What we know about the nudist activist and conspiracy theorist who attacked Paul Pelosi in a Florida park this week is that he was angry about some comments Mr. Pelosi made about him on the Huffington Post, where he has worked. The attacker called Mr. Pelosi a “fascist,” then said “Hitler would have gotten your ass.” After a while, he left, walked to a corner, and smashed a chair. He later sent a note saying, “I think that I will be arrested for my actions.”
“We’re not sure who this guy is, but he doesn’t look nice,” said Dan Savage, a writer for Huffington Post. He told New York magazine that the attacker was in his early 20s and that his motives appear to be political. “He probably has no idea what he’s doing,” Mr. Savage said. “What I do know is that this is an outlier in the history of violence committed against someone on the Internet.”
The attacker, who has not responded to online message boards with his address, has not been identified. His Facebook profile identifies him as a Florida resident and says he has been in and out of prison recently; on his website, there is no evidence that he has any affiliation with the movement for nudist rights.
“This was political violence,” said J.R. Vacha, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center: “He came here to make an expression about some issue. That’s not an expression of political violence.”
Mr. Savage said the attacker was apparently angry over political criticism, but there’s no evidence the attack was anything else. “He’s the definition of a political violence fanatic,” Mr. Savage said.
“People are going to be doing all kinds of weird things,”
