Nicole Narea in Vox:
Friday’s brutal attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, at their San Francisco home was overtly political — and a logical endpoint to the decades deeply personal villainization House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has weathered from her political opponents.
It’s now clear the speaker was the target of Friday’s attack. The assailant broke into the home looking for her, reportedly shouting, “Where is Nancy?” — echoing the chant insurrectionists called out when they breached the US Capitol on January 6 — and saying that he would wait “until Nancy got home” as he tried to tie up Paul Pelosi. The speaker’s husband suffered a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands that required surgery after the assailant bludgeoned him with a hammer. (A spokesperson for the speaker said in a statement that Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery.)
Even before she became speaker, Republicans in the party, and those adjacent to it, have demonized Pelosi regularly featuring her in attack ads and lambasting her on Fox News. At least one of her colleagues in the House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), has directly indicated support for violence against her. And members of right wing militia groups such as the Oathkeepers and the Three Percenters have sought her assassination.
More here.