Thoughts on the Trump presidency

[Annetts key]

The Telegraph are reporting his father, a marshall, turned him in. Looks like he comes from a family of Republican Mormons in Utah.

If true, so not from "the radical left" like Trump etc. have been banging on about...

Can't say I am surprised. The right / Republican side has various factions, MAGA is just one of these.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Sep 2025 ==

They literally have him in custody. Tyler Robinson, mugshots released. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c206zm81z4gt

Having a "person of interest" in custody does not mean that they are guilty.

 

[AlterEgo]

Having a "person of interest" in custody does not mean that they are guilty.

Well...no...? Nobody is saying the person has been convicted?

He's the suspect, as stated by the law enforcement agencies and the news there.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Sep 2025 ==

If true, so not from "the radical left" like Trump etc. have been banging on about...

Why can this person not have "radical left" opinions because of who their parents are?

 

[Three-Nine]

Supposedly the shooters bullets in the Kirk murder were marked with ’anti-fascist” and trans-supporting slogans which are now thought to be… typical wear/manufacturing marks found on all bullets.

Should have said "casings" rather than "bullets". Turns out that there were inscriptions on the casings, but so far nothing that has been revealed as specifically pro-trans. Instead they are generally being reported as being anti-fascist but could also be open to interpretation, with at least one slogan also being used by an alt-right organisation.

 

[Megafuss]

Should have said "casings" rather than "bullets". Turns out that there were inscriptions on the casings, but so far nothing that has been revealed as specifically pro-trans. Instead they are generally being reported as being anti-fascist but could also be open to interpretation, with at least one slogan also being used by an alt-right organisation.

I have a feeling British people are about to learn what Groypers are and the Groyper war

 

[Thebaz]

I have a feeling British people are about to learn what Groypers are and the Groyper war

Just had to look it up... Are we going to find out that Kirk was killed because he was not extreme enough?

 

[AlterEgo]

Just had to look it up... Are we going to find out that Kirk was killed because he was not extreme enough?

There is no evidence of this and allegedly there is evidence to suggest he was motivated by leftist grievances, namely antifascist engravings supposedly on the bullet casings.

 

[jon0844]

I have a feeling British people are about to learn what Groypers are and the Groyper war

Laura Loomer has been deleting lots of posts that attacked Kirk for daring to call out Trump recently, even trying to seem like she is angry at those who killed him (the Internet never forgets).

In another life she'd just be another person entitled to an opinion but for some reason it seems like she has a strong ability to steer Government policy and what Trump says or does. It's quite insane.

The whole family of the shooter appears to be very conservative so he was either the same or the 'black sheep' but some politicians are rolling back on the hard 'death penalty immediately' rhetoric and how talking more about the need to help the shooter get help and find God.

To me that makes me think that there's feeling it may be hard to use this event to attack the left, although I am sure they're going to go with the odd one out in the family narrative. And that might be true of course.

What I doubt they can continue with is the suggestion that he was a mentally disturbed trans person.

 

[brad465]

While we don't know for sure, there are two possible motives that make an assassin more likely to target someone with similar views than polar opposite ones: the first is betrayal, whether perceived or actual. Second is simply they feel their target just won't 100% agree with them and they are unwilling to compromise, a sight very common on both extremes.

 

[Three-Nine]

Sorry to keep harping on about the casings, but it now seems that at least one of the inscriptions is from the popular online video game “Helldivers 2”, where players fight for a “Starship Troopers” (more the movie version than the book) style “Super Democracy” government against various alien threats. For those unfamiliar, the set-up is a parody of hard-right/fascist political views and it does suggest (at least on the surface) that things are not going to be quite as simple as “He was anti-fa/right wing conservative”.

I also expect sooner or later theres going to be a call from Republicans to ban the game itself, video games and other media being a little bit further down their current “things we don’t like” list.

 

[Gloster]

I don’t want to sound like some conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if this is a one-man false flag operation. A right-wing extremist kills a MAGA-darling and leaves bits of evidence to suggest that it was done by a left-wing/Democrat/Antifa assassin. This is intended to create a backlash against and possibly justify a government crackdown on such groups.

However, until we know more about the assassin, such as his personal opinions, not just his family background, it is only a theory. Whether we will get accurate reports of the motives is another matter.

 

[jon0844]

He didn't leave any evidence of being left-wing. There are photos of him with guns from an early age (and wearing a Trump top, dressed as Pepe the frog etc). There are references to extreme far-right (full on Nazi stuff) talking points on nasty sub-reddits and 4CHAN - as well as video games adopted by these people. There are loads of links to the Groyper movement that doesn't have Charlie Kirk down as a friend because he's too moderate for them, and dares to 'engage with the enemy'.

Now if Trump hadn't opened his big mouth already, he could have waited and revealed this person to be ULTRA far-right and still be able to distance the shooter with the 'mainstream' conservative movement. Now he will have to try and find ways to still insist this was a 'psyop' or something because he couldn't wait to try and stir the pot and cause mayhem by effectively declaring there to be a war on the left.

Stephen Miller will have been behind a lot of that of course. In fact, if you look at his views, he could quite possibly think killing Charlie Kirk was a good thing because he's almost certainly onboard with the Groyper movement.

 

[styles]

Trump doesn't give a toss about Kirk.

Reporter: "How are you holding up over the last three and a half days?"

Trump: "I think very good. And by the way, right there you see all the trucks; they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House. Which is something they’ve been trying to get as you know for about 150 years, and it’s gonna be a beauty, it’ll be an absolutely magnificent structure. And I just see all the trucks, they just started, so it’ll get done uh very nicely and it’ll be one of the best anywhere in the world, actually."

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1966527303724278261

 

[jon0844]

Maybe he'll name it after Kirk (no, it will be the Trump ballroom)...

 

[AlterEgo]

He didn't leave any evidence of being left-wing. There are photos of him with guns from an early age (and wearing a Trump top, dressed as Pepe the frog etc). There are references to extreme far-right (full on Nazi stuff) talking points on nasty sub-reddits and 4CHAN - as well as video games adopted by these people. There are loads of links to the Groyper movement that doesn't have Charlie Kirk down as a friend because he's too moderate for them, and dares to 'engage with the enemy'.

Now if Trump hadn't opened his big mouth already, he could have waited and revealed this person to be ULTRA far-right and still be able to distance the shooter with the 'mainstream' conservative movement. Now he will have to try and find ways to still insist this was a 'psyop' or something because he couldn't wait to try and stir the pot and cause mayhem by effectively declaring there to be a war on the left.

Stephen Miller will have been behind a lot of that of course. In fact, if you look at his views, he could quite possibly think killing Charlie Kirk was a good thing because he's almost certainly onboard with the Groyper movement.

The evidence is pointing to him probably being a nut job and a troll, but two people who knew him have said he was a leftist.

The Times reports:

A former high school friend of Robinson told The Guardian that the suspect was “pretty left on everything” and “the only member of his family that was really leftist”. “The rest of his family was very hard Republican,” the friend said.

At 15 or 16 years old, Robinson became more vehement in his political beliefs, he continued, “always just ranting and arguing about them”.

I cannot find the other quote now but it was from a college friend of his.

 

[jon0844]

The quote has been retracted and removed (with a note) from the Guardian article that quoted a friend saying he was left leaning.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on 12 September 2025 to remove quotes after the verified source who attended high school with Tyler Robinson said after publication that they could not accurately remember details of their relationship.

 

[brad465]

The quote has been retracted and removed (with a note) from the Guardian article that quoted a friend saying he was left leaning.

Too late: everyone remembers the first version of any article and retractions/revisions don't get the same level of coverage.

 

[jon0844]

Too late: everyone remembers the first version of any article and retractions/revisions don't get the same level of coverage.

Indeed. Many will think he was a trans lefty with a hatred of people on the right.

In fact, he was an EXTREMIST with a hatred of people on the right. He was simply on the other end of the spectrum.

 

[AlterEgo]

The quote has been retracted and removed (with a note) from the Guardian article that quoted a friend saying he was left leaning.

Another great day for journalism then. Sigh.

 

[Gloster]

Another great day for journalism then. Sigh.

Well, it is a bit difficult. If somebody says something of interest, should a journalist wait in case they retract it and for how long? It doesn’t appear to be a case of embellished quotes or hearsay, but actual statements: subject to reasonable questioning, you sometimes have to run with something from a single source.

At least The Grauniad does add a note to the article. Plenty of papers will just quietly remove it and hope nobody notices the change.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I have a feeling British people are about to learn what Groypers are and the Groyper war

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if there is a civil war between MAGA and other extremists, to be honest. We like to think of the Republicans as being a single group, but there's some very nasty people out there who hate Trump for simply not being racist and nationalist enough, and Trump is giving them a green light through his words and actions.

On the other side, I wouldn't be surprised if Trump uses this to launch a crackdown on any opposition within the American right wing. The Democrats can hardly defend the Groypers, but they would be certainly very useful scapegoats.

 

[Megafuss]

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if there is a civil war between MAGA and other extremists, to be honest. We like to think of the Republicans as being a single group, but there's some very nasty people out there who hate Trump for simply not being racist and nationalist enough, and Trump is giving them a green light through his words and actions.

On the other side, I wouldn't be surprised if Trump uses this to launch a crackdown on any opposition within the American right wing. The Democrats can hardly defend the Groypers, but they would be certainly very useful scapegoats.

The GOP is now beholden to christian fundamentalism. There are people close to Trump that believe they are fighting the literal devil with elements of the left.

I also can't see an obvious route for Democrats to fight this.

MAGA messaging is very simple for people to understand, specially aimed at its own base. That's why Trump is targeting Blue states with his constitutionally dubious National Guard moves. He's painting Democrat areas as warzones, as in all likelihood, most of his own voters will never visit those areas. But they are democrat run and the dear leader says it's hell on earth.

 

[Gloster]

Trump‘s two-day state visit starts on Tuesday. Normally a state visit is just mutual backslapping and fawning, with one or two big announcements and cheesy grins everywhere. I have a nasty feeling that this one may see some thoroughly undiplomatic behaviour from Trump. Not quite Musk’s demand for a change of government, but unusually direct criticism of the UK’s policies and none too veiled demands that we change them…or else.

Of course, it is always difficult to be sure what hobby-horse Trump is riding at any one time and he may just concentrate on trying to grift advantages for his golf courses. Whatever, one must have sympathy for the royal family having to be pleasant to him at banquets and the like; even the politicians may deserve a rare bit of sympathy.

 

[Annetts key]

Trump‘s two-day state visit starts on Tuesday. Normally a state visit is just mutual backslapping and fawning, with one or two big announcements and cheesy grins everywhere. I have a nasty feeling that this one may see some thoroughly undiplomatic behaviour from Trump. Not quite Musk’s demand for a change of government, but unusually direct criticism of the UK’s policies and none too veiled demands that we change them…or else.

Of course, it is always difficult to be sure what hobby-horse Trump is riding at any one time and he may just concentrate on trying to grift advantages for his golf courses. Whatever, one must have sympathy for the royal family having to be pleasant to him at banquets and the like; even the politicians may deserve a rare bit of sympathy.

Shame that the King won't be able to find some obscure law or power to lock him up in a dungeon somewhere. Then, when the MAGA administration complains, just say it's fake news, we are still awaiting for the Donald to arrive...

 

[dgl]

Shame that the King won't be able to find some obscure law or power to lock him up in a dungeon somewhere. Then, when the MAGA administration complains, just say it's fake news, we are still awaiting for the Donald to arrive...

The king doesn't need an obscure law, he's above the law so could just lock him up.

 

[Lloyds siding]

The king doesn't need an obscure law, he's above the law so could just lock him upis predecessor, Charles I thought.......

His predecessor, Charles I, thought he was above the law, and had divine right...and look how that worked out....

 

[Pete_uk]

I think i will stay away from the news over the curse of his visit

 

[DelW]

I think i will stay away from the news over the curse of his visit

(My bold) - typo', autocorrect, or your opinion of the visit? I'd probably agree with the latter!

 

[Pete_uk]

When I wrote it I wasn't sure if I should leave it or not!

 

[Tester]

When I wrote it I wasn't sure if I should leave it or not!

Seems good to me!

[There goes my ability to enter the US (very much not on the cards!)]

 

[brad465]

When I wrote it I wasn't sure if I should leave it or not!

(My bold) - typo', autocorrect, or your opinion of the visit? I'd probably agree with the latter!

Funnily enough there was a random website that published an article about an Etsy charm cursing Charlie Kirk, 2 days before he was shot dead, which was quite the coincidence. Suffice to say the editors had to take it down and put a disclaimer that they don't condone political violence, though may reinstate it when the issue is less sensitive (when I'm in front of a PC I'll see if I can find it).