Nutjob, sure, but probably not “right wing.” Here’s the facts as stated on his wikipedia page:
registered Republican
held conservative views in high school
donated to a progressive fund the day Biden was sworn in
So, he’s conservative and despises Trump. Someone who’s way far to the right wouldn’t donate to a progressive fund. I think he was a relatively moderate Republican who liked the GOP before Trump/MAGA took over, so basically Romney and McCain, not Trump and MTG.
This is a good lesson in how much “research” goes into most breaking news. Those “trusted news sites” just saw a common first and last name and assumed it was the same guy.
I got this information from other places. It has been circulating for some hours now. However, Looking at it again, for these comments, I realized 15102 is Bethel Park, so it was the shooter, however he made the donation under age, I guess.
There’s no confirmation of that. This is literally just a “Michael Bolton” situation. It could be him or an unrelated person.
My point is that the media has repeated it as fact, while the registration information used his full name (including middle) and birthday. Maybe address too (I forget). They just want to stir up drama before confirming anything.
You learn these things doing genealogy. You need a high number of data points to confirm who someone is. People get all excited if they have the same last name as a famous person. There are literally a million people with similar last names.
Links are better, esp. if there’s an update to whatever the page is.
But just attach an image with the little “upload image” button (on web lemmy, it’s next to the emoji button). If that doesn’t work, perhaps there’s an issue w/ your instance and you should instead use something like imgur.
Bernie ran for President in 2020 and the suspect registered Republican in 2021. It’s possible, but that’s only a year from Bernie’s campaign, so it seems unlikely.
My interpretation given Occam’s Razor is that he was likely conservative who aggressively disagreed with Trump. I wouldn’t be surprised if he would’ve voted for Biden if we was born a year earlier, based on frustration with Trump and Biden’s relatively moderate positions.
Sure, but Trump also wasn’t a typical conservative candidate (e.g. he got dead last in my red state’s [Utah] primary, and won by plurality instead of majority in 2016). His campaign prompted Evan McMullin to attempt to spoil the election in 2016, he was certainly divisive in 2016. I can absolutely see how that could sway someone who detests Trump (say, enough to attempt an assassination) to donate to their most credible competitor. Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
That said, another user has posted evidence that maybe that donation was wrongly reported by the major news agencies. So I’ll put it in the category of “plausible” instead of “probable,” since it fits with my mental model of someone who claims to be Republican yet attempts to assassinate the Republican nominee for President in the first presidential election they’re eligible for.
Nutjob, sure, but probably not “right wing.” Here’s the facts as stated on his wikipedia page:
So, he’s conservative and despises Trump. Someone who’s way far to the right wouldn’t donate to a progressive fund. I think he was a relatively moderate Republican who liked the GOP before Trump/MAGA took over, so basically Romney and McCain, not Trump and MTG.
He didn’t donate to a progressive fund. That was a 69 year old man, with the same name, in Pittsburgh, not Bethel Park.
As I wrote up elsewhere, three major news sites that I generally trust all reported the same thing. Do you have proof that they’re all wrong?
https://imgur.com/a/6HGeXbB
there is the link. two screen shots. sorry, it won’t let me put it in the comment.
This is a good lesson in how much “research” goes into most breaking news. Those “trusted news sites” just saw a common first and last name and assumed it was the same guy.
It’s just “Michael Bolton” all over again.
I got this information from other places. It has been circulating for some hours now. However, Looking at it again, for these comments, I realized 15102 is Bethel Park, so it was the shooter, however he made the donation under age, I guess.
There’s no confirmation of that. This is literally just a “Michael Bolton” situation. It could be him or an unrelated person.
My point is that the media has repeated it as fact, while the registration information used his full name (including middle) and birthday. Maybe address too (I forget). They just want to stir up drama before confirming anything.
You learn these things doing genealogy. You need a high number of data points to confirm who someone is. People get all excited if they have the same last name as a famous person. There are literally a million people with similar last names.
This is actually a good point. I just did some internet searching and found 3 other Thomas/Tom Crooks in the Bethel Park area.
I do, how do I post screenshots, every time I try the comment comes up with no image./
Yeah keeps unble to load image from imgur, and another place I have tried.
Links are better, esp. if there’s an update to whatever the page is.
But just attach an image with the little “upload image” button (on web lemmy, it’s next to the emoji button). If that doesn’t work, perhaps there’s an issue w/ your instance and you should instead use something like imgur.
Or he’s a former Bernie supporter who got radicalized after Bernie lost. Your political compass can change very quickly when you’re that young.
Is there anything lemmy won’t blame on Sanders supporters?
Bernie ran for President in 2020 and the suspect registered Republican in 2021. It’s possible, but that’s only a year from Bernie’s campaign, so it seems unlikely.
My interpretation given Occam’s Razor is that he was likely conservative who aggressively disagreed with Trump. I wouldn’t be surprised if he would’ve voted for Biden if we was born a year earlier, based on frustration with Trump and Biden’s relatively moderate positions.
Conservatives don’t typically donate to progressive funds.
Sure, but Trump also wasn’t a typical conservative candidate (e.g. he got dead last in my red state’s [Utah] primary, and won by plurality instead of majority in 2016). His campaign prompted Evan McMullin to attempt to spoil the election in 2016, he was certainly divisive in 2016. I can absolutely see how that could sway someone who detests Trump (say, enough to attempt an assassination) to donate to their most credible competitor. Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
That said, another user has posted evidence that maybe that donation was wrongly reported by the major news agencies. So I’ll put it in the category of “plausible” instead of “probable,” since it fits with my mental model of someone who claims to be Republican yet attempts to assassinate the Republican nominee for President in the first presidential election they’re eligible for.