The Trump Presidency 2.0

[RainMaker]

$100k reward to the Dad? Found a way to get his loser kid out of the house and pay off his mortgage.

I think the Valhalla stuff is cheesy but don't really get the criticism. It's just an expression people use. I doubt he was summoning Pagan Gods.

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

They released a picture of the "person of interest." Just looking at the pic and knowing it's Utah, I'm increasing my personal odds of it being a Nick Fuentes type from 5%, where I had it yesterday, to 20%.

Looks like you nailed it.

[Lathum]

It is pretty wild to watch the right wing ecosystem try and figure out how to handle that this was clearly one of their own.

So far the run away theme I can see is he was radicalized in college despite dropping out after one semester.

Nancy Mace has also done a head spinning about face. She was on CNN today screeching about how all the violent rhetoric comes from the left and they are responsible for Kirks death to tweeting Kirk would have wanted people to pray for the killer to find Jesus.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Lathum

It is pretty wild to watch the right wing ecosystem try and figure out how to handle that this was clearly one of their own

*insert Frank Drebin "Nothing to see here, please disperse" gif*

[miami_fan]

It appears that this feud has been percolating for longer than I thought.

https://www.newsweek.com/groyper-cha...uentes-2129114

[Ghost Econ]

Imagine getting killed by a bullet with a furry meme on it.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Lathum

It is pretty wild to watch the right wing ecosystem try and figure out how to handle that this was clearly one of their own.

So far the run away theme I can see is he was radicalized in college despite dropping out after one semester.

Nancy Mace has also done a head spinning about face. She was on CNN today screeching about how all the violent rhetoric comes from the left and they are responsible for Kirks death to tweeting Kirk would have wanted people to pray for the killer to find Jesus.

Sadly she is likely going to be the new governor here in SC

[Lathum]

I am hearing a lot of people on the right screaming they are tired of being called fascists and nazis.

There is a super easy solution to that, stop acting like fascists and nazis.

Stop trying to silence the press, stop trying to gerrymander and rig elections, stop banning books and attacking education, stop stripping people of their rights, stop deploying the military in the streets, stop asking people for their papers, etc...

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

I get that the memes are niche and could be missed by police/agencies, but misinterpreting the TRN stamped on the ammo as pro-trans support is either disqualifying incompetent or outright propaganda.

But it didn't happen There were literal engravings on the bullets.


Everything I am reading on this is showing how biased we all are on the information we take in. The Right is still completely convinced that he was radicalized lefty, while the Left are all claiming he was a Groyper. From the little verified information I have actually seen, it looks like he was more left than Far-Far Right, but again there is just very little actually verfied. If he did actually say to family members that Kirk was going to be on campus to "spew hate", that doesn't seem to be a Right-Wing talking point.

[JPhillips]

It's unclear to me whether he said that or a family member said that.

[RainMaker]

He does seem pretty tied into right-wing internet culture and grew up in about as conservative environment as you can find complete with gun fetishization. There's photos of him dressed as Trump for Halloween as well as some 4chan groyper meme.

It may not be all that politically motivated. Could just be a bored loner who decided to do it. Similar to the Butler shooter.

Feels like society doesn't give the attention to mass shootings much any more so maybe these people are shifting toward targeted assassinations of people for the attention.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

He does seem pretty tied into right-wing internet culture and grew up in about as conservative environment as you can find complete with gun fetishization. There's photos of him dressed as Trump for Halloween as well as some 4chan groyper meme.

It may not be all that politically motivated. Could just be a bored loner who decided to do it. Similar to the Butler shooter.

Feels like society doesn't give the attention to mass shootings much any more so maybe these people are shifting toward targeted assassinations of people for the attention.

In that age range your political beliefs can change really quickly based on who you're around, your online friends, and how impressionable you are. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility that he was a right winger that held some leftist beliefs as rebellion against his family or whatever.

We want to put everything in a nice box, but irrational events don't come from places of rational thought.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

It's unclear to me whether he said that or a family member said that.

There is a lot unclear. I saw what was reportedly the messages he sent to his roommate about hiding the gun. If they were true, they again made it look like he was against MAGA and considered Kirk a facist spreading hate. There were also supposed to be some anti-Kirk TikToks he did that sounded more Anti-facist than Far Right coded. Even the Halloween costume Rainmaker mentions could go either way. It is him riding on the shoulders of Trump, not dressing as Trump. That could be either being a Trump supporter or he could have been making fun of the costume.
He does sound sound like he is chronically online. That may make it more likely he was Right-coded, but there is plenty of Lefty stuff online as well. It is just what extremist soup he was swimming in.

