this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2024
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[–] rustyfish@lemmy.world 198 points 4 months ago (5 children)

Yeah, but he isn’t a true republican! He was an Antifa double agent from the Queer Terrorist camps in woke San Francisco!

(This was a joke. Please don’t quote this shit)

[–] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 104 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Wait until google's AI quotes you on this shit

[–] rustyfish@lemmy.world 46 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] subignition@fedia.io 47 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Fuck." -- rustyfish    -- Google Gemini

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

You can't buy that sort of immortality!

[–] TTH4P@lemm.ee 46 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Reuters and others are all like "despite being registered republican, HE DONATED TO ACT BLUE WHEN HE WAS A CHILD. THATS 15 DOLLARS OK, SO...THE IMPLICATIONS."

[–] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 47 points 4 months ago (1 children)

To clarify, someone named "Thomas Crooks" from ZIP 15102 donated $15 to ActBlue in January 2021 (when the shooter would have been 17 years old).

So there's a chance that this isn't the same guy, because without a middle name or additional identifiers, there are plenty of other people with this name whom this could be.

There's also a chance that this was him and his political views have changed in the past 3 years since donating to ActBlue. 17-20 is definitely the age where people break free from their parents' political ideals. It's also when severe mental illnesses can manifest.

Regardless, he registered as Republican and voted in elections after this donation was made, and his voter registration occurred nearly three full years before the assassination attempt, so it's not like he changed his voter registration last minute in an attempt to troll. He's been registered as a Republican since Biden's first year in office, and donating the equivalent of 30 minutes of minimum wage labor to the DNC three years ago isn't really indicative of anything.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 46 points 4 months ago (1 children)

donated $15 to ActBlue in January 2021

donating the equivalent of 30 minutes of minimum wage labor

Imagine if the minimum wage was $30/hr

[–] Vertelleus@sh.itjust.works 17 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Just a reminder, minimum wage in Pennsylvania is still $7.25.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I assume OP made a mental math reciprocal error 😄

w*t(2/1) vs w*t(1/2)

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 months ago

I just took a peek at the bad place most of us migrated from, and let me tell you they are REALLY convinced that this 15$ donation (if it was even him) is the most significant thing about this person.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago

Queer Terrorist Camps would be an excellent name for a gay bar in the Castro

[–] PenisWenisGenius@lemmynsfw.com 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Sorry bro, your account isn't marked as a bot account. I'm citing this comment as a reputable source in an academic paper and there's nothing you can do about it.

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[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 132 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Some social media accounts said that a gunman with ties to the “deep state” had opened fire and shot Mr. Trump. Without citing evidence, the accounts also blamed government agencies such as the F.B.I. and the Centers for Disease Control for targeting Mr. Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/us/politics/trump-rally-disinformation-x-social-media.html

Ah yes, the CDC, well known for it's highly trained hit squads. I can't even with these chuckleheads anymore. It would just be hilarious if they weren't poised to wreck the country for at least most of the duration of my likely natural life.

[–] Klnsfw@lemmynsfw.com 42 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A highly trained squad wouldn't have missed him. This proves that it's a CDC action. /s

[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I know this is sarcasm but, I mean If I was the CDC and I wanted to neutralize an old man, I probably wouldn't use bullets. That's a like a rogue leaving their poisons at home so they could instead carry a sword and shield against someone whos super weak to poison.

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[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

That alone is so telling to me:

One: it's obviously projection as it always is. Which means we can expect previously mundane regulatory agencies beefed up in ways that make no sense with regards to enforcing what's in their purview, in order to carry out dirty tasks like this. This is a self-report. They're telling us exactly what they want to do with our federal agencies.

Two: it's just more indication of how easy it is going to be for the Republicans to "dismantle the administrative state" (literally their own words). If this is how their base thinks regulatory agencies operate, then it's going to be real fucking easy to convince any who aren't already onboard to get rid of them entirely.

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[–] 242@lemmy.cafe 119 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Oh, he was a registered Republican? Mentally ill lone wolf is back on the menu, boys!

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[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 73 points 4 months ago (3 children)

We should make a bingo board of all the conspiracies.

[–] Darkard@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Add false flag antifa agent to the card

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 14 points 4 months ago

That's the "Free Space" in the middle.

[–] I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world 20 points 4 months ago

[C6] It was a storm trooper.

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[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 39 points 4 months ago (2 children)

With Donald Trump dead, the replacement candidate would win without effort. The same is true if someone targeted Biden.

They're both so bad that their deaths would boost their own parties.

[–] morrowind@lemmy.ml 29 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Honestly, I completely disagree.

If Biden came out, Kamala would likely be in. No one really likes Kamala, she's just a resounding meh. And plenty of people are just plain racist.

If Trump came out, I'm not sure who would replace him, but nobody would have such a death grip on his base like he does. Many of them probably wouldn't even vote.

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[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Not only that, more than most of Bidens campaign message is just warnings about Trump. If Trumps not the candidate Biden will have wasted billions and a lot of time on political messaging that doesn't matter anymore.

[–] hobovision@lemm.ee 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's not really true. Mostly it's him struggling to describe all the ways that he's been one of the better progressive presidents despite having a completely non functional congress and outright hostile court. The only message that sticks is how awful Trump is because it's easy to say and understand, and is obviously true to some and obviously false to others.

