Pelosi says that her husband’s attack shows that the US political climate is full of “fear”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that an assault on her husband exemplified the “anxiety” felt by poll workers and other Americans in the tense political atmosphere before the midterm elections next week.

The remarks were made one day after her husband, Paul, was discharged from the hospital after an incident in which a guy entered into the couple’s California house and struck him with a hammer.

The suspected attacker, 42-year-old David DePape, reportedly wanted to bind and shatter Pelosi’s kneecaps, but only discovered her 82-year-old husband.

Pelosi stated in a video broadcast to her Facebook page, “That has pushed home to me the dread that some people have about what’s out there, coming at poll workers and the like.”

“The message is unambiguous; there is cause for alarm. But we cannot be timid; we must be brave “Pelosi stated.

Conspiracy theories spawned by the 2020 election are contributing to the harassment of poll workers around the United States, while unrestrained misinformation and corrosive political animosity raise fears about the possibility of election-related violence.

In a speech this week, US President Joe Biden compared the assault on Nancy Pelosi to the political assault launched by ex-president Donald Trump’s supporters on Congress on January 6, 2021, describing violence as “the road to instability in America.”

Pelosi said in her video that “it will be a hard journey,” but that her husband “will be well.”

Pelosi said, “There is no doubt that our democracy is on the ballot” in reference to Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which polls indicate Republicans are prepared for major landslides.