On Monday afternoon, criminal charges were filed against the man accused of assaulting Nancy Pelosi’s husband late last week. The filing included interviews with the assailant, David DePape, and it reveals disturbing details about what happened, and what could have happened. DePape said he had targeted Nancy Pelosi because she was “ ‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party,” and he had wanted to break the House speaker’s kneecaps to put her in a wheelchair to leave a visible reminder to “other Members of Congress that there were consequences to actions.” Even when DePape realized that police would be coming, he did not leave, he said, “because, much like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender.”
DePape’s testimony shed light on his broader intentions. But it also did something else: It refuted several currently circulating conspiracy theories about the events of that night.
Often in the aftermath of a major crime, false information takes hold as people are trying to figure out what exactly happened, and why. Sometimes this isn’t malicious—but sometimes it is. And in the case of Paul Pelosi’s violent assault, we may have seen some of the most productive and effective work by trolls and conspiracy theorists taking advantage of that moment yet.
These bad actors did not wait to jump into action. When very little was known, right-wing social media users jumped to either downplay or redirect attention given to the event. The conspiracy theories spiraled from there.
First, there was the speculation that this was a “false flag” operation—a false flag being the notion, frequently floated after right-wing violence, that the attack was a hoax or was perpetrated by Democrats to shore up support for their party by slandering the right, just before the midterm elections. One version posited that antifa had been behind the attack; another that Nancy Pelosi, furious over the damage her husband had inflicted on her public image, was behind it; and still another that the Pelosis had faked the whole thing. Over the weekend, the hashtags #PaulPelosiSmollet and #PelosiSmollett, referencing the false hate crime claims the actor Jussie Smollett made in 2019, trended on Twitter.
The right-wing pundit Dinesh D’Souza at one point attempted to go this route, amplifying a Gateway Pundit article that claimed “two far-right websites attributed to David DePape to smear conservatives were FABRICATED.” (This was false: The websites had just been taken down after DePape’s name was published in association with the assault.)
Then, there was the denial that DePape was genuinely right-wing. Despite the ample amount of evidence that the alleged assailant was radicalized in digital right-wing spaces and despite his online misogynistic, antisemitic, racist, transphobic, pro-Trump, and QAnon writing, many tried to—and have continued to—claim that DePape is a mentally ill leftist. That claim is based mostly in his long-past affiliation with the Green Party—a party he clearly has not identified with in years—and his participation in a nudist wedding and work making hemp jewelry—also activities from years ago (that would not conflict with right-wing politics anyway).
“Wrapped up in their obsession with MAGA Republicans, journalists have missed the real story. David DePape is not a microcosm of the political psychosis gripping America in general,” tweeted Michael Shellenberger in a widely shared Substack post. “Rather, he’s a microcosm of the drug-induced psychosis gripping the West Coast in particular … I am the first reporter to get to the bottom of the story, which has far more to do with drugs, homelessness, and pedophilia than QAnon, anti-Semitism, and January 6.”
But inevitably, one main narrative emerges from the swirl of conspiracy theories. The winner, in this case, took hold because of some initial bad reports, along with a boost from the wealthiest person on the internet: The claim was that Pelosi and DePape were lovers, and the assault was the result of a lovers’ quarrel. As an added bonus to tie in Pelosi’s previous DUI, there were claims that the speaker’s husband was also drunk at the time.
There are a few components that contributed to the theory: There were initial reports that the assailant was wearing only underwear when he attacked. (Alternatively, there were reports that Pelosi was barely clothed, but that would make sense for being asleep in his home in the middle of the night.) Another initial false report also indicated that Pelosi knew his assailant. (This seems to come from the 911 recording, in which Pelosi spoke cryptically to try to avoid alerting DePape that he was also communicating with authorities.) And there seemed to be some confused report over who opened the door, causing some to think that Pelosi was close with DePape, or that there was a third person present.
The conspiracy theorists bolstered their ideas by trying to pick apart what they saw as inconsistencies with the story. (This always happens with conspiracy theories; there are almost always very mundane explanations.) They wondered, for example, how they could not have had better security, or how he had been able to dial 911 after being hit on the head. (Nancy Pelosi has federal protection but Paul does not; Paul was hit after he called 911.)
The theory really took off when Elon Musk, deploying the ever-dangerous “just asking questions” approach, replied to Hillary Clinton in a tweet with a link to an article from a conspiracy theorist publication that, ironically, once claimed that Clinton was dead. He took down the tweet later, but did not publicly apologize. Hashtags such as #Pelosigaylover took over Twitter, the company Musk just bought.
Glee came next. Donald Trump Jr. spread some of the crudest jokes, including a suggestion for a Halloween costume that involved a pair of underwear and a hammer, as well as a since-deleted Instagram post with an altered frame from a South Park comic depicting two men having sex, implying that they were Pelosi and DePape. Wendy Rogers shared a dubious Amazon listing for a “Paul Pelosi Fake Attack Novelty Item Headpiece.” Rep. Clay Higgins, in a since deleted tweet, joked about “that moment you realize the nudist hippie male prostitute LSD guy was the reason your husband didn’t make it to your fundraiser.” Some of the jokes verged on the pornographic.
There were the more worrying posts, such as one from the right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk, who called for “some amazing patriot out there” to post bail for Pelosi’s assailant and “go ask him some questions.”
Some major politicians went the “just asking questions” route, too, including Ted Cruz. Another set either remained silent or otherwise downplayed the attack. Former President Donald Trump has not said anything about it. Others simply told people to calm down. One popular option was saying it could happen to anyone instead of treating it as politically motivated violence: As the Washington Post pointed out, Sen. Rick Scott, Rep. Tom Emmer, and RNC chair Ronna McDaniel all chose this one. Meanwhile, in maybe the strangest response, Marjorie Taylor Greene said the violence was related to “Twitter’s blue check mark insane left’s crazy conspiracy theories & lies about me.”
Maybe these people will update their statements now that more information is available. But don’t count on it.
