This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog. 

I am still in shock.  When I first learned that Donald Trump had been shot, I literally had difficulty processing the information.  I watched footage of the shooting over and over, and honestly I am still trying to put the pieces together.  The Secret Service is supposed to be far better at protecting our leaders than this.

If Trump had not shifted his head at the last moment, he would have almost certainly been killed.  Sadly, firefighter Corey Comperatore was not so fortunate.  He was killed by one of the bullets that the shooter fired.  Trump was hit in the ear, but we are being told that he is doing just fine.  But how long will it be before someone else tries again?

What we just witnessed is truly, truly horrible.  No matter how you plan to vote, we should all be united in denouncing political violence.

For years, many of our political leaders and many in the mainstream media have been using extremely inflammatory language to denounce Donald Trump, and this has caused emotions to run extremely high.

It was only a matter of time before all of that inflammatory language inspired someone to commit an act of great violence.

The following are 8 things that we know about the man that shot Trump…

#1 It is being reported that the shooter is a 20-year-old male named Thomas Matthew Crooks…

Authorities have identified the gunman involved in the attack against former US President Donald Trump on Saturday as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by Secret Service agents at the scene after the shooting.

The FBI named Crooks in a statement early Sunday morning, identifying him as a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania – about 35 miles south of Butler, where Trump was holding his rally.

Crooks fired on Trump while perched on a nearby building rooftop outside the rally’s security perimeter, before being killed by the Secret Service, according to law enforcement officials.

Just like John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, Thomas Matthew Crooks has three names.

Is that just some sort of bizarre coincidence?

#2 We are being told that Crooks used “an AR-style rifle” to shoot at Trump…

Law enforcement sources told CBS News that Crooks, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, had been armed with ‘an AR-style rifle’.

There are some that are claiming that this was a highly advanced rifle that was extremely expensive.  I have not been able to find any official verification of this yet.

#3 Apparently the “AR-style rifle” was originally purchased by the father of Crooks…

Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that investigators believe the weapon was bought by the father of Thomas Matthew Crooks, who’s been identified as the shooter, at least six months ago.

#4 The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Crooks also had “explosive devices” in his vehicle…

Authorities found explosive devices in the car of the man who officials say tried to assassinate former President Trump, according to people briefed on the investigation.

The car, which Thomas Matthew Crooks drove, was parked near the Trump rally in Butler, PA, on Saturday.

Police received multiple reports of suspicious packages around near where the shooter was, authorities said, prompting them to dispatch bomb technicians.

#5 Crooks was employed at a nearby nursing home and he successfully passed a background check when he applied…

Crooks worked as a dietary aid, a job that generally involves food preparation, at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, less than a mile from his home. In a statement provided to USA TODAY on Sunday, Marcie Grimm, the facility’s administrator, said she was “shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement.”

“Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean,” Grimm said. “We are fully cooperating with law enforcement officials at this time. Due to the ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further on any specifics. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Former President Trump and the victims impacted by this terrible tragedy. We condemn all acts of violence.”

Preparing food at a nursing home is kind of a dead end job for a 20-year-old that is just starting out in life.  This may have fed into any feelings of desperation and depression that he was feeling.

#6 Crooks was a registered Republican, but his only political donation was to a group “working to increase voter turnout for Democrats”…

Crooks is registered to vote as a Republican in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, according to county voter records. His voter registration status has been active since 2021.

Federal Election Commission records show that in January 2021, Crooks made a $15 donation to the Progressive Turnout Project, a group working to increase voter turnout for Democrats.

#7 His uncle was interviewed by the Daily Mail, and he said that Crooks and his family were “very private” people…

Crooks’ uncle Mark Crooks told DailyMail.com he hadn’t seen the gunman or his parents in years, and described them as ‘very private’.

‘I haven’t seen that part of my family in years,’ he said. ‘Honestly it’s been so long I don’t think much about them

‘It’s a shame. The kid is like a stranger to me. They’re private and they don’t reach out to anybody any time.’

To me, this is an incredibly important detail.

He could have had very serious emotional problems that nobody knew about in advance.

Also, those that are detached from society are the easiest to set up if someone was inclined to do that.

Following the shooting, many liberals were extremely upset that Crooks missed his target.

For example, one young woman posted a video that rapidly went viral in which she very loudly expressed her displeasure that Trump was still alive…

‘We were a second away, we were a centimeter away from half of the problem being gone and you missed,’ Celeste, who goes by cele2t3, screamed in a TikTok video.

Driving in a car, Celeste shared her initial reaction to hearing the sudden news.

‘I just found out about this sh**, it just happened, I haven’t even had a second to process.

She screams at the top of her lungs: ‘You’re telling me somebody finally had the ba**s to bring a “pew pew” and it missed?!’

Yes, there are really people out there that think like this.

In fact, a field director for Mississippi Congressman Bennie G. Thompson was quickly fired after she suggested that Crooks should have gotten some shooting lessons before making his attempt…

Marsaw, 61, the president and vice president of a local NAACP in Natchez, Mississippi, has since deleted the post and her account, but screenshots have been reposted across social media.

She shared: ‘I don’t condone violence but please get some shooting lessons so you don’t miss next time ooops that wasn’t me talking.’

In a follow up post, she said: ‘That’s what your hate speech got you!!’

Marsaw has since been fired from her position. ‘I was made aware of a post made by a staff member and she is no longer in my employment,’ Thompson said.

From this point forward, Trump will need to be very careful.

I think that it is probably just a matter of time before someone else tries again.

In my entire lifetime, no politician has been hated as much as Donald Trump.

I don’t understand why the left hates him so much, but they do.

For a very long time, I have been warning that this would be the most chaotic election season in our history, and over the last few weeks things have certainly gotten really crazy.

But we still have more than three months to go until election day.

Unfortunately, I think that there will be a lot more twists and turns before this thing is over.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s  books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.