Reports about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old registered Republican who took a shot at Donald Trump, suggest he was groomed — a word Republicans like to use — by right-wing groups to commit violence.
According to NBC News and other media reports, Crooks had access to more than a dozen guns in his home, including the AR-15 Crooks used to target Trump. Research has repeatedly found that people who live in homes with guns are at greater risk of being victims of gun violence and more likely to assault others.
On the day of the shooting, Crooks was wearing a shirt from Demolition Ranch, an online business with a YouTube channel, that focuses on guns. The folks who run Demolition Ranch said they don’t promote violence and they are upset about the shootings.
However, they certainly do glorify guns, the power of the weapons they promote and the violence these weapons do to various targets, as demonstrated on their channel.
The desensitization to violence is real and common in young men who are frequently exposed to violence. Add to the mix a steady stream of right-wing rhetoric and violence promoted by politicians, a young man can surely be groomed to commit violent acts.
The AR-15 assault rifle used to shoot Trump is proudly promoted by MAGA Republicans, who wear pins on their lapels in the shape of a miniature AR-15 rifle. This was the same weapon used at Sandy Hook Elementary and other schools to kill dozens of young children. This association does not seem to bother the Republicans wearing the pins.
Trump has used violent-laden speech against opponents, Democrats and Republicans, for the past eight years, starting with his campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016. I will not go through that long history — one can Google it — but his violent rhetoric continues in the current presidential campaign, including the threat of violence that will occur, he says, if he is not elected.
During a March 16, 2024, campaign rally in Ohio, Trump said, “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, one of the opening-day speakers at the Republican National Convention, frequently engages in violent speech on the campaign trail. Last month, he said “Some folks need killing! It’s time for somebody to say it.”
In Robinson’s mind, he is on the side of God while he describes his opponents, as “evil,” “wicket people,” and “people who have evil intent.” He has talked about going “into battle and take the head of your enemy in God’s name.”
Robinson is noted for defending the AR-15 assault rifle after school shootings. He has verbally threatened the police and the FBI, who he suggested without evidence, might try to take away his AR-15. The “first thing you’re going to catch,” Robinson warned them, “is the .223 or .556 bullet headed straight to you.”
Perhaps Crooks has been listening to folks like Robinson. Words have power and they are influential to young minds. People in powerful positions need to consider how they can influence others. Sometimes, their words might come back to bite them.
During her campaign in 2022, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green posted a campaign video in which she aimed her assault rifle at the camera saying she was going to “blow away the Democrats’ socialist agenda.”
Several MAGA Republicans include pictures of themselves with assault rifles in campaign literature.
Recently, Donald Trump Jr. reposted a fake image of President Joe Biden bound and gagged in the back of a pickup truck. A few months ago, during a fundraiser for the Kansas State Republican Party, attendees paid to kick and punch an effigy of Biden.
Then, of course, there is the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack and the police trying to protect members of Congress from Trump supporters chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”
After inspiring his supporters to march to the capitol and reminding them “you’ll never take back our country with weakness,” Trump watched the attack on television for hours after many people were killed or injured, before asking his supporters to stop and go home.
Today, he promises to pardon all of them, including those who attacked police officers with a variety of weapons from flag poles to tasers.
Melania Trump issued a statement asking all Americans to “ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence.” Does she believe her husband’s attempt to overturn a presidential election on Jan. 6 was an example of “simple-minded ideas that ignite violence?”
During the Capitol attack, according to aides, Melania Trump refused to ask her husband to call off the attackers.
According to Trump’s former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Trump wanted protesters outside the White House shot. “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something” Trump asked, according to Esper.
Trump also publicly tweeted the idea of shooting protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted the president immunity, those wishes might become a reality when and if Trump is back in the White House.
There is a double standard from Trump regarding the treatment of protesters as demonstrated by his support for his protesters trying to overturn a presidential election vs. those who protest for civil rights, voting rights and other democratic causes.
He promotes violence when it promotes his position of power, but demands silence for those trying to keep democracy alive in America.
Republicans in Congress have repeatedly refused to stand up to gun manufacturers and support reasonable gun control to protect ordinary Americans. As demonstrated by Trump’s shooting, gun violence hurts everyone, Democrats and Republicans. A shooter with an assault rifle who randomly kills children in school is unaware of their parents’ political affiliation.
Trump demands gun violence protection from the Secret Service while the rest of us have to live with constant fear of a random shooter. Guns are not allowed in the White House nor at any of Trump’s campaign rallies.
Republicans in Congress don’t allow guns in the U.S. Capitol building where they work. Most Republican-led state houses don’t allow guns and visitors must pass through metal detectors.
While Republicans pass more laws allowing for the open carry of weapons in our communities, Trump and other Republicans are demanding wider security measures for themselves.
Republicans in Congress want to hold hearings on the president’s security after he had his ear pierced by a bullet from an AR-15. Where are their demands for hearings as our children are gunned down in their classrooms?
Tom Zirpoli is the Laurence J. Adams distinguished chair of special education emeritus at McDaniel College. He writes from Westminster. His column appears on Wednesdays. Email him at tzirpoli@mcdaniele.edu.
