As to motivations for murder

[misanthrope]

Trying to apply reason to a senseless act is silliness. No one wondered what John Hinckley’s or Arthur Bremer’s or Squeaky Fromme's political motivations were because they were severely mentally disturbed. Sirhan Sirhan and Garfield assassin Charles Guiteau — even though he wanted a job as NY port commissioner — were cuckoo. Or those who shot at FDR and TR. or Mark David Chapman. The list goes on.

The only POTUS assassination attempt that might be called truly political was Lincoln’s and John Wilkes Booth’s deck of cards was missing two aces, a king and had a couple extra jokers. Maybe JFK, but that's a stretch because Oswald tried to kill Edwin Walker prior to killing JFK. Maybe McKinley’s assassin or the Puerto Rican guys who shot on the Blair House when Truman was there. But even then it was more likely the craziness latching onto politics as rationale for senseless acts.

Robinson is more likely to end up being of the same mold as Bremen or Fromme. Or even Hinckley. Check his streaming history to see how many time he watched White Lotus and when/how long he paused the DVR to pleasure himself to Sydney Sweeney.

Same for the crazy-ass jackasses that shoot up schools. The sole fact someone would plan and carry out an act like this throws standard rationale out the window.

But none of that changes the fact we're a nation awash in firearms.

[LeftInTX]

1. There was no real motivation to kill Charlie Kirk. I didn't like him, but what would it accomplish????

So, I agree that act is pretty senseless.

Once again, I never agreed with him on anything, but what would killing him accomplish?

[Ocelot II]

2. Quite true - most assassinations in modern times have not been overtly political,

at least in the sense of having been motivated by clealy conservative vs. clearly liberal ideologies. Guiteau shot Garfield because he had campaigned for Garfield and thought he was owed a government job that he didn't get. It's still not clear why Oswald shot JFK; some think he did it so Cuba would accept his defection. It's fair to say that any kind of assassination, even ordinary murder, is not the act of a mentally stable person. The killer of Melissa Hortman focused on Democratic politicians but for warped and extreme religious reasons.Tyler Robinson seems to have been sucked into some kind of completely online world that doesn't recognize conventional politics at all. It's a big mistake to look at these incidents as one political side vs. the other. It's not binary like that, and there's a whole lot of crazy involved.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Identifying motive is part of the legal process.

It helps strengthen the case in court, answers the question about why the crime was committed.
And gives the judge some idea about mental status and proper punishment.

For example the psychologists doing the evaluations on this guy are going to ask for
his motives for committing the murder. The answer will give them important information
about the shooter. Whether he is not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) or does not fit
the criteria.

If he was psychotic at the time of murder or not.

Helps the judge determine how to proceed with the case.

The public also likes information about motive to help resolve their feelings about the case.
It is part of human coping strategies, to find the black box with answers.

[misanthrope]

4. Understand and agree

I just think it helps to temper ourselves and our expectations.

[Irish_Dem]

7. Most all human behavior is goal driven.

The goals may not be rational, but make sense to the person doing the behavior.

Mental health professionals spent their careers trying to understand motives
behind human behavior.

The psych people doing the interviews are going to do a deep dive into this guy's psyche.
To find out what is going on with him.
The why and how he did the crime.

The thing is when you do these kind of interviews you really never know what you are
going to hear. You go in with an open mind and listen to the story and facts.

[Blue Full Moon]

5. They want permission from tRump to attack liberals.

They are setting this up as Triumph of the Will ritual. Using Kirk for Wessel. His widows speech sounded like a stanza from the Horst Wessel song. Loomer said he was a traitor. Fuentes said he was an enemy. It whipped up the Nazis and they are wanting the same for MAGA faithful. He double crossed tRump and tRump wants the Epstein files swept under the rug. The democrats need to have the Charlie Kirk Memorial Bill to Release the Epstein Files.

[hlthe2b]

6. I don't know the motivation(s) but that does not mean they are not present nor knowable except, as you say

with the mentally ill or those who do not know themselves--or refuse to give voice to them.

Sometimes it is deducible (or at least largely so) the more facts come out. Right now, it seems even MSM is being manipulated by selected "facts," memes, or that which may or may not be "real."

We shall see (or not). In the meantime, I see a lot of harm and incitement in what the RW MAGA are doing with their constant finger-pointing, memes, and ugly rhetoric. So, I hope it is not too late for the media to wake up to their role and responsibilities.

[StarryNite]

9. I'm not holding my breath for them to wake up.

We have been waiting for them to wake up about dump for ten years and they still haven't.

[LeftInTX]

8. I think Robinson may have had a video game addiction.

He had a Presidential Scholarship and dropped out after the first semester.

My son was a National Hispanic Scholar. He had a full ride scholarship. Fortunately, it was to a university in town, although he lived in the dorm. He was flunking at the end of the semester. We pulled him out of the dorm. Made him plead with the scholarship benefactors. Put parental control software on his computer. He retained his scholarship. He graduated and has been working as an engineer for 10 years. But it was not easy!!!


Video game addiction is a real addiction. If it prevents significant academic, social or career achievement, it can probably cause other detrimental issues. We were lucky in our case.

Just throwing that out there.

[Retrograde]

10. I think Czolgosz's murder of McKinley had some political motivations

Anarchist philosophies were on the uprise around that time, in Europe as well as the US, and some European politicians had been assassinated in recent years. But IMHO looking for political motivations - or any motivations, for that matter - take away from the main cause of deaths from firearms: easy, cheap, and ready access. With more states allowing open carry things will get even worse. What will it take to get the "well regulated militia" clause back into the 2nd amendment?

Historical tidbit: the gun used to shoot McKinley is in the Erie County Historical Museum in Buffalo. It was on prominent display in their exhibit on the 1901 Pan-American Exposition back in 2001. It's the only presidential assassination weapon not in the possession of the US government.