Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspectin Saturday’s shooting, was registered as a Republican voter, according to Pennsylvania records.
Already the republicans are dismissing his voter registration as meaningless. Here comes the “mental illness” angle.
Edit: apparently it’s not uncommon to register with the party you oppose in PA. This is going to be a fun ride.
He definitely could be Republican and I would not dismiss it at all. However, in the state of Pennsylvania it’s common to register for the party primaries of the opposing party whose candidate is someone you’re not in favor of and vote for someone else. It should be clear this does not mean he’s not a Republican or imply that he might be a Democrat. It’s only to add some context.
Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Primary_elections_in_Pennsylvania
I wouldn’t say it’s common, that’s misleading. some people do it, probably, but I’ve lived in PA for 2 decades and have never met anyone who has claimed to do so nor have I seen any actual statistics on the matter
As much as I’ve heard this parroted in multiple places since yesterday, I think this is just a talking point to edge towards it. In another couple of days it wont be maybe. It’s directed to make it a left vs right, while, what’s so outrageous about him being Republican and not liking Trump? It’s not like there hasn’t been a huge divide in the Republican party, so much so that we have the “alt right”
He also has donated to Democratic cause three years ago. Might not mean anything but we’ll see if they better figure out this guy.
If law enforcement sees a guy on a rooftop with a gun threatening a crowd of people, though, that’s an acceptable situation for “shoot first, ask questions later”. That shot that killed the guy probably saved other lives.