July 20, 2024

"Attacks without clear motivation aren’t unusual and have increased, researchers say, in part as a reflection of the ideologies that swirl together on social media..."

"... and gaming platforms, creating a toxic soup of grievances with no cohesive political agenda. Authorities have cited unclear or overlapping beliefs in recent plots or violence where, for example, white nationalism melded with misogynistic 'incel' subcultures, or when a member of a satanic neo-Nazi group invoked Islamist militancy in what the Justice Department called a 'a diabolical cocktail of ideologies.'"

From "Lack of motive in Trump attack frustrates public, but fits a pattern/Terrorism analysts say Trump’s would-be assassin is among a string of high-profile assailants with unknown or murky reasons for turning violent" (WaPo).

I thought at least you could say that shooting multiple bullets at Trump's head was anti-Trump, but apparently not.

We're supposed to stand back while the officials mull it all over, perhaps to tell us years from now that one can never really know the inside of anyone else's head. But until that modern-day equivalent of the Warren Report issues from the earnest authorities, please note that the Justice Department has bellied up to the bar of your mind and ordered a diabolical cocktail of white nationalism melded with misogynistic incel subculture and garnished with satanic neo-Nazism. Drink deeply and ideate about the right-wing morsels that might have swirled in the toxic soup of young Mr. Crooks's mind.

93 comments:

Achilles said...

When there is "no clear motivation" everyone knows what the motivation was.

And when there is "no clear motivation" the chances the FBI was involved are starting to approach limit 1 probability.

Original Mike said...

Who buys this shit?

rhhardin said...

Soap opera as a business-viable news genre is the cause. So it comes down to women.

Yancey Ward said...

Well, that is why his social media history was scrubbed within minutes of the shooting.

Achilles said...

Yancey Ward said...

Well, that is why his social media history was scrubbed within minutes of the shooting.

It was scrubbed before the shooting.

ALP said...

Time for some Chris Rock wisdom. He opined in one of his routines: "Whatever happened to CRAZY?"

Guy was crazy. End of story.

traditionalguy said...

Another V for valor for this post.

SoLastMillennium said...

I am currently wondering if this is a Mead post based on its structure. That does raise the question if Mead has ever provided a post and how it would be marked.

As an aside. How old was Ann when JFK was shot and did she personally see Ruby shoot Oswald on live TV? That was a very strange time and so much still seems hidden and dishonest.

Kate said...

There they go blaming gamers again. Not everyone on Discord is plotting to overthrow the government.

Big Mike said...

I thought at least you could say that shooting multiple bullets at Trump's head was anti-Trump, but apparently not.

@Althouse, wasn’t it just yesterday that you had a post about some ideas bring so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them? Ah, no, I see it was the day before yesterday.

I get the “suspension of disbelief,” but since 2008 it seems to me as though we’ve been living in the era of the suspension of common sense.

gilbar said...

we'll Just NEVER Know.. because the FBI as successfully wiped their agent's social history

Gerda Sprinchorn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
doctrev said...

Yeah, sure. A gamer without a Discord history or social media. The lies are coming apart, and the Feebs had better hope that people don't conclude that McVeigh was right.

Bob B said...

There are two types of motivation in political shootings: Right-wing and unknown.

Shouting Thomas said...

Let me join the chorus.

I’m not frustrated. I know who orchestrated this attack.

Achilles said...

An interesting video about what Musk did to twitter.

Who wants to bet that "twitter" server farm in Sacramento was where the Feds were running the "caches" for "backup."

FullMoon said...

".. the Justice Department has bellied up to the bar of your mind and ordered a diabolical cocktail of white nationalism melded with misogynistic incel subculture and garnished with satanic neo-Nazism. Drink deeply and ideate about the right-wing morsels that might have swirled in the toxic soup of young Mr. Crooks's mind."

Lol, that's great.

Michael K said...

So, a kid shoots at the most hated person in the world by Democrats and his motive is a mystery. OK, I got it.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MalaiseLongue said...

