Regretful Republican Strategist Sounds the Alarm on Political Violence: ‘We Have Original Sin’

A longtime Republican strategist said people like him “have original sin” in the wake of the attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.

Paul Pelosi was hit in the head with a hammer by an intruder in the San Francisco home he shares with his wife. According to an FBI affidavit, the suspect told police he wanted to maim the speaker because of “lies told by the Democratic Party.”

The speaker’s husband has been hospitalized with a fractured skull.

Appearing on Tuesday’s Alex Wagner Tonight, former Republican National Committee Communications Director Doug Heye said he bears some responsibility for helping foster the current political climate.

Alex Wagner noted that Nancy Pelosi has long been a favorite punching bag of Republicans. She asked Heye if he agrees with David Axelrod’s assessment that it’s because she’s a “wealthy San Francisco liberal woman.”

“Do you think that that mattered in all of this?” Wagner asked.

“I think some of it does,” Heye replied. “It’s been a time-honored tradition for Republicans to use San Francisco and New York City where you are, Washington of course, where I am, as shorthand for coastal elites and things like that.”

Heye then recounted a RNC meeting he participated in on the day Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot and wounded in 2011:

The call, as I remember it, was one of really somber tones, making sure that the statements we put out, whether it was from Republican National Committee or from John Boehner’s office – he being now the new speaker of the House that point – that we set the right tone and say the right things. And this is also the really important part: that we make it clear… to our members, members of the House Republican conference or… the 168 members of the Republican National Committee to not say anything inflammatory, to frankly not say anything stupid.

Heye then contrasted that with some Republicans’ response to the Pelosi attack:

It’s a punchline for some Republicans or some of the so-called conservative pundits who dabble in selling vitamin supplements on TV. And the My Pillow-ization of the Republican Party and so forth. That’s unfortunate and that’s why I hope more Republicans will speak up.

He cited an op-ed he wrote for the Washington Post, where he explained he spearheaded the “Fire Pelosi” campaign ahead of the 2010 midterm elections when Republicans retook the House.

“As I said in the piece, I think we have original sin here,” Heye continued. “Part of that is our language towards Barack Obama, Michelle Obama for that matter as well, and the questioning of citizenship and religion, and so forth. And then also, obviously, with Donald Trump in what alternately culminated in Jan. 6. I think Republicans should be more mindful of that.”

He later added, “I’m scared of what’s going to happen next.”

Watch above via MSNBC

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