Do the names "Preston Brooks" and "Charles Sumner" ring a bell? It was 166 years, 5 months, and 9 days ago today....The attempted kidnapping of Nancy Pelosi and attack on Paul Pelosi mark a turning point in American political discourse.
— Philip Germain (@Philip_Germain) October 31, 2022
Here's why:
We are witnessing the GOP not only refuse to widely condemn this attack, we are watching them mock and joke about it. They are normalizing it.
The day after the attack, the House passed a resolution to establish a select committee to investigate the incident, and Speaker Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts appointed five Members to look into the matter. The sworn testimony of Senator Albert Brown of Mississippi, whom Brooks spoke with shortly after the incident, describes Brooks’s justification for the attack: “Regarding the speech (of Mr. Sumner) as an attrocious [sic] libel on South Carolina, and a gross insult to my absent relative (Judge Butler), I determined, when it was delivered, to punish him for it.” The select committee recommended expelling Brooks from Congress, but the resolution did not secure the necessary two-thirds vote when it reached the House Floor. On July 15, 1856, Brooks resigned in protest, but was quickly returned to the seat he vacated by a special election held just one month later.
I doubt they'd get the 2/3rds vote to remove MTG if she did something similar (she won't. EOD.), but Brooks had less justification, seemingly, than DePape did.
Except DePape is just a bull goose looney and, along with Ye and Herschel Walker, walking indictments of our mental health care system, or complete lack thereof.
/2 Also kind of reminded that we're great at blowing shit up and making various inappropriate devices run Doom and making self-immolating cars but not so great at the whole what-the-fuck-is-our-brain-doing thing. At least comparatively.
— RiggedAndStollenHat (@Popehat) October 31, 2022
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