Edit: I read the wiki. TL;DR he is 20 and registered as a Republican when he turned 18. He donated a small sum to a progressive PAC as well.
So kinda a Republican but information so far doesn't really point at him having deep rooted conservative ideals. Again this is just summarizing the wiki so new info probably will make this out of date.
Maybe deep rooted isn't what I wanted to say. I agree that the current GOP is a cynical engine built to enrich the wealthy, but the base they have cultivated truly believe in the bullshit they spout, even if it is only maybe 8 years old.
I guess that is what I meant. The shooter was a kid and wiki didn't seem to I indicate a ton of maga social media stuff.
All that being said there is already new info so I am out of date.
From what I understand he wasn't the one who made the donation, it was some 69 year old guy with the same name. This hasn't been fully confirmed yet though.
Please add your sources for this. I can only find people saying the same thing but all without sources. Some claim it's everywhere on the socials.. Which does not qualify as more than gossip for now.
This is the record for the donation that the news reported. On the document it states the city of the donor as being "Pittsburgh" and there is another person named Thomas Crooks that lives in Pittsburgh. But the zip code is to "Bethel Park" the town the shooter was from. The street address on the document doesn't seem to matches any street address in Pittsburgh but there is one in Bethel Park according to Google maps.
So I think it probably was the shooter that made the donation.
Eh as much as I want to agree with you that doesn’t mean much if he did it just to vote against Trump in the primaries or something. The donation to act Blue is going to be all the right cares about unless it is crystal clear he was voting Republican, and unfortunately the right messages better than the left right now and any attempt at nuance will be drowned out by “he donated to liberal groups.” People leaning or more “moderate” will go with the right’s narrative most likely unless he truly was a Republican.
Even if the shooter had voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 the Repiblicans would spin it as him being a Democrat who just hadn't changed parties because they lie about everything.
The shooter was too young for any voting history to matter anyway. He was a registered Republican and that is the only thing that matters until there is documented evidence that the registration was for any reason other than choosing to be a Republican.
How you are registered is not always indicative of your beliefs or how you vote. I'd rather see what he has said on social media or things he's written personally to figure out more about him. My friends and family don't know how I'm registered or how I vote (not really), but they know my belief structure and I vote as true to that as I can, and I suspect that is the case for 99.99% of voters.