Thread by @SethAbramson

(📣) As the FBI tries to determine why a registered Republican would try to assassinate Donald Trump just days before he names a running mate and makes impossible an entirely new ticket, I suspect they will return to this reporting from around 3 weeks ago. washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/…

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PS: The most important evidence right now is whatever is found in the home of the deceased assassin. But the question is whether the FBI will understand what it is looking at if it turns out the decedent wanted Trump off the ticket and a new, farther-right ticket established.

PS2: When I read that breaking news from The Washington Post in late July, what struck me most was the word "most" in the report—as in, "most" of the Trump delegates the Post spoke to believed the secret rebellion against Trump was designed to *install a new ticket* in Milwaukee.

PS3: The problem those plotters presumably faced is that as soon as Donald Trump names a VP, that person ascends atop the ticket should any tragedy befall Trump. So the plotters could not really wait until the convention to try to replace Trump if that is indeed what they wanted.

PS4: The so-called Black Jacket Rebellion has a contingent in PA, the site of the attack today. To be clear, there is no particular reason to think what happened today has to do with that anti-Trump conspiracy on the far right—the FBI must just keep it in mind when investigating.

PS5: Because if it does turn out that this registered Republican was in fact a far-right radical, it poses a dilemma for the FBI in trying to determine why such a person would try to harm the head of the GOP.

The Post report is the only reporting I know of that might explain it.

PS6: But this is also why all Americans—no matter their political background—should hope that the FBI finds documents at the home of the decedent that explain what he was doing and why. It is better for the whole country if we have a very clear answer on this as soon as possible.

PS7: Having said this, I'd add that certain Boogaloo Bois have in the past spoken of trying to spark a race war or civil war by harming a leader of either party. So we can't discount the possibility of a white supremacist angle here. We'll have to wait and see what the FBI finds.