One more symptom of decline: the Washington Post does not know the word "patsy."

Iman said...

As one of our commenters notes in his profile…

Deja Poo: the feeling that you’ve heard this bullshit before.

walter said...

From Medpage, in my email..today. Headline and email subject line:
"Trump Whisked Off Stage After Apparent Gunshots at Rally"
https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/111081?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2024-07-20&mh=559c767b0161a9c88a7be8f390db1f69&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly%20Review%202024-07-20&utm_term=NL_DHE_Weekly_Active
In the body:
"It's still not clear yet whether Trump was struck by gunfire or was injured as he was pulled to the ground by agents."
Yes, from the 13th. So why use an outdated article?

hombre said...

Demonic AND stupid! "Frustrates public?" Who in the world are they talking about! Everybody knows it was about killing the Orange Man Bad. Democrats are just lying about wondering.

Humperdink said...

The same collection of federal agencies who told us the roof was too steep are now telling us "Shazam, not motive that we can see". Got it.

n.n said...

Abortive ideation to relieve "burdens" is normalized as a wicked solution in progressive sects, preached by Obama et al, rationalized by Democrazis, advocated by human rites sects, and funded by liberal corporations, with approval of transnational bodies including the UN. Lose your religion.

Tom T. said...

Man with no social media attempts assassination --> media wants to crack down on social media.

Static Ping said...

There's three (3) likely motivations:

1. He specifically wanted to kill Trump for whatever reason.
2. He wanted to make a name for himself, perhaps as the last thing he ever did, and Trump just happened to be convenient. If the opportunity arose he would take out Biden, or Taylor Swift, or whoever.
3. He was insane and he would have no motivation that normal human beings would appreciate.

That said, now that we know that a substantial portion of the security team were not Secret Service, just other DHS employees who did not know what they were doing, it is obvious that Trump's security was intended to be insufficient. We are now only discussing whether there was recruitment of the shooter involved. The fact that the FBI is leading the investigation provides me with no confidence that the truth will come out.

Skeptical Voter said...

There is a hidden ingredient in that DOJ cocktail. What is it? Why bull dust doncha know.

n.n said...

Some antidepressants are known to create rage monsters. Was he receiving psychiatric therapy? Gender denial care? Was he a male who identified as a pregnant person? A Hamasidal activist? Part of a Whitmer conspiracy of authorities? Black Lives Matter? Did he read WaPo?

Dude1394 said...

Hmmm almost all political assasiantions and attempts in this country have targeted republicans. But yea, right, white nationalists and Nazis are the culprit. As
Elon Musk says GFY.

Mr. Majestyk said...

Asking about "the shooter's" motivation assumes there was only one shooter. Before you can properly assess motivation, you need to know who was involved, and before you can do that, you need to figure out how many were involved.

Audio analysis indicating there were 2, maybe 3, would-be assasins.

https://x.com/NetworksManager/status/1814416156859502949

Breezy said...

It’d be informative to hear from his parents. They called the cops when he went missing along with a rifle that morning. That type of concern by his parents indicates a dark history of something somewhere.



n.n said...

The gun made him do it. #JournoLists are attempting damage control to save farce. #HateLovesAbortion

Bill R said...

the Justice Department has bellied up to the bar of your mind and ordered a diabolical cocktail of white nationalism melded with misogynistic incel subculture and garnished with satanic neo-Nazism. Drink deeply and ideate about the right-wing morsels that might have swirled in the toxic soup of young Mr. Crooks's mind.

Good one, Professor Althouse!

Paul Zrimsek said...

If we can't find any way to blame it on Tucker Carlson, we give up.

Mr. D said...

Couldn't care less what the official explanation is. It's (a) going to be crap; and (b) I'm not part of the intended audience. But I sure hope there's a pee tape involved.

Dave Begley said...

There is a report that the shooter has three encrypted accounts. What is that about? Who was he communicating with!?

swissoldie said...

The Warren report was the work of Allan Dulles and has been totally discredited. We still await the publication of the presidential files that has been hinted at by Trump (I believe)

Dixcus said...

The lack of the shooter's motive doesn't frustrate me at all. Our government has become VERY good at obfuscating people's motives (see Audrey Hale, trans killer of children in Nashville) due to a variety of narrative supporting reasons. They had this guy's social media footprint off the internet within 24 hours of the shooting and are now selectively leaking what they want the narrative to be.

My frustration is this: The Secret Service DELIBERATELY ALLOWED this assassination attempt to occur. They sat their and watched this killer through the scopes of their so-called "anti-sniper" guns and let this guy get off all the shots he needed to kill Donald Trump. The fact that he missed is mere blind LUCK on Trump's part. They then HELD Trump on the stage, with his head in full view, for 76 seconds. Once in the SUV ... they departed at 2 miles per hour and didn't even spin their tires in the dirt.

And we're just sitting here on our hands watching our government attempt to kill a candidate for the Presidency and a former President of the United States. We're just LETTING it happen too.

That is incredibly frustrating.

And I'll repeat my prediction: They are going to kill Donald Trump.

n.n said...

White nationalists are being forced out of African nations, followed by an invitation to white nationalists who will stand with the people to mitigate authoritarian progress, Diversity, social progress, abortive ideation, redistributive change, etc.

Narayanan said...

Have they found second shooter ?

Achilles said...

Dave Begley said...

There is a report that the shooter has three encrypted accounts. What is that about? Who was he communicating with!?

They could be talking about Telegram accounts at this point.

I think using encrypted communications is just common sense at this point. I don't want that put out there as a reason to hold suspicion.

mezzrow said...

Many sins are forgiven in the service of confirming the beliefs of your readers. Otherwise they will leave. Oh, it's the WaPo. *shrugs*

Just because it's not working doesn't mean it's not true. Still gotta preach.

Sally327 said...

“ We're supposed to stand back while the officials mull it all over, perhaps to tell us years from now that one can never really know the inside of anyone else's head. But until that modern-day equivalent of the Warren Report issues from the earnest authorities, please note that the Justice Department has bellied up to the bar of your mind and ordered a diabolical cocktail of white nationalism melded with misogynistic incel subculture and garnished with satanic neo-Nazism. Drink deeply and ideate about the right-wing morsels that might have swirled in the toxic soup of young Mr. Crooks's mind.

That’s some really good writing, that paragraph.

Drago said...

Original Mike: "Who buys this shit?"

LLR-democraticals Rich/Chuck/lonejustice, gadfly, Dumb Lefty Mark, Inga, victoria, at a minimum, on this blog.

n.n said...

Random acts of Rust.

RCOCEAN II said...

The inability of the MSM to find out and report the truth is truly amazing. Its almost like its deliberate. BTW, I was watching CBS' coverage on the JFK assassination the other night, and Cronkite had no hestitation in tossing out that "Segregationists" were probably responsible. Which is the way the MSM acts when it thinks (or hopes) the shooter is rightwing.

However, when Rightwing pols are shot, the motives suddenly become "murky" or unimportant. "Just a lone nut" shot Wallace, Reagan, and now Trump. The motives for a Jewish Doctor killing Huey Long also seem "Murky" and rarely get dicussed.

Old and slow said...

The motivation is unmistakable. He really HATES ears!

Leland said...

Democrats have to win at least one house of Congress. Anything less may result in investigations they don’t want to happen.

cfs said...

The media all have their articles out this weekend excusing the Secret Service failures. It's almost like they were written by those responsible for the failures, tweaked a bit for each media outlet, and distributed for publication.


So let's all just accept this level of incompetence because the alternative is too horrific to consider.

Big Mike said...

That’s some really good writing, that paragraph.

@Sally327, + 1

And IMAO not at all "lawyerly." Which is a good thing.

RCOCEAN II said...

Of course, the conspiracy nuts are already on the loose, thowing out black ink like an octopus, causing fear and confusion. And making any sensible discussion impossible.

Oh there was 2nd gunman, it was all staged, the shooter was killed to keep him from talking, Iran was involved, Ukraine was involve, Putin was involved, Israel was involved, the "Deep state" was involved. THe shooter was Jewish, the shooter was Neo-Nazi. Blah, Blah.

The idea that this nobody from nowhere Ohio was "Involved" with a foreign country in laughable on its face.

n.n said...

An ear [of corn] fetches a progressive price in the current [political] climate.

stillbill said...

I don't know if it is you or me, but when I try to cross post your articles to FB, more and more I get:
Updates on this decision
Why this happened
It looks like you tried to get likes, follows, shares or video views in a misleading way.
Bill Flynn
Jul 20, 2024
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2024/07/attacks-without-clear-motivation-arent.html
You shared this on your profile
This goes against our Community Standards on spam.
At this time I have at least a half a dozen appeals awaiting action :-)

Mason G said...

"for example, white nationalism melded with misogynistic 'incel' subcultures"

Yeah- the usual leftard bogeymen. Who didn't see that coming?

I don't suppose the fact that Trump has been called "literally Hitler" and "a threat to Our Democracy™" by the left pretty much since the shooter was old enough to be paying attention had anything to do with it, right?

n.n said...

Only right ears.

The target was right-handed people. Does ideology follow handedness?

J L Oliver said...

His parents were both psychology counselors. Enough said.

walter said...

"But I sure hope there's a pee tape involved."
Perp purportedly bragged about having a 10" dick.
Does that help?

doctrev said...

Dixcus said...

And we're just sitting here on our hands watching our government attempt to kill a candidate for the Presidency and a former President of the United States. We're just LETTING it happen too.

That is incredibly frustrating.

And I'll repeat my prediction: They are going to kill Donald Trump.

7/20/24, 11:46 AM

Here's a life hack: grow a spine. Trump's clearly not concerned, why should anyone else be freaking out?

walter said...

Blogger J L Oliver said...
His parents were both psychology counselors
--
Let's see the tox report.

Humperdink said...

RCOCEAN II said: "Of course, the conspiracy nuts are already on the loose, thowing out black ink like an octopus, causing fear and confusion. And making any sensible discussion impossible."

As long as the feds keep withholding information or what they do provide is farcical (steep roof) speculation will proliferate. Being upfront and honest is not in their DNA.

"The idea that this nobody from nowhere Ohio was "Involved" with a foreign country in laughable on its face."

He was from Bethel Park, Pa, an hour south of Butler. Having multiple encrypted accounts does give one pause. Plus no social media footprint? For a 20 year old?

Quayle said...

“Authorities have cited unclear or overlapping beliefs in recent plots….”

Sounds like the Authorities need to call in Experts to help them figure this one out. If they aren’t sure which Experts to call in, they probably need to consult with high-level people who are not authorized to speak to the press on the matter, to get some referrals.

Humperdink said...

From the NYPost: "There will be one key question lawmakers will seek to answer next week as they probe the near-assassination of former President Trump, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told The Post.

“The fundamental question is, why wasn’t that rooftop secure,” Jordan said. “That’s a fundamental question that needs to be answered.”

Jordan who heads the House Judiciary Committee, said FBI Director Christopher Wray will be called on the carpet to testify before Congress next week about the attempted assassination on July 13 at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa.
"

What a waste of time. I can tell you right now 95% of his answers will be "It's an ongoing investigation and therefore I cannot answer ...."

Mason G said...

"for example, white nationalism melded with misogynistic 'incel' subcultures"

Yeah- the usual leftard bogeymen. Who didn't see that coming?

I don't suppose the fact that Trump has been called "literally Hitler" and "a threat to Our Democracy™" by the left pretty much since the shooter was old enough to be paying attention had anything to do with it, right?

Wa St Blogger said...

Democrats have to win at least one house of Congress. Anything less may result in investigations they don’t want to happen.

Have to win enough seats to overcome the Collins/Murkowski coalition, and maybe there is no situation in which this happens as other GOPe will have "reasons" to vote no.

Achilles said...

Humperdink said...

From the NYPost: "There will be one key question lawmakers will seek to answer next week as they probe the near-assassination of former President Trump, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told The Post.

“The fundamental question is, why wasn’t that rooftop secure,” Jordan said. “That’s a fundamental question that needs to be answered.”

Jordan who heads the House Judiciary Committee, said FBI Director Christopher Wray will be called on the carpet to testify before Congress next week about the attempted assassination on July 13 at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa."


What a waste of time. I can tell you right now 95% of his answers will be "It's an ongoing investigation and therefore I cannot answer ...."

The main problem with this is that is not the fundamental question.

The fundamental question is why was Trump still on that stage when the Secret Service had eyes on a suspicious person with a gun crawling around a roof looking at Trump for 30 minutes.

You can argue and quibble albeit pathetically about whether that roof should be secured.

You cannot argue about letting Trump go out on that stage without telling him.

Jim Jordan is on the other side. He is trying to hide the obvious evil intent behind the facade of incompetence. DEI is the red herring here. People making fun of the incompetence of the agents are providing cover for the clearly planned and evil actions of the SS.

He keeps ending up in charge of these "investigating" "committees" that end up producing nothing and making Republicans look stupid. I think he will make this about DEI and try to hide the clear and obvious collaboration between the SS and FBI to make this happen.

cfkane1701 said...

From the moment this happened, people have been overthinking the idea of "motivation." It's understandable; something terrible happens and everybody wants to know why. Immediately. And because motive is rarely determined in 43 minutes like it is on "Law and Order," that gives us time to try to divine the motive based on the tiny scraps have to go on.

My tiny scrap was just looking at him. And then pictures of him in school. It didn't surprise me at all that he'd been bullied. Not good looking, kind of awkward, not very strong, perfect prey for the cruel peers he probably spent years trying to ingratiate himself to. And then one day he fell silent.

His motivation was to kill people and then to die. Social isolation like that makes you hate not just your life, but all life. People smiling in the street or at school fill you with anger. How dare someone be happy in a world that makes you miserable. The direct teasing pales compared to the indirect teasing of a world of happy, well-adjusted people.

The revenge is to cause pain. To hurt as many people as possible before you escape via your death. The revenge is to make your mark, to make the world remember you, to prove you weren't the helpless nerd everyone thought you were.

This guy wasn't trying to save the country from Donald Trump. He didn't care about the prospect of the money spigot being turned off to Ukraine, or a wall being built, or Democrats not being able to call the shots anymore. He wanted to hurt 50,000 people at once, kill someone famous, create in others the kind of pain he'd felt most of his life and then he wanted to be killed so his pain could come to an end.

His success is partial. We'll remember his name. The Comperatore family has been shattered. Two others were severely wounded. But his target lives, and through his instincts he inspired those 50,000 people and millions of others.

But Crooks' pain is over. In that way, he got what he wanted.

Deep State Reformer said...

What Crooks' "motivation was"? To f***ing KILL DONALD TRUMP that's what. The media and the Wreckers Party puts out logic & good sense defying misinformation as if it were really unknown and, the polls say, a good 40%+ of our fellow Americans believe it or at least SAY they do. It's not dark yet but it's getting there.

Rabel said...

I have to think that the fact that there was a nearly successful assassination attempt on a Presidential candidate and that the SS showed itself incapable of preventive it is weighing heavily on the minds of those who might consider jumping in as Biden's replacement.

Michelle Obama in particular. Maybe Kamala Harris too.

MadTownGuy said...

"Drink deeply and ideate about the right-wing morsels that might have swirled in the toxic soup of young Mr. Crooks's mind."

The hate that dare not speak its name.

Iman said...

Josephbleau? You should do Hardin a solid and share your tips about women. It would do him a world of good.

Aggie said...

All these crazy vectors popping up, as per normal, as the brighter internet sleuths try to resolve discrepancies. Who found out that he was flying drones around, 2 weeks before, where did that come from? How did he know that a Trump rally was planned there? What are the encrypted accounts all about, are they foreign banks or social media? Why was he kicked off the rifle team? Who wiped his social media accounts, and when? Why the clamp down on interviews of the people that knew him? And of course, what was the motivation besides some pitiful Fame-Seeking, Loser-Lifestyle story? Easy to make it look like a 'Things Aren't Adding Up' story at this early stage.

Mutaman said...

SoLastMillennium said...

"I am currently wondering if this is a Mead post based on its structure. That does raise the question if Mead has ever provided a post and how it would be marked."

Its pure Althouse. No one writes gibberish like she does.

Saint Croix said...

"He's Hitler."

"He's a Nazi."

"Lover of Nazis and Hitler."

"He's Hitler."

"Hitler is coming."

"Watch out for Hitler."

"We've got to stop Hitler."

"Why did somebody shoot at him? It's a mystery."

Leora said...

It used to be that law enforcement would tell you what the motive apparently was. Now they are not sure what the motives might be of someone shouting "Allahu AkBar" or "Death to the Jews." Lifelong leftist agitation is also discounted. We do hear about the supposed motives of every murderer of an immigrant or gay or trans person.

GRW3 said...

The politicized FBI and DOJ cannot be trusted to do this investigation. This needs a commission, like the Warren Commission. Right now, all the available information suggests we have to choose between two possibilities:
1) This was a result of stochastic terrorism, where the elements to generate the needed hate are present (check the overflowing file cabinet of "Trump is Hitler" diatribes) and then an operation is set up to give the actor an opportunity. Or,
2) The Secret Service, along with the FBI/DOJ, is massively incompetent and not able to perform its most basic function. A focus on DEI, including the fast-food experienced leader lean this way.

So, today's new conspiracy theory, ala possibility 1, is that suddenly, all the media who have been skipping Trump rallies showed up for this one. Did they get a tip something unusual is going to happen.

My conspiracy theory suggestion is that in the minutes they had this kid in sight they were able to identify him biometrically (as they said they did after the incident) and knew all about him. When he shot at the President, the NSA wiped his digital profile away. The FBI has his phone, and they went to his home to retrieve any written evidence (or manifesto).






Mason G said...

"we have to choose between two possibilities"

Three possibilities, maybe:

1)

or

2)

or

1) and 2).

Jim at said...

This 'lack of motive' thing has been driving me nuts for the last week.

We know his motive. Kill Trump.

The end.

Bob Boyd said...

So, Trump was shot by a soup nazi? Am I reading that right?

Drago said...

GRW3: "The politicized FBI and DOJ cannot be trusted to do this investigation. This needs a commission, like the Warren Commission."

A "commission" would change absolutely nothing. The "uniparty" is the uniparty for a reason.

The only "commission"/"committee" in my lifetime that yielded any interesting and "expose" type info on government operations/intent were the Church committee hearings.

Other than that, ALL the republican and democratical committee chairs and all the "respectable" "commission-appointee" types are compromised and useless DC players whose ONLY goals are to serve the interests of DC and their funders and to hide relevant info from the American people and to ensure no one is held accountable for anything.

The rule of Lemnity said...

Bob Boyd @ 4:44 🥫

Bob Boyd said...

Speaking of trying to figure out the motivations for attacks, my sources are telling me a CIA fishing boat off the coast of Venezuela caught a huge white shark the size of an even huger white shark and when they cut it open it had a UFO inside it, I know, but stay with me on this, okay, because it gets stranger, so they cut the UFO open and they found Bigfoot in there dead and when they cut Bigfoot open he had a space alien in his belly, so they kept going and they cut the space alien open and they found it had eaten a baby bigfoot, pretty sad, right, because they're cute and mischievous and stuff, but the CIA's analysts are now saying they think that's why Bigfoot killed and ate the space alien, to get even, but Bigfoot let his outrage overrule his common sense and didn't stop to think that he didn't know how to drive a UFO, so pretty soon he crashed into the ocean and that's when the huge white shark came along.

Dude1394 said...

A commission is where investigations go to die.

Bob Boyd said...

Authorities were similarly puzzled with regard to motivations the night the lights went out in Georgia, if you will recall, as evidenced by the actions of the big-bellied sheriff who grabbed his gun and said, "Why'd ya do it?"

Rusty said...

Mutaman speaks of gibberish without a hint of irony.

Drago said...

Mutaman: "Its pure Althouse. No one writes gibberish like she does."

Such a very, very little person. And it ain't about stature.

Drago said...

Rusty: "Mutaman speaks of gibberish without a hint of irony."

Envy, from a relative dunce, is never an attractive thing.

MayBee said...

Surely this was an entrapment situation gone awry. Like the attack in Dallas that was the FBI pushing an attack on Pamela Geller, or if they’d forgotten to stop the Whitmer kidnapping.

Mutaman said...


Drago said...



"Such a very, very little person. And it ain't about stature."

"And I kept standing six-feet-one
Instead of five-feet-two
And I loved my life
And I hated you"

Drago said...

Mutaman: "And I kept standing six-feet-one
Instead of five-feet-two
And I loved my life
And I hated you"

I am guessing you meant for this to mean something.

Alas.

Jimmy said...

Sally327 said...
“ We're supposed to stand back while the officials mull it all over, perhaps to tell us years from now that one can never really know the inside of anyone else's head. But until that modern-day equivalent of the Warren Report issues from the earnest authorities, please note that the Justice Department has bellied up to the bar of your mind and ordered a diabolical cocktail of white nationalism melded with misogynistic incel subculture and garnished with satanic neo-Nazism. Drink deeply and ideate about the right-wing morsels that might have swirled in the toxic soup of young Mr. Crooks's mind.

That’s some really good writing, that paragraph."
I couldn't agree more Sally.
Our host has been on a writing jag of late. Some of the best of her writings since I began reading this blog, decade ago.
the above is like Hunter Thompson meets Chris Hitchens, and they all have coffee with Joan Didion. Seriously, I really enjoy that paragraph, it rolls around on the tongue so nicely.

Oso Negro said...

@Achilles - brother, the fundamental question is not “why” Trump was still on that stage. The fundamental question is “WHO was the decider for the SS on-site that day?” All that information gathered by the various security entities filtered to a commander. Who was that? Say the name and let us consider the person.

Achilles said...

Oso Negro said...

@Achilles - brother, the fundamental question is not “why” Trump was still on that stage. The fundamental question is “WHO was the decider for the SS on-site that day?” All that information gathered by the various security entities filtered to a commander. Who was that? Say the name and let us consider the person.

This is a more full list of command decisions and I will put them in order of importance just for fun:

1. Who let Trump on that stage knowing that there was a person on a roof with a gun that they were watching for 10 minutes before the shots.

2. Who let Trump on that stage when a picture was passed to the SS of a suspicious person climbing up and down on a roof with a spotter scope and a gun 30 minutes before the shots.

3. If you publicly state the AGR Buildings are "Outside the Perimeter" why do you have government agents in them? And why were they watching the shooter through the second story windows rather than interdicting him?

4. Who set the personnel roster. Someone stripped a large number of agents and sent them to Jill Biden's detail. Just looking from here it looks like they stripped all but the interns and DEI hires. Sure seems like they left a detail of traitors and dupes with Trump.

5. Who signed off on the Perimeter Security plan. Not covering that roof is just the first obvious failure. No black side on that parking lot and water tower tree line and the other lake/tree line is also a major issue.

6. Who signed off on the Comms plan. There was obviously no cross-agency channel.

7. Who decided to blame all of this on the local police.