The outpouring of support for the shooter in this case has sometimes reminded me a little of pre-revolutionary France. Now that he’s been arrested, we can see he’s likely to become a charismatic figure for many. He’s good-looking, intelligent, and has a social media trail that means he’ll attract support from the left and right.
Here’s a Nitter link to his Twitter activity. He’s hard to pin down politically. Veering from anti-trans, pro-men’s rights, pro-Peter Thiel/Elon Musk, to his obvious approval for violent revolution. His review of the Unabomber’s manifesto makes the latter clear too.
It seems almost inevitable he’ll develop a cult following among some. Yet this will be tied to his ideas for violent revolutionary action in America. How might this impact the future?
That shouldn’t be surprising at all. This isn’t a left/right issue. This is a class issue. The right supports the entrepreneur spirit, not the billionaire class. They support the farmer, the contractor, the small business. They are as fed up as everyone else with the ultra-rich, but they see more harm than good arising from the kind of regulation that would be needed to rein in the billionaire class.
Violent revolution, though, specifically targets the ultra-rich, without impact to the entrepreneur class. Of course that will have a distinct appeal to the general public on the right side of the political spectrum.
We need legislators non-violently representing the interests of those who “want” violence, because right now, that is a large majority of the populace.