More than a year after he nearly succeeded in assassinating President Trump, the official attitude toward Thomas Crooks seems to be incuriosity. Who was he, and why did he want to kill Trump? These are questions that no one has seemed anxious to answer.
The New York Post has information from internet sleuths that I don’t think has been reported before:
Thomas Crooks used they/them pronouns and posted threats of political violence and violent art on his secret social media accounts before he attempted to assassinate President Trump, according to sources who shared the suspected messages with The Post.
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Crooks had two possible accounts on DeviantArt, a site that hosts fan art and has become notorious for its community of furries — people who identify as anthropomorphized animal characters and/or are sexually attracted to them.One of the DeviantArt accounts linked to Crooks shared just one post, a repost of a towering, muscular female bodybuilder and a slight man in his underwear.
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The profile for the DeviantArt also lists pronouns as They/Them — though it’s not clear whether Crooks identified as transgender.
Crooks apparently turned against Trump over covid, thinking Trump didn’t do enough to shut down the country. He came to see himself as a revolutionary:
In August 2020, he explicitly discussed on YouTube how to fight a government using “terrorism style tactics,” as his views became increasingly nihilistic.
“IMO the only way to fight the gov is with terrorism style attacks, sneak a bomb into an essential building and set it off before anyone sees you, track down any important people/politicians/military leaders etc and try to assassinate them,” he wrote, according to sources.
Assuming those “sources” are correct, Crooks may be one more in a long line of gender-confused young people who turn violent. In any event, it would be good if official investigators would break the cone of silence surrounding Crooks:
The FBI has not confirmed the details of Crooks’ possible social media accounts, and did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