[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

But it didn't happen There were literal engravings on the bullets.


Everything I am reading on this is showing how biased we all are on the information we take in. The Right is still completely convinced that he was radicalized lefty, while the Left are all claiming he was a Groyper. From the little verified information I have actually seen, it looks like he was more left than Far-Far Right, but again there is just very little actually verfied. If he did actually say to family members that Kirk was going to be on campus to "spew hate", that doesn't seem to be a Right-Wing talking point.

What didn't happen? The etched phrases seem to be 4chan and gamer memes. There was nothing supporting trans ideology as was broadly and irresponsibly reported.

The right has been frothing at the mouth for days over anyone to the right of Reagan. Do you think they're going to be able to handle the cognitive dissonance in real-time?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

What didn't happen? The etched phrases seem to be 4chan and gamer memes. There was nothing supporting trans ideology as was broadly and irresponsibly reported.

The right has been frothing at the mouth for days over anyone to the right of Reagan. Do you think they're going to be able to handle the cognitive dissonance in real-time?

That the police took the maker's mark as Trans propaganda. It was the actual engravings they were suggesting were. I'm not saying they were right, but your post was suggesting the police were so dumb they thought a maker's mark was Tran propaganda, and thry did not.

[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

That the police took the maker's mark as Trans propaganda. It was the actual engravings they were suggesting were. I'm not saying they were right, but your post was suggesting the police were so dumb they thought a maker's mark was Tran propaganda, and thry did not.

Here are some examples clearly indicating law enforcement sources:

Daily Beast:
"Bullets recovered after Charlie Kirk’s assassination were engraved with “transgender and antifascist ideology,” a law enforcement source "

WSJ:
"An earlier version of this article detailed how an internal law enforcement bulletin said that ammunition recovered following the Charlie Kirk shooting was engraved with expressions of “transgender and anti-fascist ideology." Justice Department officials later urged caution about the bulletin by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying it may not accurately reflect the messages on the ammunition, and the article was updated Thursday to reflect that."

[Ghost Econ]

I know it's that he just really bad with words, but the Utah governor seemed to really want it to be a Muslim, trans, black person from Chicago or Syria.

It's been fun trying to explain all this to my wife. She had never heard or Charlie Kirk before all this and definitely doesn't know who Nick Fuentes is. It actually seems kinda nice to be her.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

Here are some examples clearly indicating law enforcement sources:

Daily Beast:
"Bullets recovered after Charlie Kirk’s assassination were engraved with “transgender and antifascist ideology,” a law enforcement source "

WSJ:
"An earlier version of this article detailed how an internal law enforcement bulletin said that ammunition recovered following the Charlie Kirk shooting was engraved with expressions of “transgender and anti-fascist ideology." Justice Department officials later urged caution about the bulletin by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying it may not accurately reflect the messages on the ammunition, and the article was updated Thursday to reflect that."

But it was NOT the "TNR" stamp that they misinterpreted as you claimed. It was the meme engravings, which are pretty easy to misunderstand.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

I know it's that he just really bad with words, but the Utah governor seemed to really want it to be a Muslim, trans, black person from Chicago or Syria..

Between this and the fake trans leaks, I don't think anything coming from the government on this case can be trusted. They have a story they want to tell and everything will revolve around making sure that happens.

[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

But it was NOT the "TNR" stamp that they misinterpreted as you claimed. It was the meme engravings, which are pretty easy to misunderstand.

Then we're back at the outright propaganda like I mentioned originally. There's nothing in those memes that indicates support for the trans community even assuming law enforcement was unfamiliar with the memes.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

But it was NOT the "TNR" stamp that they misinterpreted as you claimed. It was the meme engravings, which are pretty easy to misunderstand.

The article said it was the arrows that law enforcement claimed were tied to it which seem to be fairly common on ammunition.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The article said it was the arrows that law enforcement claimed were tied to it which seem to be fairly common on ammunition.

It said it was "statements" engraved on the bullets.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

It said it was "statements" engraved on the bullets.

I don't think law enforcement are the best experts on online and gaming memes. I'm surprised they haven't tried to tie him to MS-13.;

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I don't think law enforcement are the best experts on online and gaming memes. I'm surprised they haven't tried to tie him to MS-13.;

No, they are not. I absolutely do think the leak wanted to feed the idea of a trans shooter. But "Notices bulges OwO what's this?" does definitely definitely sound Trans coded. I really dont think it was a huge leap to suggest it was.
Edit: especially if that is what you are looking for.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

It said it was "statements" engraved on the bullets.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I don't think law enforcement are the best experts on online and gaming memes. I'm surprised they haven't tried to tie him to MS-13.;

The FBI is run by two of the most terminally online guys alive who spent the last decade posting conspiracy theories off 4chan. There is no way they actually believed any of those things were some trans motive.

