# Motivation for July 13th Trump shooting: speculation, conjecture, moving to evidence supported hypothesis **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [July 14, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219 "2024-07-14T20:07:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/141 "2024-07-21T19:24:22Z")
RFK Jr., I think you mean. Twenty-five years too late for JFK Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/142 "2024-07-21T19:54:56Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Twenty-five years too late for JFK Jr. Somebody needs to brush up on their QAnon theories. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/143 "2024-09-07T00:02:48Z")
I’m sure someone has already advanced this theory, but… Foreshadowing for the coming REAL assassination. See…it’s all about Project 2025. And Vance is gonna have to bring it on. BUT…he’s too unlikeable to get elected on a national stage. So they team him Trump. It wasn’t Trump’s idea, believe me. And the plan is… Trump gets elected…then they turn on him. Either they feed all his crimes and _proof_ to the Democrats and let him get impeached and convicted. If that doesn’t work (because the Democrats are toothless and Pubbies are too scared to act against him, he gets assassinated. Because even Project 2025 guys know Trump is unhinged and totally unable to follow a script for 30 seconds, THEN Vance gets in and takes the lead on Project 2025. Trump was not included in any discussions, of course. Then America goes to Hell. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/144 "2024-09-07T00:39:56Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I’m sure someone has already advanced this theory, but… That’s not a theory, it’s the plot of an unpublished Robert Ludlum novel. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/145 "2024-09-07T14:30:19Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Then America goes to Hell. Uh, its already there. Now we are just experiencing levels of hell. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/146 "2024-09-08T20:20:01Z")
**Roundup of newish articles on Thomas Matthew Crooks** [The perp scored higher than 1500 on his PSATs](https://www.thedailybeast.com/fbi-thomas-matthew-crooks-had-sat-score-high-enough-for-harvard). He would routinely sway back and forth at the bus stop, possibly due to an undiagnosed disorder. He searched online for public apperances of politicians from both parties. FBI found no evidence of anyone else involved in attack. This implies to me that the perp was pursuing mayhem, similar to most school shooters. His high intelligence is an unusual characteristic for assassins in general, never mind school shooters. Most mass shooters had histories of violence, [unlike Crooks](https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2024/08/11/thomas-crooks-butler-trump-rally-shooting/stories/202408110072). They have yet to find anything like a manifesto. I was dubious about the, “We may never know” hypothesis last July, but am no longer: we still don’t know the motives of the 64 year old Las Vegas shooter who killed 60 people seven years ago. Then again, 6 hours of You-tube audio was uncovered about the Sandy Hook gunman a full 9 years after his crime. University of Buffalo professor Lindsey Hahn believes she has worked out the motives for 2/3s of her mass shooter sample, indicating to me that clear or at least probable explanations for these sorts of crimes are by no means given. I suspect though that this crime will receive a lot more rigorous investigation than other mass shootings do, even high profile ones. At the very least, I think some motives (eg ideological ones) will be ruled out as unlikely. The perp attack planning was time consuming and [detailed](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/08/28/fbi-new-details-trump-assassination-attempt/74982956007/). From April to July 2024, “Crooks searched campaign events for both Trump and President Joe Biden, including events that were scheduled to happen in western Pennsylvania.” His searches concerning explosive devices started in September 2019. He may have posted 700 comments on a certain online platform in 2019-2020, [including anti-Semitic and anti-immigration views](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/07/30/trump-assassination-attempt-fbi-secret-service-hearing-takeaways/74603848007/). Maybe. There’s also evidence that he posted pro-immigrant views on Gab, a far-right platform. His family has reportedly cooperated with investigators. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/147 "2024-09-08T20:38:06Z")
Also: Trump assassination conspiracy theories go here: > [@Trump Assassination Attempt Conspiracies](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-assassination-attempt-conspiracies/1004723): > > I hear there are several conspiracy theories surrounding the attempt on Trump’s life, regarding how the shooter got so close, and the Secret Service. One was that the agent who shot was fired for not getting permission. Others I’m sure about SS complicity and Dem involvement. So I’m wondering about creating a counter CT. My idea is that the assassination attrmpt was actually a set up by Trump’s team to create a spectacle that they could blame on Dems, and create exactly the kind of hero worsh… ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/148 "2024-09-09T04:57:04Z")
Scratch that ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/149 "2024-09-10T15:47:12Z")
Because I’m sure she had a rollercoaster of emotions when she heard that he’d been shot, but only wounded. > **[Melania Trump questions Trump assassination attempt story: 'We need to...](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/10/melania-trump-questions-trump-assassination-attempt.html)** > > The tweet by Melania Trump promoting her new book came hours before Donald Trump was due to debate Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/150 "2024-09-10T21:09:37Z")
Was that an actual human being speaking or some kind of filtered, AI facsimile of Melania Trump? This never happens without the book tie-in. The grift goes on and on and on. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219/151 "2024-09-10T21:12:18Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Was that an actual human being speaking or some kind of filtered, AI facsimile of Melania Trump? I’m leaning to AI. Glad to see the conspiracy theory genetics in the Trump family aren’t limited to blood relations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motivation-for-july-13th-trump-shooting-speculation-conjecture-moving-to-evidence-supported-hypothesis/1004219.md?page=7)