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[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 32 points 4 months ago (13 children)

So this makes it I'd say 50/50 IMO that either the motive was a personal grudge against some misfortune he blames Trump specifically for a la the assassination of Shinzo Abe, or that he was a gun nut who didn't want to surrender his Common Law AR-15 nor his Common Law stash of cocaine laced LSD at a security checkpoint, and went up on the roof to watch the show until he finished off the entire stash in one go and the demons told him that there was someone charging his position through the stage or something.

I'm almost more inclined to believe the second one because the first shot that actually caused the ear bleeding is now rumored to not have actually hit Trump but instead the Teleprompter which sprayed glass Shrapnel at the felon in chief which is what actually cut his ear.

This would imply that the first shot which he'd have the most opportunity to laze the shot for was not actually aimed directly at Trump as much as in the same direction as he happened to be in relative to the shooter. Unless the teleprompter was a lot closer to Trump at this particular rally than they usually are to the stage during most rallies on either side of the aisle.

[–] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 21 points 4 months ago (1 children)

He might also have been trying to impress some young Hollywood starlet (Reagan got shot because his shooter got obsessed with Jodie Foster after watching Taxi Driver) or some other form of mental illness (besides being a gun nut and Republican, I mean)...

[–] Icalasari@fedia.io 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Also a chance that he knew an attempt on Trump would make him a martyr

Quick Edit: Not saying he thought things through or was sane. After all, he used live rounds when blanks would still make noise and ensure Trump was not in danger. Just that it could have been his intent

[–] flicker@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My favorite conspiracy theory is that the shooter wasn't trying to get Trump at all. They were trying to kill a member of the secret service and got Trump instead.

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[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

Suppose I'll vote on the grudge.

He was registered Republican, young, and so likely part of Republican family. He felt like giving to Democrats in 2021 (odd year for a political donation). So I'm imagining a close family member who was all in on Trump and anti mask and anti vaccine dying from COVID-19. In the short term he tossed a little money at Democrats as some sort of small token retribution.

As to why he'd miss, he's likely barely got experience and hitting a target from a distance is hard.

[–] DessertStorms@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Could also be a self appointed (or not) agent provocateur, who thought that a near miss would make trump a hero and his supporters even more fired up (in reality they didn't need a push - the cult members already twist anything he does or is done to him to make him a hero), and martyred himself for "the cause" (E: or believed whoever hired him that he would be spared). I really wouldn't put that past the average trump supporter.

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[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Lots of Nazis tried to kill Hitler.

[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 18 points 4 months ago

And what did Hitler do? Blame the Jews.

[–] kwomp2@sh.itjust.works 24 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Technical question: I don't get what that registration is. Was he a member of the party?

Is it just the registration to be eligble to vote and if yes, how the fluff does it contain info on the party? Doesn't the US have secrecy of the ballot?

[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 35 points 4 months ago (3 children)

In most states, only party members can vote in their party’s primary elections.

Primary elections are held before the general election to pick the party’s candidates for the general.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago

In most states, only party members can vote in their party’s primary elections.

Minor point of clarification:

Pennsylvania is one of only 14 states with closed primaries

[–] humbletightband@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Maybe he wanted to vote against Trump several times: both in the primary and main

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[–] happenis@lemmy.today 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

That's kind of true, but it depends. Most states don't have laws requiring closed primaries and allows the party to choose which voters to include. However, in general the Republican party tends to have closed primaries when possible.

They are closed in Pennsylvania, though.

https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/state-primary-election-types

[–] tillary@sh.itjust.works 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I haven't seen this mentioned yet, but you're required to register a party affiliation before you can vote in the primaries. As a liberal, I've considered registering Republican in situations where the Democratic nominee has pretty much been decided and I want to give a boost to less polarizing Republican candidates. Pennsylvania is one such state that uses the closed party system (you need to be Republican to vote in Republican primaries). I've since moved to a state that allows "Independent party" members to choose the primary they wish to vote in.

Not saying this explains the shooter's party affiliation, we still need to wait on all the details. Just something to keep in mind so we don't jump to conclusions.

[–] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 9 points 4 months ago

That varies state to state. Some states (like Texas) have open primaries where you just choose at the voting station which ballot you want. Others (like Pennsylvania) have closed primaries where you have to be registered as a member of the party to vote in the primary.

[–] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The USA doesn’t really have party members in the sense you’re thinking. It’s not a club that you either belong to or don’t. Being a "party member" can have different meanings depending on context.

Political parties exist at both the state level and the national level, and the state parties mostly operate independently of the national parties. Each U.S. state has different rules governing political parties and how they work, and each state party has its own rules for how it administers itself.

You only need to care about that stuff if you want to be a party official or a candidate for political office. As an ordinary voter, all you really need to care about is whether your state has party registration or not, and to register with the party you intend to vote for, as many states only allow you to participate in the primary election for the party in which you are registered to vote for.

As for ballot secrecy, yes, how you actually vote is private information, but how you registered to vote, and what elections you voted in, are public information.

[–] kwomp2@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Thanks alot.

This is a confusing/interesting way of ballot secrecy. Basically it sounds like: You have to make a public statement for one political party, but you are allowed to lie. Thus it's secret

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[–] morphballganon@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

A motive was not clear

bitch please

[–] Wxnzxn@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Posted this elsewhere but will join into the discussion under this meme as well:

So, this is 100% speculative rambling at this point, but as a gut feeling on my part that can be proven wrong: I get the feeling it might have been someone from a Republican family, possibly shitty family psychology-wise, registered as Republican for his families sake but got f'd up by the pressure within his personal relationships and the state of the world, who radicalised himself on the internet.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

I'll offer "hard core maga family, and a close loved one died from COVID-19​ and he blames Trump"

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