is there acceptance that Kirk's killer was indeed a groyper/right winger?

[drray23]

I mean, we seem convinced over here, given what was learned the past few days. I have not seen much change in attitude from the right-wingers on social media.
They just shifted their arguments to say he was from a "good family" but got turned leftist by the university he attended for less than six months in Utah (not the one where the shooting occurred).

Did politicians like Nancy Mace and the like reverse their tune ?

[DBoon]

1. of course not

Right wingers believe changing your opinion based on new evidence is a sign of weakness and a woke mentality.

Right wingers believe their opinions are stronger than facts.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. why would they? who cares whether they do or not?

[drray23]

5. I care that the general public does.

Otherwise, this is how these things fester and create further animosity and possibly, copycats or extremists going after university professors and democrats.
This already started yesterday. We had several campuses on lockdown over here where I am (Hampton University). Several of my colleagues (profs and grad students) are over there.

[Ocelot II]

3. I don't think there are a lot of leftist universities in Utah,

let alone one that can turn a Republican Mormon into a left-wing assassin in one semester. Whether Robinson is an actual groyper isn't clear yet, but what is clear is that he wasn't motivated by left-wing ideology. They're just trying to figure out how to get all that egg off their faces.

[LeftInTX]

10. SLC had a large No-Kings march in June (Same day as the MN shooting)

And there were numerous No-Kings marches across the state.

There are people of all political walks at various education levels everywhere. (84,000 people voted for Kamala in the county that the university was in).

Demographics of the area, does not indicate the politics of shooter. Mass shooters are generally aberrant and don't fit the norms.

This guy seems to fit "mass shooter" profile with a "shock shooting". Although he didn't kill others, he did create terror.

[rollin74]

16. Is he a Republican?

His voter registration shows that he is an inactive voter with no party affiliation

[Ocelot II]

17. His family are all registered Republicans. He's apparently never voted at all.

[Fiendish Thingy]

18. It will be interesting to see what is introduced as evidence at his trial

And who testifies, and what they say.

It could be revelatory, or it could be a propagandist shit show.

At least there will be a trial, unless he pleads out, in which case we may get to hear from Robinson himself.

[Ocelot II]

19. My guess is that he'll plead guilty to avoid the death penalty

if that offer is made - although I'm pretty sure the PTB will want his head on a pike. Or maybe they won't be quite so eager to execute him if the evidence establishes that he's not an evil liberal but a right-winger who shot Kirk for not being right-wing enough. So far, though, it looks like he's just another fucked-up young guy who got drawn into some kind of online weirdness and figured he had to make a name for himself.

[Fiendish Thingy]

20. Emptywheel has some good discussion on possible gamer motives/influences

https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/09/12/gamer-culture-and-guns/

[yardwork]

4. The Republicans will never reverse their tune.

The media seem to be whitewashing the killer now. They've moved to the mushy middle but aren't correcting anything.

The killer seems to be a person who spent a lot of time online and got immersed in a foolish, childish, unserious kind of behavior.

I don't think it's possible to interpret his beliefs along the lines of a rational commitment to a particular ideology. His silly messages reference online games and banter.

He's definitely not a Democrat or progressive. He's a garden variety Gen Z right winger who doesn't have a clue how things actually work.

[LeftInTX]

11. Bingo! Nailed it!

[RandomNumbers]

6. Not by me, at least not 100%

I'm convinced he was immersed in a video game subculture that fetishized violence and happened to use some memes that are also associated with the Groyper movement.

I'm convinced that he was registered to vote as an Independent but didn't bother to vote in the last couple elections, indicating either a) disinterest, b) sense of insignificance, or c) disorganization.

I think there is as much evidence (meaning, thin) that he was a young person developing schizophrenia (right age) and with other mental health issues, as that he was a committed member of any specific political group.

It's mostly speculation at this point.

One thing that I think we can bank on, he was not a left-wing activist or radicalized by left-wing propaganda, as the reich-wing wants us to believe.

[yardwork]

13. I'd also wondered about schizophrenia, until I learned more about the messages.

They sounded like psychotic gibberish at first but now we've learned they're just typical dumb memes and online banter popular among some Gen Z kids.

But who knows.

[rollin74]

7. At this point, I'm not convinced that Tyler Robinson

is a right-winger

I have yet to see any real evidence of that, only people guessing

Personally, I think it’s wise to wait for more information and evidence to come out

[Ocelot II]

9. I'm not sure that he has any definable ideology.

So far he seems to fall into the usual category of disturbed young men who are strongly, maybe almost exclusively, influenced by online sources, particularly gaming. What does seem clear is that he isn't a left-winger.

[Johnny2X2X]

12. I have seen zero evidence he's left wing

Plenty of evidence he’s Right Wing, but zero he’s a leftist. We don’t know yet what the motive was, but there is no indication he’s a liberal.

[C_U_L8R]

8. Republicans don't let truth get in the way

of a good attack narrative.

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. The media is still playing catch up

Vanity Fair had a good piece this morning that covered all the reported origins of the sayings on the bullets, summarizing by saying it wasn’t an indication of clear left/right ideology, but more of being terminally online, a common feature of Kirk’s followers.

Other outlets are still repeating misinformation; CBC quoted the Utah Governor’s comments about Robinson, while also noting some, but not all, of the video game and internet origins of the bullet inscriptions. The Guardian was simply reporting the inscriptions as UN-ironic, sincere anti-fascist statements, with no mention of the video game and groyper connections.

Hopefully, the updated reporting by some responsible outlets will spread to others.

[Silent Type]

21. I think it's tough determing his political affiliation, if any, at that age. I think he is more likely a "disaffactive"

22 year old similar to most shooters nowadays.

Both sides are definitely working overtime to put Robinson in the other camp, but don't think it's that simple. In the meantime, the madness goes on.

[Johonny]

23. Yup, people need people to fit into labeled boxes

But people often don't have coherent ideology that map onto our preconceived US versus Them modern politics.

None of this will prevent future school shootings.

[uponit7771]

22. The M$M isn't allowing this cause they jumped in MAGA narrative and got it wrong

[Kaleva]

24. I'm waiting for more info