[JPhillips]

It's normal in the sense that the ideology isn't consistent.

[Ghost Econ]

The new episode of the podcast Panic World gives a good rundown of what the memes may mean and what that may mean for the shooter's motives. But it's surprisingly even-handed, that it's still just as likely a leftist as a Fuentes acolyte.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Different article than I read, and I question pretty heavily the source there. They had actual engravings on the bullets, why are the police be focusing on something that anyone with any kind of training with ammo would know what it was? Why assume the police were incompetent when it
Is more likely the reporter was?

[GrantDawg]

Dola: just to add think of the timeline on the information here. There was early reports of engravings that police leak said was "trans and antifa coded." Then reports were saying there were no engravings, and post started claiming the "TRN" stamp was what they mistook for trans propaganda. I also saw on Reddit a bullet that was claimed to be pisted by ATF that had a makers mark arrow at the end that they claimed was an "trans protest arrow." Then today it comes out that there definitely was engravings on the bullets. The internet twists and turns these things.

[Ghost Econ]

It came from this Steven Crowder tweet and the WSJ "confirmed" it. Allegedly Crowder has now been subpoenaed about it.

EXCLUSIVE: This morning my team received an e-mail from officer at ATF.

The email included a screen shot from what appears to be an internal message describing a weapon and cartridges located by an ATF and other law enforcement near the scene of the Charlie Kirk shooting at… pic.twitter.com/UKtOUPY5DC

— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) September 11, 2025

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Different article than I read, and I question pretty heavily the source there. They had actual engravings on the bullets, why are the police be focusing on something that anyone with any kind of training with ammo would know what it was? Why assume the police were incompetent when it
Is more likely the reporter was?

Multiple news outlets put out the made up claim that it was transgender coded and stated it was from law enforcement. Even if you go off what was written and not the arrows, it doesn't show any kind of motive. This was put out by law enforcement for political reasons to stoke anti-trans sentiment plain and simple. Absolutely nothing coming from them should be trusted moving forward.

And lets not jump over the fact this guy was taken into custody last night but they kept it quiet so Trump could announce it on Fox and Friends. Totally normal, non-political law enforcement stuff.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Multiple news outlets put out the made up claim that it was transgender coded and stated it was from law enforcement. Even if you go off what was written and not the arrows, it doesn't show any kind of motive. This was put out by law enforcement for political reasons to stoke anti-trans sentiment plain and simple. Absolutely nothing coming from them should be trusted moving forward.

And lets not jump over the fact this guy was taken into custody last night but they kept it quiet so Trump could announce it on Fox and Friends. Totally normal, non-political law enforcement stuff.

Sure it was. Like I said, it was something they were looking/hoping for. I was just pointing out the more ridiculous stuff that came out. I hqlave never once suggested the leak or report wasn't politically motivated and played into the anti-trans sentiment of the current government.

[miami_fan]

Question for the lawyers. I just got a chance to look at the press conference announcing the suspect being in custody.

Am I the only one who thinks law enforcement et al. presented a excessive amount of evidence in that sort of forum? I feel like we would usually get a briefing on a basic timeline of the investigation, what sort of charges they made be seeking, whether they will be seeking the death penalty etc. Stuff like the detailed story with the family friend just seemed like something that would be batted away because it is still an active investigation and they don't want to show all their cards just in case the family friend forgets the story he just told. I don't think it will matter that much in this case but it just felt like we were getting way too much trial evidence than we would normally get in that sort of press conference.

While I think I get what he was trying to say, just the idea of praying that it was someone from outside the state who committed the crime felt like a weird thing to actually pray about as he said it. Praying for it to be someone from outside the state because you wanted to make it easier on the people in the state while pointing a wagging finger at the outside state or country pushed it beyond just being badly worded but that might just be me.

[RainMaker]

I don't think they care all that much about the case now that it turned out to be a loser white kid from a conservative family.

[RainMaker]

reuters.com

[CrimsonFox]

Gox and Patel both patting themselves on the back about how they caught him....when they didn't. He confessed to his dad, his dad talked him into turning himself in so he did. Now they want instant death for him. Good job dad! Trump still blaming the world on liberals.

