2 years ago
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CNN —
Prominent figures connected societal media, including immoderate of the loudest voices connected the governmental right, are pushing a salacious and mendacious conspiracy mentation astir the onslaught connected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, successful an evident effort to displacement the communicative astir the assault.
The assertion that large names similar Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jr., and Dinesh D’Souza person promoted to millions of their followers: Paul Pelosi and the antheral who attacked him were cheery lovers who had gotten into a fight.
The spurious mentation traces backmost to an incorrect aboriginal quality study and a fistful of pieces of grounds that its proponents person spun wildly retired of context. It runs contrary to the mentation constabulary and national instrumentality enforcement person outlined – that the fishy successful the attack, David DePape, broke into Pelosi’s location and attacked him.
“There is perfectly nary grounds that Mr. Pelosi knew this man,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott told CNN successful an interview. “As a substance of fact, the grounds indicates the nonstop opposite.”
But the detonation of societal media posts discussing the mentation shows however rapidly conspiracies tin spread, and however eagerly immoderate governmental actors usage falsehoods to propulsion their agendas – adjacent arsenic convulsive threats against lawmakers person multiplied successful caller years.
A conspiracy linked to Nancy Pelosi, who has agelong been a lightning rod for conservatives and played a starring relation successful GOP onslaught ads, was an particularly appealing people for right-wing conspiracists, according to Cynthia Miller-Idriss, an American University prof who studies polarization and extremism.
“We person a colonisation that is incapable to discern what is existent and what’s not, and this spreading of misinformation from credible sources undermines that,” Miller-Idriss said. “People are consenting to judge conspiracy theories erstwhile they reenforce the communicative they already clasp successful their head.”
According to constabulary and an FBI affidavit included successful the national transgression complaint, DePape broke into a solid doorway successful Pelosi’s San Francisco location aboriginal Friday morning, and past went to the chamber to face Pelosi, saying helium wanted to speech to his wife. Pelosi managed to telephone 911, and officers arriving connected the country witnessed DePape deed him with a hammer.
Those pushing the “gay lover” mentation person pointed to a fistful of purported pieces of grounds based connected falsehoods and twisted storylines. They accidental that DePape was successful his underwear erstwhile constabulary arrived astatine the country – but the section TV presumption that primitively reported that has since corrected its communicative and removed the assertion. Others person suggested that a 3rd idiosyncratic opened the doorway to Pelosi’s house, but constabulary person debunked that.
Many of the theorists person latched connected to a signaling of a 911 dispatcher saying that Pelosi referred to DePape arsenic “a friend” and “sounded somewhat confused.”
But Pelosi seemed to beryllium speaking successful coded connection connected the 911 telephone to marque wide helium needed help, a instrumentality enforcement root antecedently told CNN. And the ailment notes that Pelosi told officers helium had ne'er seen DePape before.
The ailment besides included an interrogation constabulary did with DePape successful which helium admitted breaking into the location and said helium amazed Pelosi. According to the complaint, DePape said that wanted to clasp Nancy Pelosi hostage due to the fact that helium viewed her arsenic the “‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party,” and claimed helium was “fighting against tyranny without the enactment of surrender.”
Scott, the San Francisco chief, called the conspiracies surrounding the onslaught “pathetic” and “disturbing.”
“We’ve spent a batch of vigor conscionable pushing back, truly ridiculous conspiracy theories, to marque definite radical enactment focused connected our team,” helium said. “These things are harmful to society, they’re harmful to the victims progressive – it’s truly bittersweet that we are present successful this place, but we are.”
Despite the deficiency of evidence, it took little than 24 hours aft the onslaught for the “gay lover” mentation to instrumentality basal successful right-wing societal media circles.
There person been astatine slightest 19,000 tweets mentioning the words “Pelosi” and “gay” since the time of the attack, garnering a full of much than 700,000 likes, according to a CNN investigation – and that doesn’t see tweets referencing the mentation without those words, oregon tweets that person since been deleted.
One of the archetypal wide shared tweets endorsing the mentation appears to person travel astatine 11:36 a.m. connected Friday, the time of the attack, gaining much than 2,700 retweets.
That evening, Raheem Kassam, a erstwhile Breitbart writer and co-host of Steve Bannon’s podcast, tweeted, “They’re inactive pretending it wasn’t Paul Pelosi’s cheery lover,” earning implicit 1,000 retweets.
Other blimpish figures similar Donald Trump, Jr., Sebastian Gorka, and Dinesh D’Souza followed suit implicit the adjacent fewer days, either explicitly endorsing the mentation oregon referencing it approvingly. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana GOP congressman who sits connected the House Homeland Security Committee, tweeted a photograph of Nancy Pelosi and referred to DePape arsenic a “male prostitute,” earlier deleting his tweet.
Musk helped elevate the conspiracy to a overmuch wider audience. On Sunday morning, the billionaire, who conscionable completed his acquisition of the societal media network, responded to a tweet astir the Pelosi onslaught from Hillary Clinton and wrote “there is simply a tiny anticipation determination mightiness beryllium much to this communicative than meets the eye.” He linked to an nonfiction successful the Santa Monica Observer, an obscure website, claiming DePape was a antheral prostitute and Pelosi had been successful a drunken quality with him. The website has antecedently posted mendacious news, specified arsenic a assertion during the 2016 predetermination that Clinton had died and been replaced with a assemblage treble for a debate.
Musk deleted the tweet astir 2 p.m. aboriginal that time – but by then, it had already racked up much than 28,000 retweets and 100,000 likes.
Conservative figures gleefully praised Musk for sharing the post. “.@ElonMusk conscionable posted a nexus that says Paul Pelosi whitethorn person been drunk and with a cheery prostitute,” tweeted Lavern Spicer, a erstwhile GOP legislature candidate. “I person ne'er respected him much than now.” Her connection was retweeted much than 11,000 times.
Gene DePape, the alleged attacker’s stepfather, said it was dismaying to spot his stepson turned into a quality successful a conspiracy mentation and utilized arsenic a governmental talking point. He told CNN helium scrolled done his Facebook quality provender for hours implicit the weekend, wherever helium archetypal saw the posts claiming his estranged stepson had been lovers with Pelosi.
“It’s beauteous sick,” helium said.
David DePape’s ain societal media and blog postings amusement that helium himself was steeped successful conspiracy theories successful the months and years earlier the onslaught – from musings astir QAnon to antisemitic rants to claims of a looming takeover by the planetary elite.
DePape’s posts connected Facebook from past twelvemonth endorse a litany of right-wing falsehoods. He posted aggregate videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 predetermination was stolen, linked to websites claiming Covid vaccines were deadly, and shared videos questioning the January 6, 2021attack. CNN reviewed the posts earlier the societal media institution took the leafage down, and respective of DePape’s relatives confirmed the leafage belonged to him.
On different blogs seemingly written by DePape, helium besides posted antisemitic screeds and endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Some conservatives’ clasp of the “gay lover” mentation has muddied the waters of a communicative that had led to bipartisan condemnation and sympathy for Pelosi – and distracted from treatment of however different right-wing conspiracies could person inspired violence.
Miller-Idriss, the American University professor, said that salient figures carelessly spreading misinformation tin pb to wider impacts connected society.
“It’s unsafe due to the fact that it undermines peoples’ consciousness of truth, it helps them further divorcement from reality,” she said. “It is simply a concern wherever they dispersed it further – and they walk it on.”
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