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The clip from the indispensable Aaron Rupar is too short to bother with plucking and putting up in a video, but on Sunday night Fox News dipshit Jesse Waters told fans not to “read too much into the political affiliation” of Thomas Crooks “because James Comey, also a registered Republican,” as if the former FBI Director famously fired in 2017 for not dropping the Russia investigation is even the most salient or recent example of an “anti-Trump Republican” compared to say, Mitt Romney, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, or the entire writing staff at the Bulwark, just to name a few.

Separately in a Sunday report in the Philadelphia Inquirer quotes Max Smith, a former high school classmate of Crooks’s, as saying the would-be Trumpslayer “definitely was conservative… It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate,” adding that in one mock debate in their history class a few years ago “the majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side.”

“Yep, a few slips on the teleprompter, ah, from the President in one of these big Oval Office moments,” the perfect Matha MacCallum chides.  “It’s the third time he has used this pulpit for this opportunity.  Um, y-y-y’know, now he shifting to talking about the importance of democracy rather than that Trump is the embodiment of, of an attack on democracy, which has been a huge thrust of the Biden campaign so far, so you see all that sorta shubtle, shuttle–I can’t talk either [Bret Baier chimes in, “There you go.”]–that, that, that subtle shift in the presentation.”

President Joe Biden, who according to the Supreme Court would be completely within his authority to order the assassination of his political rival if he felt it was to protect the country, will not likely confess to doing such a thing as he addresses the nation in the aftermath of the assassination attempt against his political rival by an apparent Republican gun nut.

We here at National Zero do our best to verify the information we publish here “above the fold,” either through sources we rely on or through double- or triple-checking stories we find on social media or other parts of the internet.  While we’re admittedly not “Ivory pure” at 99.99% accuracy, we’re pretty good at not falling into rabbit holes.

Not all the Interwebs can say that, with a portion of dead-named Twitter falling prey to what the Washington Post called “BlueAnon” conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Saturday rally in Pennsylvania.  As those who witnessed in the comments, we’re not immune to the skepticism.  (The author was open to them, too:  he turned to his wife during the aftermath after photos of a bloodied Trump filled the screen and said they should check his hands for a pin.)

From gel packs of blood, to curiously-long exits off stage, to people speculating it was a ballet choreographed by the Kremlin to win the White House, we all considered it in the hours after the shooting.  But we’re not shooting up pizza parlors to prove our conspiracies.

Three years after a devastating winter storm forced Senator Ted Cruz to flee to Cancun (abandoning poor Snowflake) and left millions of Texans without power because the state’s power grid was shitty, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott rolled out his latest attempt to shirk responsibility by demanding the main power company around Houston upgrade its services, CNN reports.

Millions lost power as Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas last Monday; more than 400,000 people in and around Harris County are still without power a week later.  Heat continues to impact the region, with temperatures reaching into the 90s as people suffer without air conditioning.

Abbott, who rode out the storm on a “business trip” to Asia, demanded that CenterPoint Power come up with a plan to upgrade their network by July 31st, about two and a half weeks from now.  Although he hasn’t made a significant investment in the state’s infrastructure himself–instead taking credit for projects paid for under President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal even as he denigrated the bill as government overreach and overspending.

The Pennsylvania State Police released the names of the two Pennsylvania residents wounded in Saturday’s mass shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.  The second victim has been identified as 57-year-old David Dutch, of New Kensington is in stable condition, and the third victim was identified as 74-year-old James Copenhaver, of Moon Township, and he is also listed in stable condition.  A Florida man who sustained a flesh wound to the ear was treated at an area hospital and released.  The spectator killed in the shooting was former Buffalo Township Fire Chief Corey Comperatore.

We’ve been going back and forth quite a lot about what and what not to share with our readers about Thomas Crooks as far as his politics goes, but let’s start with the easier stuff.

💥 You may see some dispute over whether the FEC record for the $15 donation Crooks supposedly made to “Progressive Turnout Project” on January 20, 2021 is accurate since the record itself says the address is in Pittsburgh and but Crooks lived in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Problem is that the street address and ZIP code are the same but the city/town can be used interchangeably for whatever reason. Which means that, until we hear otherwise, the record is accurate.

💥 And so is the record showing that Crooks registered to vote as a Republican later that year in September, after he turned 18. He then voted in the next year’s midterms.

💥 Chat platform Discord, popular among gamers and far-right incel types issued a statement Sunday saying they had “identified an account that appears to be linked to the suspect; it was rarely utilized and we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident, promote violence, or discuss his political views. Discord strongly condemns violence of any kind, including political violence, and we will continue to coordinate closely with law enforcement.”

The Associated Press reports local police officers–it’s unclear from which jurisdiction–responded to people in the audience pointing to the gunman atop a nearby building and climbed a ladder leading to the roof where Matthew Crooks was lurking, but retreated down the ladder after Crooks turned and pointed the rifle at him.  Seconds later, Crooks fired at the stage.

Scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET, President Joe Biden will address the nation Sunday afternoon after Saturday’s assassination attempt against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump while he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Ukrainian military officials say their troops are increasingly capturing severely but not freshly wounded Russian soldiers on the battlefield in what the Telegraph describes as “meat wave” attacks meant to put otherwise defective Kremlin assets to use and that it’s “normal practice” for Ukrainians to see the enemy limping onto the fight, even on crutches. UK intel sources estimate in just the last two months the Russians have suffered as many as 1,000 dead per day.

“Although this new approach has increased the pressure on the frontline, an effective Ukrainian defence and a lack of Russian training reduces Russia’s ability to exploit any tactical successes, despite attempting to stretch the front line further,” the UK Ministry of Defense wrote.

A saddened Lindsey Graham was not in the mood to address NBC’s Kristen Welker’s questions about the unhinged tweets by Senator JD Vance and Georgia MAGA Congressman Mike Collins directly blaming Joe Biden for the failed assassination attempt on convicted felon former President Trump on Saturday night. Vance had tweeted “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” while Collins wrote “Joe Biden sent the orders” while quote-tweeting a right wing media asshole Steve Guest pointing out that Biden had said it was time to put a bullseye on Trump.

Law enforcement in Butler, Pennsylvania have found explosives in the vehicle driven by would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks to Saturday night’s MAGA rally, the Wall Street Journal reports.

And maybe the media giving oxygen to all the shit about how “Democrats’ rhetoric caused this” might want to dig this up to remind people that in his first campaign the now-convicted felon came a hell of a lot closer to suggesting his opponent be shot than Joe Biden ever did with “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye” a few days ago during a private call to donors. Maybe this was much more the kind of violence-charged political rhetoric that an unhinged 20 year-old with an AR-15 would respond to than accurately calling the fat bastard the singular threat to Democracy he is.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, no stranger himself to nearly being murdered by unhinged Republican voters, issued an updated statement Sunday morning following the assassination attempt on convicted felon former President Trump in Pennsylvania, writing “Karen and I thank God that President Trump is safe and recovering following yesterday’s attempted assassination and are grateful for the swift response by Secret Service that undoubtedly saved lives. We are praying for his full recovery and for those lost and injured in this horrific attack. There is no place in America for political violence and it must be universally condemned,” ABC News reports.

This is Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

Instead of focusing on keeping our leaders like Trump safe, she’s more worried about diversity and hiring more women.

She should be fired and investigated immediately.

This is a national security risk.pic.twitter.com/baF4nhaI5h

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 14, 2024

A 20-year-old registered Republican named Thomas Matthew Crooks has been identified as the gunman who shot into a Trump rally Saturday evening, slicing the earlobe of Republican martyr and presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, killing one spectator and wounding another.

From Bethel Park, a suburban Pittsburgh community about 40 miles from the shooting sight, Crooks’s background matches that of many people who commit violent public acts:  he was quiet and unassuming.

A 2022 high school graduate, he was recognized with a “star award” and a $500 prize for achievement in math and science during his senior year.  The upcoming election would have been the first national contest Crooks was eligible to vote in, although he did make a $15 contribution to the Progressive Turnout Project, a voter registration effort, in 2021 when he was 17. 

One day after getting cut by a piece of flying metal, presumptive Republican presidential candidate and released another statement that fails to call for all Americans to unite and instead seems to focus more on his cult members and how they’re the ones to “show our True Character as Americans”:

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness. Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed. In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win. I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin. 🙏 DJT

Five senior law enforcement agents have a tentative identification of the shooter, a Pennsylvania man approximately 20 years old who is from the area around Butler, Pennsylvania, where the shooting took place, NBC News reports.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose Justice Department will oversee the investigation into the security failings that led to an ear miss in an assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, released a statement Republicans will say provides cover to the Deep State operatives Jamie Comer will claim conducted the attack:

I have been briefed on the shooting at former President Trump’s rally, and have briefed the President. The FBI, ATF, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the Department’s National Security Division are currently working with the Secret Service as well as state and local law enforcement partners on the ground in Butler, Pennsylvania.

My heart is with the former President, those injured, and the family of the spectator killed in this horrific attack.

We will not tolerate violence of any kind, and violence like this is an attack on our democracy. The Justice Department will bring every available resource to bear to this investigation.

In the wake of an attempted assassination nicking the ear of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, House Oversight Committee chair Jamie Comer finally found a legitimate reason to hold a hearing, calling for the director of the Secret Service to testify, per Chad Pergram of Fox News.

After expressing the expected shock and horror at the attack, Comer told Pergam, “I have already contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and am also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing. The Oversight Committee will send a formal invitation soon.”