[kingfc22]

So are we wrangling up all the Mormons now and sending them to El Salvador?

That’s how this works right?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Fascinating to watch a cautionary tale about creating a martyr play out in real time.

[Edward64]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/demo...y?id=125510403

As the deadline to keep the government funded fast approaches at the end of the month, congressional Democrats are vowing a fight over health care, possibly forcing a shutdown unless Republicans agree to restore Medicaid cuts and extend Obamacare subsidies.

Passing a government funding bill to avoid a shutdown would require at least some Democrats to go along. While a Republican majority in the House could pass a measure without Democrats, success in the Senate would be require at least seven Democrats to vote to keep the government open.

As of now, though, negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans are dragging out before the Oct. 1 deadline, as both parties work to firm up their red lines.

Oct 1 shutdown fight coming up.

A key focus for Democrats is an effort to use this upcoming government funding bill as an opportunity to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of the year. Those tax credits, which were signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2022, expanded eligibility for the ACA and capped premiums.

I'm on the GA version but I believe it'll follow ACA, so this will benefit me.

GOP Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that Republican appropriators are aiming to pass a package of three bills alongside a continuing resolution that funds the government through late November.

"We wouldn't do a CR that both sides didn't agree to. I mean, we're not trying to jam the Democrats on the CR. We're trying to work with them," Cole said – acknowledging that time is running short as he targets a deal by the end of next week.

I've read somewhere that GOP could also propose a clean CR and continue to Nov or early next year. This is probably the most likely route.

[PilotMan]

I wasn't sure about this kid being an alt-right meme boy. But after reading this morning there's a ton of information coming out that appears to fit in with Groyper status. All online Helldivers 2 references and statements.

[GrantDawg]

Interesting:

Shapiro: We know he was of the left.

Maher: We don’t know shit Ben… I’m hearing he’s in group that think Kirk wasn’t right wing enough— the groypers. You’re sure he’s not that?

Shapiro: I’m not sure he’s not that.

Maher: A few seconds ago you were. pic.twitter.com/ba4mzhBbmJ

— Maine (@TheMaineWonk) September 13, 2025

[Ghost Econ]

So, the Florida Surgeon General that ended vaccine mandates for kids is crazy and takes his marching orders from his wife, who should be institutionalized

Guided by angels, pursued by chemtrails: the weird world of Florida health chief’s influential wife | Florida | The Guardian

[JPhillips]

The Guardian has basically retracted their earlier story about him being left in a family of GOPers after their source decided they couldn't really remember after all.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

The Guardian has basically retracted their earlier story about him being left in a family of GOPers after their source decided they couldn't really remember after all.

It was about as convincing as grandma saying everyone in the family is Republican. Like every kid lets their grandma know all of their political opinions.

[CrimsonFox]

news cycle has reset whee

[Ghost Econ]

Now they've moved to him being on love with a trans woman.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Like every kid lets their grandma know all of their political opinions.

What sort of relationship exists if they don't have a pretty general idea?

I mean, I guess if you're geographically separated & the grandparent doesn't do social media I could see it, but then there's not really much of a connection is there?

It's not exactly hard to figure out at least roughly where someone is on the political spectrum if you interact with them much at all.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

What sort of relationship exists if they don't have a pretty general idea?

I mean, I guess if you're geographically separated & the grandparent doesn't do social media I could see it, but then there's not really much of a connection is there?

It's not exactly hard to figure out at least roughly where someone is on the political spectrum if you interact with them much at all.

My grandparents knew nothing about what I was doing with my friends or what my political positions were. My kids spent and spends way more time with their grandparents, and I guarantee their grandad has no idea what they believe politically or how they vote. When we get together as an extended family, we never talk politics. Heck, I never talked politics with my parents. I think that was way more common then it is now, but it still is probably pretty common for grand kids not to fight with their grandparents over politics.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

My grandparents knew nothing about what I was doing with my friends or what my political positions were. My kids spent and spends way more time with their grandparents, and I guarantee their grandad has no idea what they believe politically or how they vote. When we get together as an extended family, we never talk politics. Heck, I never talked politics with my parents. I think that was way more common then it is now, but it still is probably pretty common for grand kids not to fight with their grandparents over politics.

This is my family as well. Even my mom had no idea what my political views were until the past few months when she started asking. For my son, I'm almost certain no family outside of our household knows what his political views are.

[GrantDawg]

Fox news contributer is now reporting that the shooters roommate was his trans girlfriend. No other confirmation.