Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting

No more than a few days after the MAGA Bomber, we have another act of terror targeting a Synagogue in Pittsburgh. A man walked into the synagogue shouted "All Jews deserve to die" then opened fire. He was carrying an unknown type of assault rifle, and at least one pistol with additional ammunition. He barricaded himself in the church killing eight people that we know of and wounding six more. This time the motives other than extreme hate, and a clear pattern of insanity are less clear. The shooter is a white male in his mid-forties named Robert Bowers who was taken alive. Many have found his social media footprint on the site Gab, a Twitter alternative that is more tolerant of divisive speech. This is an archive of the man's Gab account, be warned it is very graphic and full of offensive images and language. Most of the posts are recent within the last few weeks, and a great many paint Trump in a negative light, less than two days before the attack he made a post saying he never voted for Trump.

What is on his page is the ranting of a clearly deranged man, while he is clearly mentally ill, the actions he took were acts of terror. This man like the MAGABomber is a Terrorist. A terrorist is anyone who uses violence to create fear for the purpose of political gain or change.

This is the shooter's last posting before his terrible and vicious act of violence. All we can do for now is speculate as to what his motives are, and jumping to label him a Trump supporter does no good. As all the facts we do have, do not show him to be in favor of Trump at all. I do think that the violent climate that is a result of President Trump did play a major factor in this event. Trump is making violence seem more commonplace, and by those acts, violence starts to seem more acceptable when the President fully endorses it. All of the hate speech coming from all sides is clearly not healthy, and it is very possible that is by some extension resulted in these actions. For a country that a little more than a decade ago, was so concerned with media inspiring violence, they seem to have no issue with true hate, and those who should be role models inspiring real acts of violence.