Late last week, Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, was attacked during a campaign speech as he is running for governor against Kathy Hochul.
The attack was caught on video.
Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Jewish Republican nominee in New York’s gubernatorial race, was attacked by a man wielding a sharp object during a campaign stop Thursday evening. pic.twitter.com/Cya0Bj38QC
— Jewish News Syndicate (@JNS_org) July 22, 2022
Most of the media has ignored this.
Those that have acknowledged it have done so to mock Zeldin and Republicans because the attacker used a novelty self defense keychain as his weapon of choice.
Weapon used in Lee Zeldin attack was $10 plastic cat keychain https://t.co/vyDq4CHaBg
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 23, 2022
Every Republican is calling it a knife. Drama queens.
“David Jakubonis used $10 cat keychain in Lee Zeldin attack” https://t.co/pIXMJGEY1Q
— Joshua Holland (@JoshuaHol) July 23, 2022
This is more of a weapon than any of the January 6th rioters had.
But this is just more of the Left’s dimmer approach to violence.
See, it really isn’t a big deal because it wasn’t a lethal weapons. Really it’s the Right that’s the bad guy here for freaking out over some low level political violence. When a person on the Right gets attacked, they should just take their lumps with a keychain and stop being babies about it. (End sarcasm)
Hochul’s anti-Zeldin ad just about begged for this to happen.
Meet Lee Zeldin, the far-right extremist that the Republicans just nominated for governor. Despite what he might try to sell you, the facts speak for themselves: he is dangerous for New York. pic.twitter.com/Ta4q4xaVwc
— Kathy Hochul (@KathyHochul) June 29, 2022
And when it was all over, Zeldin’s attacker was released without bail on his own recognizance.
In New York under Cuomo it was all but legal to beat up a Jew.
The Democrats have encouraged people to get pushy with Republicans.
Put those two together and of course trying at assault a Jewish Republican with a weapon isn’t punished in New York.
I could ask “what would happen if a Right winger attacked a Democrat during a speech” but we all know the answer and know that such a scenario wouldn’t happen in the first place.
The Left is testing what they can get away with later this year and in 2024.
I’m convinced this was a dress rehearsal for something worse.
He was charged with “attempted assault”. Not attempted murder, not even actual assault, but attempted assault.
That “cat keychain” is likely to be about the only knife a NY resident can legally carry. And it’s certainly useable as a deadly weapon; it’s not substantially different from the Hideaway Knife.
So if it is just a novelty keychain, you can carry it on an airplane, right?
I don’t know if I’d say he attacked him after watching that video. Doesn’t dinimish the gravity of the overll situation in the least, but we also don’t need to over sell it ourselves. It still was a clear public threat made in ever increasing political violence.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t think this guy was coming to solicit donations for UNICEF or something like that with the knuckle dusteresque weapon ready, but that was about as calm and non aggressive as someone could be. A far cry from something like this:
https://youtu.be/D4KROpdUkrM
In CT at least, and I’d assume it is something similar in NY, brass knuckles are considered a dangerous weapon and there is no way to legally carry them except to or from place of purchase, enroute to repair them, or to a knife/gun show.
I’d put it this way.
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The reaction from the authorities – arrest, charging, release, etc. – should be exactly the same if the races of the people involved were different, if their political affiliations were reversed, etc. If you honestly believe that that would be the case, then yes, this is an overreaction. If you believe, however, that if (say) it had been a Republican going after a Democrat gubernatorial candidate would still be in prison and charged with everything up to kidnapping the Lindburgh baby, then it’s not an overreaction.
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Equal justice for all implies, well, equality. It’s one of the foundations of our society and it’s being hideously eroded.
I did not say it was an overreaction, I said we are overselling the actual event that happened by calling it an attack. I saw simple assault by trying to grab the mic and holding onto the dudes arm. The presence of the weapon ready in hand I think is reasonable to infer bodily harm was imminent and this was an attempt at such that was thwarted before success.
The significance of someone attempting an attack on a running republican candidate is great, and I do not at all believe that had the situation and parties been reversed and occurred under precisely the same circumstance that the guy would be released on his own recognizance. We’d also be hearing about it non stop in the media.
Put it this way, I attempt to break into a business after hours to rob them. I am apprehended by police before succeeding in actually robbing them. Did I rob them then? No I attempted to rob them and would be charged accordingly; no actual robbery charge would be successful. Similar situation here. Its bad without calling it something that its not.
First, IANAL.
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It didn’t look much like an “attack” (a.k.a. “battery”). It DID look an awful lot like a clear threat with a weapon (a.k.a. “assault” and/or “brandishing”, depending on definitions).
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“Novelty cat keychain” or not, those “ears” could do some serious damage to a carotid or jugular (or eye or ear), quick as a punch, and looked like they were pointed right at them. The media is making a big deal about how the keychain only costs $10 — I don’t care if it costs 10 cents or $10,000, if it could significantly increase physical harm and is being wielded as a weapon, it’s a weapon. The $4.99 novelty folding knives they sell at gas stations are junk, but still capable of doing quite a number on a body.
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And if it’s only $10 and totally “not a weapon”, you can expect it to become BLM/Antifa standard-issue … and then you can ask the riot cops what they think of it.
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And there’s no way if the roles were reversed — if some random Proud Boy with an Iraqi War Veteran hat did the same to a Democrat candidate for NY governor — that he would be released on his own recognizance. He’d be arrested and charged fast enough to “unperson” him by last week.