Trump Rally Gunman Was ‘Definitely Conservative,’ Classmate Recalls
Trump Rally Gunman Was ‘Definitely Conservative,’ Classmate Recalls
“It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate.”
Conservatives are shooting conservatives now, so I guess I better vote conservative for being so brave by standing up to conservatives.
Not the first time they go against each other, this is just the most high profile target so far. Remember that redditor who murdered his own father because he thought he's some sort of liberal? Or when they tried to hang Mike Pence? There's quite a few such cases, just typically not the former president / current presidential candidate. Who knows what went on in this guys head, he was likely kinda deranged like many of the other perps were. Maybe something about Trump made him think he wronged him in some way or the recent reveals actually opened his eyes and made him feel betrayed. Or he was just conservative but anti-Trump and saw him as dangerous enough to make use of his right to squash a fascist uprising. There's so many potential scenarios.
He registered as Republican, identified as Republican, and classmates remember him as conservative.
maga: RINO! FAKE CONSERVATIVE! ANTIFA DEMOCRAT LIBERAL AGENT!!!
How dare you try to kill our politicians!? We're the only ones allowed to kill politicians around here!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6_United_States_Capitol_attack
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretchen_Whitmer_kidnapping_plot
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/nancy-pelosi-husband-paul-attack/index.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tucson_shooting
https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/what-nij-research-tells-us-about-domestic-terrorism
A former classmate of the 20-year-old man who tried unsuccessfully to kill former President [and convicted felon] Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday recalled him being staunchly to the right of the political spectrum. “He definitely was conservative,” Max R. Smith told The Philadelphia Inquirer of Thomas Crooks. “It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate.” Smith shared an American history class with Crooks, and remembered a mock debate where their teacher made students stand on one side of the classroom or another to signal their allegiance. “The majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side,” Smith said. “That’s still the picture I have of him. Just standing alone on one side while the rest of the class was on the other.” Crooks died in the assassination attempt. Trump, who suffered a minor injury to the ear, was “fine” Sunday after being treated at a local medical facility, his campaign said. One audience member was killed and two others critically injured amid the gunfire.
That's kind of fucked up, asking kids to tell their political allegiance... In debates we were assigned an opinion and had to defend it no matter what our personal opinion was to make us understand how to build arguments...
When I was in 8th grade, at a Catholic private school.... I was the only person who preferred liberal. During the debates we had, I won over a majority of my classmates with my arguments in favor of doing things how Jesus would behave. I won the debate but the teacher didn't recognize my success. It was actually very illuminating at the time and has stayed with me all my life. Hardcore conservatives will choose reactionary ideas over their religion.
I agree.
I get that Lemmy is super liberal, but this kind of mentality is toxic. It results in a generation that is unwilling to question their beliefs, leans into mob mentality, and doesn't see the need to understand and articulate political beliefs you support.
We never had debate, but in a performance acts class once we were asked our opinion on something and then would have to defend the opposite opinion.
It was nothing so blatantly polarising as only one person on one side though.
Smith shared an American history class with Crooks, and remembered a mock debate where their teacher made students stand on one side of the classroom or another to signal their allegiance.
Please tell me this was college.
Let them fight
Maybe Trump wasn't extremist enough for him. Or maybe he recognized that Trump and the Republican party have ceased being "conservative" a long time ago. Or maybe he recognized Trump as the danger to America.
Or he wanted a different candidate. Imagine if he was a vivek ramaswamy fan lol
Pure speculation but, given his age, there is a good chance he saw Trump and American Conservativism as the Nazi cover operation it is and wanted to fight his own WW2 against overwhelming evil. College is about the time we learn the world doesn't run like a small town and massive things can exist like human rights abuses and amoral politics. He probably felt Tlthat shock and frustration that the world continues to be ruthless because and in spite of us.
Then he saw a figurehead for the alt right and decided to be the change he wanted to see in the world.
My personal suspicion (not based on any hard data, just a guess) is that he was a right-wing accelerationist who thought that killing Trump and/or his supporters would encourage others to "fight back" against the liberals and start the war the right has been itching to fight for decades. I've seen that same thing before in the boogaloo boys.
I'm done letting any conservative describe reality to me without telling them to stfu.
I've been done for twenty five fucking years, since Gingrich and Limbaugh and that generation of social parasites.
As a Georgia native I am eternally sorry to everyone for unleashing Newt on the world, I couldn’t vote until well after he arose but I still feel bad about it
I assumed he just voted republican because the area was and he wanted some influence but this would blow that theory out of the water.
He lived in a borough of Pittsburgh, wouldn't he want to register as a dem so he would have more influence?
Smith shared an American history class with Crooks, and remembered a mock debate where their teacher made students stand on one side of the classroom or another to signal their allegiance. “The majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side,”
Conservatism isn't mutually exclusive with liberalism.
By definition conservatism and liberalism are opposite. However, modern Conservatives in America are largely Neoliberals in terms of most policies except stuff like religion, sex, and race.
Are you sure you don't mean conservatism and progressivism?
By definition conservatism and liberalism are opposite.
Would you mind sharing what definitions (with its source(s)) that you are using?
I wonder if he saw the light and realized what Trump was doing to millions others like him that were still stuck in darkness.