While the investigation continues, and we learn more about the young man who stupidly (yes, I said it) took shots at former President Trump Saturday evening, the question of motive has of course come up.
Unusually for this day and age, he had little online presence, making trying to figure out motive more difficult.
Then there is the fact that he is a registered Republican while his target was likewise Republican, a seeming contradiction. Some have suggested he registered Republican only to vote in primaries, quite plausible.
A guest expert on NBC this weekend suggested the motive likely had to do with the shooter’s wish for “infamy”. But even then, it would be typical for the shooter to have a “manifesto” or something, some indication of reason. So far, we have nothing.
There was an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, where a murderer (played to creepy perfection by Brad Dourif), basically says to Tuvok (who is investigating) that he did it because “I didn’t like the way he looked at me”. Tuvok had been trying desperately to figure out motive, and then finds that the answer is something he would never, ever have considered as a motive.
And I think that’s what we have here.
There is no evidence this shooter was motivated by left wing ideology or rhetoric. But there’s also not any good evidence that the shooter targeted Trump because of Trump’s violent rhetoric. So it stands to reason I would say, that the motive did not have anything at all to do with any political ideology. Therefore, I’m convinced the answer is going to be less John Wilkes Booth and more John Hinkley, though there may not be a specific woman that shooter was trying to “impress”, or one at all.
It may have been less love for a women than it was love of guns. The shooter did have past experience with guns, but reports are that he wasn’t a particularly good shot. He was also wearing a T-shirt from a pro-gun group. Or, it could have been a perceived need to ”prove” something to some elusive somebody, or even himself, that he could do such a thing.
Lastly, I think part of why it happened was simply opportunity. The Trump rally was more or less in his backyard, he felt he needed to prove something or impress someone, and he did it, despite how dangerous it was to him and despite his having to know that if he missed his target he would likely kill innocent bystanders. I suspect if it had been a Biden rally in the same location at the same time, he still would have attempted the act (but we have no way of knowing how different the outcome could have been for many, many reasons).
So that’s it, that’s my what I consider a completely non-CT theory, just a theory, as to the shooter’s motive.
I do think it is going to be somewhere close to the truth, and, like others have said, there is no reason for Democrats to think they have to alter their message going forward. We are not the ones calling for violence. We need to keep pointing out the dangers of a Trump presidency and the likelihood of any Republican elected to implement some or all of the disaster that is Project 2025.