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Thomas Matthew Crooks Had Donald Trump Signs in His Yard—Neighbor

Cardinal

Cardinal

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So in spite of the first known political move of his life being to donate $15 to ActBlue, Crooks had clearly switched over to a decidedly conservative and pro-Trump lean afterwards.

Of course, this leaves everybody no less confused about his motives. The best I've got at this point is "Trump supporters are basically pretty nuts."

"A neighbor of the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump said there have been pro-Trump signs on display in the yard of his family's home.

Authorities identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the gunman who opened fired from a rooftop as the former president spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The presumptive Republican nominee was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents after a bullet hit his right ear."

 
Devil's advocate: what if the shooter hated his family's pro-Trump stance?

(Not saying this is true, just that we still don't know enough right now)
 
Airyaman said:
Devil's advocate: what if the shooter hated his family's pro-Trump stance?

(Not saying this is true, just that we still don't know enough right now)
Click to expand...
He hated his parents' stance so much that he consistently adopted conservative views at school in the face of overwhelming opposition? That doesn't fly. The data points leading to his political position are adding up, and they just don't suggest him being a liberal.

But since we're speculating, what if he was pulled in by Qanon and was pissed off by reports about Trump being tied to Epstein's molestation of children? Or what if he was pissed off by Trump trying to distance himself from Project 2025?
 
Airyaman said:
Devil's advocate: what if the shooter hated his family's pro-Trump stance?

(Not saying this is true, just that we still don't know enough right now)
Click to expand...
I’ve read the mother is a registered Democrat. Maybe the father is Republican.

Or, he could have wanted to make a point he wasn’t as bad a rifleman as they said he was.

Regardless, the security lapses are unforgivable.
 
Cardinal said:
He hated his parents' stance so much that he consistently adopted conservative views at school in the face of overwhelming opposition? That doesn't fly. The data points leading to his political position are adding up, and they just don't suggest him being a liberal.

But since we're speculating, what if he was pulled in by Qanon and was pissed off by reports about him being tied to Epstein's molestation of children? Or what if he was pissed off by Trump trying to distance himself from Project 2025?
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Those mentions of his supposed political views are a bit shaky. Some said he was others said he wasn't, it's all over the place. I'm saying we don't know enough yet. But it certainly does not appear he was a Democrat who was motivated by Democrat's "rhetoric". That point has been squashed imo.
 
Airyaman said:
Those mentions of his supposed political views are a bit shaky. Some said he was others said he wasn't, it's all over the place. I'm saying we don't know enough yet. But it certainly does not appear he was a Democrat who was motivated by Democrat's "rhetoric". That point has been squashed imo.
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His first act was to donate $15 to ActBlue, and everything that followed led to a personal conservative political lean. Saying that he was "all over the place" doesn't fly at this point.
 
Cardinal said:
His first act was to donate $15 to ActBlue, and everything that followed led to a personal conservative political lean. Saying that he was "all over the place" doesn't fly at this point.
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You and I must be reading from different sources.
 
At this point, landing on the ActBlue donation as the only relevant data point and simply dismissing his subsequent Republican registration, his classmates saying he was conservative, and his neighbor saying his house had pro-Trump signs is just spurious.

And then you have that he was a socially isolated 20 year old white male who bought an AR-15 so he could shoot into a crowd. Add it all up and that one ActBlue donation three years ago increasingly recedes into irrelevance.
 
I think way too much attention is being given to this act being politically motivated. Given the intended target it's understandable but facts are this shooter has all the hallmarks of a mass murderer. Young, white, male , loner, bullied, etc. Shooters that murder 5 year olds don't hate kids.
 
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Cardinal said:
So in spite of the first known political move of his life being to donate $15 to ActBlue, Crooks had clearly switched over to a decidedly conservative and pro-Trump lean afterwards.

Of course, this leaves everybody no less confused about his motives. The best I've got at this point is "Trump supporters are basically pretty nuts."

"A neighbor of the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump said there have been pro-Trump signs on display in the yard of his family's home.

Authorities identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the gunman who opened fired from a rooftop as the former president spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The presumptive Republican nominee was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents after a bullet hit his right ear."

Click to expand...

You're right. He was clearly pro- Donald Trump! And anyone that's pro- Trump is nuts, ergo, he shoots him. It all makes sense now. Thanks professor!
 
VySky said:
I’ve read the mother is a registered Democrat. Maybe the father is Republican.

Or, he could have wanted to make a point he wasn’t as bad a rifleman as they said he was.

Regardless, the security lapses are unforgivable.
Click to expand...
Yes we all have witness how much you care and understand facts.
 
fireflygmf said:
You're right. He was clearly pro- Donald Trump! And anyone that's pro- Trump is nuts, ergo, he shoots him. It all makes sense now. Thanks professor!
Click to expand...

MAGA is not rational, and trying to ascribe rationality to their behavior is a futile endeavor. But we have seen socially isolated young white males be pulled in by the extremism and conspiracy theory culture of conservatism over and over and over again in the last eight years. This mentality of eating its own isn't unprecedented.
 
Cardinal said:
How so?
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www.inquirer.com

What Thomas Matthew Crooks’ ex-classmates and employer have said about the Trump shooting suspect

Several alumni of Bethel Park High School who knew Thomas Matthew Crooks have spoken to media outlets about their former classmate, accused of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
www.inquirer.com www.inquirer.com

To some former classmates, Crooks was a bookish and kind student with a penchant for government and economics. To others, he was a reclusive loner who they recalled being tormented by other students. One said he was an outspoken conservative, while others don’t recall him broadcasting political views.
Click to expand...
 
fireflygmf said:
You're right. He was clearly pro- Donald Trump! And anyone that's pro- Trump is nuts, ergo, he shoots him. It all makes sense now. Thanks professor!
Click to expand...
Some people want to be part of history. How many kids need to be gunned down in schools before we try to have an actual conversation about the ease of access to weapons?
Why didn’t this kid use a knife or a car? That is the go to argument for the right wing gun lovers here.
 
Cardinal said:
MAGA is not rational, and trying to ascribe rationality to their behavior is a futile endeavor.
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Indeed, definitely lacking in typical reasoning powers. One could almost say sub- human. Amirite?
 
Cardinal said:
He hated his parents' stance so much that he consistently adopted conservative views at school in the face of overwhelming opposition? That doesn't fly.
Click to expand...
👆
 
Cardinal said:
Okay, so he made his political views known to some, and not to others. That sounds like...everyone.
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Actually, it looks like there has only been one person who said he was conservative. Not enough for me to accept it as reality just yet. What if Max Smith was one of the bullies?
 
fireflygmf said:
You're right. He was clearly pro- Donald Trump! And anyone that's pro- Trump is nuts, ergo, he shoots him. It all makes sense now. Thanks professor!
Click to expand...
Anyone that is pro-Trump IS nuts. How is that debatable? A flat-Earther has a theory about what they think Earth looks like. They only accept information that supports the theory. When they actually conduct experiments that disprove their theory, they dismiss their experiments by saying the data was faulty, the conditions weren't correct...whatever. They find a reason.

What exactly is different between that, and the pro-Trump stance? If you're pro-Trump, you have a THEORY on who you think he is, or more to the point, what you need him to be for your own imaginations. When information challenges that, it's dismissed. It's fake. It's taken out of context. That's not what he meant. Blah blah blah.

So...yes. Pro-Trump = nucking futs. No two ways about it.
 
Airyaman said:
Actually, it looks like there has only been one person who said he was conservative. Not enough for me to accept it as reality just yet.
Click to expand...

Sure, everybody's lying, including the made-up Republican registration that later followed the ActBlue donation.

By all means keep an open mind, but don't be silly about it.
 
You know, this could be a canary in the coalmine moment. Hell, it's a damned albatross. This guy was 20, he doesn't have a lengthy political history being quite young. Bullied, social misfit... there are so many reasons why this could have happened that aren't 100% political. After such an extreme event, I would have expected the vilification of the "other side" to be tempered around here, but all I see is each side trying to shoe-horn some argument that the "evil dems" or "crazy pubs" are to blame. Not everything has to be viewed through such political team-making. Give it a rest already.
 
Cardinal said:
Sure, everybody's lying, including the made-up Republican registration that later followed the ActBlue donation.

By all means keep an open mind, but don't be silly about it.
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I never said anyone was lying. I am a skeptic. More people should be.
 
Cardinal said:
So in spite of the first known political move of his life being to donate $15 to ActBlue, Crooks had clearly switched over to a decidedly conservative and pro-Trump lean afterwards.

Of course, this leaves everybody no less confused about his motives. The best I've got at this point is "Trump supporters are basically pretty nuts."

"A neighbor of the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump said there have been pro-Trump signs on display in the yard of his family's home.

Authorities identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the gunman who opened fired from a rooftop as the former president spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The presumptive Republican nominee was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents after a bullet hit his right ear."

Click to expand...

Might have been his parents
 
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