Althouse

The word "henchman" apparently comes from the Icelandic word for "groom" — a keeper of horses. According to the OED, it has meant "a high-ranking male servant" or "a loyal (male) follower" or "A devoted or zealous (male) political supporter, a partisan" or "a person (usually a man) engaged by a politician to further his or her interests by corrupt or unscrupulous means" or "A male subordinate to a criminal or villain, esp. one who obeys his leader unquestioningly and is prepared to engage in violence or crime on his behalf; an accomplice, heavy, or sidekick."

"House conservatives defied Leadership to get major concessions to empower them and their agenda. House progressives did what they were told and got nothing.... The reason the Squad and House Progressives never defy Pelosi or anyone else is because they have a pathetic partisan media... who defend their harmlessness and venerate partisan subservience....  If these Dem Party loyalists who pretend to be leftists or whatever had even the slightest integrity, they'd apologize to @jimmy_dore , @briebriejoy , etc., because Gaetz & Co. just proved how politics works when you care more about your constituents than head-pats from the DNC."

Tweeted Glenn Greenwald, just now.

The NYT reports. 

Arriving at the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, two officers find an intruder and Ms. Pelosi’s husband, Paul, standing calmly, each with a hand on a hammer that the police demand they drop. Just then, the video shows, the intruder takes control, wields the weapon over his head and slams it with full force....

Prosecutors presented the fullest account to date of what they say happened during the attack, and shared much of their evidence against the suspect, including the body-camera footage.

[David] DePape, 42, said in a police interview hours after the attack that he had other targets, including Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California; the actor Tom Hanks; Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden; and the feminist writer and anthropologist Gayle Rubin, according to testimony on Wednesday. ..

Prosecutors during the hearing also played an audio recording of the interview that Mr. DePape gave to the police. In it, he admitted to busting into the Pelosi home in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood through a back door, on a mission to capture the House speaker, interrogate her and break her kneecaps if she “lied” to him....

I'm surprised to see the NYT using "busting" — not in quotes, but in the paper's voice — instead of "breaking." (I was just talking about how Breitbart is to trashy for my taste, and here I am, in a place I regard as reasonably elevated and dignified, and here's this "busting," like the night's busting open and these two lanes will take us anywhere.)

Back to the Pelosi incident: 

The hearing began with prosecutors playing a recording of a call that Mr. Pelosi made to 911 shortly after the intruder woke him up. During the call, Mr. Pelosi speaks calmly but emphatically, seemingly trying to convey to the operator that he is in danger but without alarming the intruder threatening his life. Mr. Pelosi said on the call that there was “a gentleman here waiting for my wife to come back.”

He told the operator who his wife was, and at one point the intruder in the background could be heard saying, “The name is David.”

That's quoted in "Pelosi Steps Aside, Signaling End to Historic Run as Top House Democrat/'For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,' Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. She has led her party in the House for two decades" (NYT).

That was completely gratuitous — dragging in the stock character, the mother-in-law. We're supposed to know the stereotype and to loathe that sort of woman.

The NYT can't get halfway through the headline without bonking us over the head with Pelosi's womanhood. She was "historic," we're supposed to know, and it's for one reason, the reason we've been told over and over again. 

I guess that makes her the right kind of woman, the woman who achieves in the traditionally male sphere. And good for her. But she turns around and takes a shot at women who do continue in the traditional sphere, the mothers. You know mothers. They can't control themselves and insist on interfering in their adult children's life. 

Did Pelosi feel compelled to stereotype herself? As she sheds the leadership role and thinks about how she will behave in the future, did she naturally think of herself in stereotypical terms. Instead of comparing herself to other leaders who have continued in power but in a lesser role, she instinctively reverted to portraying herself as a traditional woman — a mother who has moved from authority figure in the nuclear family to a lesser onlooker as her son forms his own new family.

"... that could pull back the curtain on the party's ideological and generational divides.... A decision by Pelosi to stay will also cause consternation in the caucus, but the party's better-than-expected showing — and her reputation for clapping back at Republicans — gives her a strong case to stay for one more term. Both President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have urged her to stay.... A younger generation of leaders — Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) — has been patiently waiting in the wings to replace the old trio of Pelosi, [Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.)] and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)...." 

From "House Dems' calm before the storm" (Axios).

According to The Washington Post, Pelosi will announce her decision this morning at 10 ET and:  "Apparently still uncertain on what to do, Pelosi took two versions of her floor speech home with her last night — one in which she steps back from her leadership role and one in which she runs again...."

UPDATE: "Pelosi stepping down as House Democratic leader after 20 years" (Axios).

“Never did I think I’d go from homemaker to House Speaker,” Pelosi said, wearing her Mace of the Republic brooch and a suffragette white suit.

"If she told the 'truth,' he would let her go, but if she 'lied,' he intended to break her kneecaps — forcing her to be wheeled into Congress as a lesson to other Democrats, Mr. DePape told police officers in an interview. He had 'a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and zip ties' according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California, which filed the charges."

From "Intruder Wanted to Break Speaker Pelosi’s Kneecaps, Federal Complaint Says/Federal prosecutors filed charges on Monday against the man the police said broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and struck her husband with a hammer" (NYT).

"The swift action by the Justice Department in bringing federal charges — on the same day the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office was expected to file its own charges against Mr. DePape — reflects the department’s urgency in addressing what it sees as a politically motivated crime shortly before the 2022 midterm elections. There has been a surge in threats and attacks against figures of both political parties in recent years, and Ms. Pelosi, in particular, has long been the subject of vilification and threats."

ADDED: Here's the criminal complaint. It's worth noting that DePape spoke to the police and revealed his plot to question Nancy Pelosi and to break her kneecaps if she lied, which he expected her to do. Also, he was not dressed in underpants, but shorts, and he had a large backpack and quite a few supplies, including the hammer we've heard so much about. He is alleged to have broken the window next to the door handle and to have found Paul Pelosi in his bedroom, in bed. 

Also: "DEPAPE stated he wanted to tie Pelosi up so that DEPAPE could go to sleep as he was tired from having had to carry a backpack to the Pelosi residence.... DEPAPE explained that he did not leave after Pelosi’s call to 9-1-1 because, much like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender."