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Susan D's avatar

Everyone seems to be missing the point that a Republican-registered gun-lover shot at the felon ex-president. Students who were with him at high school said he loved history and politics and was definitely right-leaning. I don't get how this is reflecting badly on Dems. Please, someone, explain.

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The Strobis Weakly's avatar

Mark David Chapman was a huge John Lennon fan, and It made no sense to anyone that he’d kill Lennon.

Now here we have a young conservative, at odds with the rest of his liberal high school classmates, who evidently loved gun culture; and I’m willing to bet that he left behind something — a journal, texts, emails? — that describe his political opinions. And in all likelihood it will reflect the sort of hero worship of Donald Tя☭mp that you’d expect of a young, conservative gun lover.

It makes no sense that he’d kill his savior either, but there it is. MAGA would like us to believe he shot Tя☭mp and killed a Tя☭mp fan because the “Deep State” directed him to do so. But I think the reasoning behind his violent act was likely more akin to the same reasoning behind Chapman's.

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Donald Cunningham's avatar

Same with Selena, her best friend shot her. It was a love-hate relationship that broke down when she was fired for embezzling from Selena.

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Midwest Transplant's avatar

I read that Alex Jones on a podcast said a few months ago that a Trump assassination is what is needed to start the civil war. Maybe the shooter thought that would happen. Who knows?

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Carolyn Phipps's avatar

Perhaps it's a certain kind of thinking in which to kill the admired or beloved object is a way to uniquely claim or own them.

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Mark P's avatar

It doesn't matter, because the GOP narrative will state he was radicalized by "incendiary rhetoric" from Democrats, which has to be the most egregious example of projection that's ever been stated by an elected official (see Vance, Scalise, MTG).

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Colleen Kochivar-Baker's avatar

Because Republicans disown their own by making sure to blame the Dems.

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buns-n-butter's avatar

He donated to some progressive causes. Like most of his type, his political leanings were probably only comprehensive to him and don't fit into the current binary most people feel they belong to.

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KMD's avatar

There's evidence that he ONCE donated $15 to a liberal group. Big Whoop. He registered to vote as a Republican.

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Terry Hilldale's avatar

And that ONCE was when he was still seventeen. He registered as a Republican about a week after his eighteenth birthday.

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buns-n-butter's avatar

He had a disordered mind and tried to kill a famous person. It has nothing to do with his chaotic mind's political point of view. Enjoy scoring points while trying to fit this insel loser into whatever narrative sounds good for your side.

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Terry Hilldale's avatar

Huh? KMD was just adding clarity to your comment by making it more accurate.

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Susan D's avatar

He was 17 and a cute girl probably asked him for donation. He was right-leaning to those who knew him and belonged to a gun club. Trump himself was once Democrat.

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Terry Hilldale's avatar

Yeah, probably something like that accounts for the ONE donation..

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kathi in va's avatar

And pro-choice!

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Nnena Okeke's avatar

I heard it was a different Thomas Crooks who donated to the progressive cause. But maybe that's not true. It's still early days so it's hard to say what is.

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steve robertshaw's avatar

A 69 year old man in Pittsburgh, poor guy!

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kathi in va's avatar

One. One progressive cause (from the reporting I've seen, anyway). $25 to a voter mobilization effort.

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Sheri Smith's avatar

And he unsubscribed to it and registered as a Republican. A lost soul.

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Mark P's avatar

Unfortunately his background will be fuel for conspiracy theorists of all stripes.

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Adam's avatar

Because we live in a lunatic world where the Democratic party is the only one with agency and the only one expected to act in a serious manner. If the Republicans act up, the blame goes to the Dems for not preventing it.

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Mark P's avatar

Yep, it's infuriating. Tim's weekend podcast gamed out how carefully the Dems will have to be while criticizing Trump and making the case that he's a threat to democracy in order to avoid seeming to justify violence. Meanwhile, Republicans like Vance, MTG, Scalise, etc can spout of the most completely ridiculous & dangerous incendiary statements and suffer no negative consequences.

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