A couple of weeks ago, I came across a segment on Sam Seder’s The Majority Report where David DePape, the would-be political assassin, gave an interview to a local Fox affiliate (KTVU in San Francisco).
As has been established by DePape’s own confession to police, he had arrived to the Pelosi home with the express intention of abducting or viciously harming then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi but settled for the nearest target instead, Pelosi’s husband Paul. It was a heinous attack that conservatives at the time razzed as a joke. Glenn Youngkin notably used the attack as a punchline in a stump speech, as though the line had been prepared long before but had somehow not been scrubbed from the speech in the aftermath. Tone-deaf is the diplomatic characterization.
Seder and crew analyzed the “interview” that DePape gave to the outlet. It really was a one-sided conversation that allowed DePape to accomplish his goal, which was to speak directly to an audience of folks who think, or who are coming around to thinking, just like him.
What DePape released to KTVU, what he delivered—a prepared statement—was a commercial.
DePape’s performance even began with an embedded, familiar phrase found in commercials: he said he had an “important message.” The sales pitch soon follows—in fact, directly.
The semantics used, too, are to be noted.
DePape: The tree of liberty isn’t dying. It’s being killed, systematically and deliberately. The people killing it have names and addresses.
The inverted (pseudo-ironic) meaning of the word ‘killing’, then repeating it 2-3 times in quick succession: these are tried-and-true techniques of not only propagandists and salesmen but public speakers, clergymen, teachers of all types. Con-artists and liars, too. People in all of those professions know the power of a burst of frequent repetition.
[This is an aural device; most writers and editors are trained to vary the form of a word unless the repetition is for explicit and deliberate effect. It can appear clumsy in either medium, spoken or written; but voice, intonation, prosody, rhythm, all in various degrees and in combination, can couch or disguise the repetition. (A person might even play with the word: they may elongate the word or take a whimsical tone, etc.)]
For comparison, view a section of “How Hitler Manipulated the Law to Solidify His Power” (Timeline World History Documentary), beginning around 13:15:
[Uniformed men shout to passersby: “Germans, defend yourselves! Don’t buy from Jews!”]
Narrator: After targeting the Communists, Hitler turned his attention toward his next enemy: the Jews. From that time on, virulent anti-Semitism dominated the philosophy of the fast-growing party throughout the 12-year Reich.
Translation of sign in picture window: Attention Germans! These Jewish owners of the five PS stores are vermin, and are gravediggers of German craftsmanship….
[Uniformed men shout: “Germans, free yourselves from Jewish tyranny. Don’t buy from Jews!”]
This idea of the grave returns again and again in Nazi propaganda, unifying an underlying theme of decay, dirt and death; and because these words have these natural associations, the connotations build not only into something of a given but also a crescendo of feeling, of fervor. In fact, the Nazis threaded this motif throughout their rhetoric; and these images had the potential to accumulate in the citizen’s mind, underscoring each other.
(Also, by linking Jewish people not only to the grave but also insinuating that they are gravediggers, the Nazis purported agency, intent. It was a will toward destruction the Nazis themselves were inciting in the populace as a whole but simultaneously scapegoated that incitement as the work of despised outsiders. It is doubly effective, as it paints the scapegoat as inherently untrustworthy just as it identifies that group. This is an efficient, efficacious propaganda.)
DePape then trolled his overhearing decidedly non-audience by giving them a teaser of a word some have yearned to hear from him: that he had an apology.
DePape: I would also like to apologize. I want to apologize to everyone. I messed up. What I did was really bad. I’m so sorry I didn’t get more of them. It’s my own fault—no one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared.
He had an apology, all right: he became an apologist for domestic terrorists.
DePape quickly shifted back to his intended audience in tone and sales pitch; as he’d crafted his statement beforehand, it’s possible DePape thought he had delivered a satisfying zing to his ideological opponents, letting his audience of potential recruits in on a joke of sorts. His intended audience will feel that shot of adrenaline-based schadenfreude; and these are the ones who will be the likeliest to respond to what DePape is really selling. DePape, by delivering the line, has already given them a rise, a jolt steeped in spite.
This is how the terrorists cultivate an audience. DePape is trying to grow a following. He’s cultivating or curating a charisma, by which he can gain a sympathetic audience. (Sympathetic might be a double entendre here, in the context of the sympathetic nervous system and that pinch of adrenaline.)
He crafted every word. And that “reporter” just let him read his statement without interruption and released it, it appears, in its entirety. KTVU provided the platform and boosted DePape’s message by virtue of broadcasting it as an exclusive, which is meant to drive consumer-demand behavior, not attend to the public’s need to know. Press organs can be co-opted into the propaganda strategy of trying to grow their audiences, “they” being the recruiters for this violent arm of this revolutionary movement (Q/MAGA/whatever rebranding, if any, may take place in this time of MAGA transition into institutionalized House power).
DePape is actively trying to grow in influence. He’s trolling to attract trolls, using lulz as a honeypot. And KTVU just let him have the floor.
The transcribed statement, as given to Amber Lee of KTVU:
Lee: What do you want to say? Because, as you know, they released the video earlier today.
DePape: Yeah, I saw that.
Lee: Yes. What did you want— Thank you for calling me. What did you want to tell me?
DePape: Now that you all have seen the bodycam footage, I have an important message for everyone in America: You’re welcome.
The tree of liberty isn’t dying. It’s being killed, systematically and deliberately. The people killing it have names and addresses. So I got their names and addresses so I could pay them a little visit, have a heart-to-heart chat about their bad behavior.
The tree of liberty needs watering. It needs men of valor, patriots willing to put their own lives on the line to stand in opposition to tyranny.
I would also like to apologize. I want to apologize to everyone. I messed up. What I did was really bad. I’m so sorry I didn’t get more of them. It’s my own fault—no one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared.
I spent all my time exposing government corruption online, only to have them silence my freedom of speech as quickly as they could. It circumvented the Constitution; private industry. And the ruling class outsources the repression of your civil rights to private industry, it’s called fascism.
I have a lot more to say. I had a website of over 300 pages. That’s 300 pages of stuff they don't want you to hear. I’m in the process of trying to set up a new site out of the reach of tyrannical global fascists and their internet censors.