Rep. Lee Zeldin (R.N.Y.) was attacked while he delivered a speech to supporters on Thursday, as he was on the Perinton Campaign Trail in New York, outside a VFW posting.
Video footage showed Zeldin’s alleged attacker, David G. Jakubonis (43), walking towards him while Zeldin was still on stage, and then reaching for Zeldin. Some unconfirmed media reports describedJakubonis was seen to have some kind of brass knuckles before being wrestled down by Joe Chenelly (a candidate for the NY State Assembly).
Ironically, Zeldin was attacked just after he’d talked about how people were leaving New York for states down south because they wanted to feel safer than they did in New York, which has seen a steep rise in violent crime – some of which has come from repeat offenders – thanks in part to Democrat-led bail reform legislation signed into law by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democratic senator and was in effect January 2020.
Zeldin, fortunately, was not hurt and continued his speech. But in the hours after the incident, some turned their attentions to Zeldin’s Democratic opponent NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, who not only has repeatedly called Zeldin a “dangerous … far-right extremist” but whose campaign also urged their supporters via email to RSVP to Zeldin’s upcoming campaign stops including the one from Thursday where the attack took place:
Governor, it seemed that you were muttering insupport for vigilante direct actions by calling your political opponent “dangerous” and “far-right extremists.” A man attempted to stab @leezeldinA bladed knife was worn at an event. https://t.co/g8rlXISl8R pic.twitter.com/qZHhCVGeuD
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) July 22, 2022
It was hours before the stabbing attempt of @leezeldin, her office sent out a mass email with locations he would be at & a call that her supporters RSVP for each event. pic.twitter.com/zYYtcDhFk4
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) July 22, 2022
Now, while it’s not uncommon to hear political opponents call each other “dangerous” and “extremist,” and it’s also not unheard of to encourage supporters to go to opponents’ events in order to do some heckling, the question here is how would The Usual Suspects be treating this had the roles been reversed?
I won’t join the accusations that Kathy Hochul is responsible for the recent attempted assault on Lee Zeldin. People are accountable for what they do.
I will call into question how the press might be treating this if it was Zeldin’s rhetoric and Hochul’s life. https://t.co/aRCaHABy9B
— Acumetic (@acumetic) July 22, 2022
Oh, I think we know exactly what the media would be saying if Hochul was attacked by someone who was presumably a Zeldin supporter (for the record, we don’t yet know what the motivations of Zeldin’s attacker were ). They’d be doing deep dives into not just his social media accounts and public statements but also those of anyone who was remotely affiliated with him, including the local barber, in order to find anything they believe could be construed as “incitement.”
But because it was a Republican who was attacked, this story will likely fall off the radars of most in press fairly quickly as it doesn’t line up with any of their preferred political narratives about Republicans Bad, Democrats Good.
Related: ‘Journalist’ Triggered at Sight of American Flags Being Flown Gets Mocked Accordingly
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