opposite. No credible evidence was presented to support Trump claims of widespread fraud.

The fact that so many Republicans still accept his version of events, however, heightens the possibility that this election will face challenges from disgruntled losers or claims of irregularities by overzealous citizens. It can happen as state leaders complete the certification process or it can happen with baseless challenges at a local precinct. It can happen this year and it could certainly happen after the 2024 election.

As shocking as the attack on Paul Pelosi was, there is a danger that it could happen again. As repulsive as Trump’s claims of a stolen election were and are, there is a danger that this too could happen again. The balance of power in Washington could shift with the results if this year’s elections. The responsibility for safeguarding democracy — and elected officials — should belong to no party.