Youngkin Apologized for Joking About Pelosi’s Assault. Other Republicans Should Do the Same.

The Virginia governor seems to be the first Republican to openly apologize for their cruelty.

Cliff Owen/ Associated Press

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, in a rare show of contrition in an increasingly shameless Republican Party, has decided to apologize. The Virginia governor sent a handwritten letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after cracking a joke about the brutal assault against her husband. According to her spokesperson, the top Democrat accepted Youngkin’s apology. 

In a statement to the Huffington Post, Youngkin confirmed the letter, admitting that he had messed up with his remarks: 

“My full intention on my comments was to categorically state that violence and the kind of violence that was perpetrated against Speaker Pelosi’s husband is not just unacceptable, it’s atrocious. And I didn’t do a great job with that. And so listen, it was a personal note and it was one between me and the speaker, just to reflect those sentiments.”

Last month, a far-right extremist, identified as David DePape, broke into Pelosi’s San Francisco home with plans to kidnap the House Speaker. From there, DePape, who had been carrying zip ties and rope at the time, violently attacked the 82-year-old husband of Pelosi, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, fracturing his skull and causing serious injuries to his hands. Before attacking her husband, DePape allegedly shouted, “Where’s Nancy?”

Just hours later, Youngkin told a crowd at a rally for Republican House candidate Yesli Vega: “Speaker Pelosi’s husband, they had a break-in last night in their house, he was assaulted. There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re going to send her back to be with him in California. That’s what we’re going to go do.”

The crass comment was among several by Republicans to make light of the shocking assault against Pelosi’s husband.

So far, Youngkin appears to be the only one to openly apologize for such cruel behavior.  There’s been no apology from Donald Trump Jr. for retweeting memes about the attack. It’s nothing but crickets from Elon Musk for promoting baseless conspiracy theories. And we’ve heard nothing from former president Donald Trump, who two days after the assault, called Pelosi “an animal” during a rally for GOP senator J.D. Vance, effectively reinforcing the target already placed on Pelosi’s back. My colleague, Mark Follman, said it best: 

It’s not just that Trump brazenly continues to put a target on the House speaker personally, even after she was just targeted in an assassination plot and her husband nearly was murdered. The ex-president’s language on Monday night is further disturbing in a specific regard: By dehumanizing Pelosi, Trump is boosting the likelihood that a random extremist supporter will be moved to commit an act of violence in response. 

Maybe we’ll see some more decency in the days ahead. But judging by the actions of people like Rep. Andy Biggs, who made this especially obscene joke Tuesday night, it doesn’t seem likely. 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate