• Zachariah@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    A former classmate of the 20-year-old man who tried unsuccessfully to kill former President [and convicted felon] Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday recalled him being staunchly to the right of the political spectrum. “He definitely was conservative,” Max R. Smith told The Philadelphia Inquirer of Thomas Crooks. “It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate.” Smith shared an American history class with Crooks, and remembered a mock debate where their teacher made students stand on one side of the classroom or another to signal their allegiance. “The majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side,” Smith said. “That’s still the picture I have of him. Just standing alone on one side while the rest of the class was on the other.” Crooks died in the assassination attempt. Trump, who suffered a minor injury to the ear, was “fine” Sunday after being treated at a local medical facility, his campaign said. One audience member was killed and two others critically injured amid the gunfire.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      That’s kind of fucked up, asking kids to tell their political allegiance… In debates we were assigned an opinion and had to defend it no matter what our personal opinion was to make us understand how to build arguments…

      • hesusingthespiritbomb@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        I agree.

        I get that Lemmy is super liberal, but this kind of mentality is toxic. It results in a generation that is unwilling to question their beliefs, leans into mob mentality, and doesn’t see the need to understand and articulate political beliefs you support.