Straight white male conservative incel who played violent video games and obsessed over Star Wars and guns was acting out a fantasy when he shot an insurrectionist convicted-criminal cult leader and a Putin simp last Sunday
Trump shooter Thomas Crooks was likely 'acting out a fantasy': Extremism expert
“Crooks could easily have become a mass killer – the Secret Service snipers prevented that," says Jytte Klausen
Christina Coulter By Christina Coulter Fox News
Published July 22, 2024 6:00am EDT
https://www.foxnews.com/us/trump-shooter-thomas-crooks-likely-acting-out-fantasy-extremism-expertBETHEL PARK, Pa. – An expert in extremism and terrorism said that Thomas Matthew Crooks' assassination attempt on former President Trump was likely not politically motivated – instead, the 20-year-old was likely "acting out a fantasy," and seeking a target that would bring him "attention and fame."
Jytte Klausen, a political science professor at Brandeis University, has studied terrorist networks and violent extremism for two decades, putting together a methodology for forensic biographies of perpetrators and radicalization trajectories.
She is currently writing a book called "How to Become a Terrorist" that dives into incels, homegrown Islamists, neo-Nazis and other groups.
"He wanted to become somebody – he wanted to make a mark," Klausen posited about Crooks, who unleashed the attack on Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. "He appears not to have been particularly politically motivated, I think, based on what we know about his search history… there's no sense he wanted to effect the election."
