James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois has been identified as the man who shot Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others this morning. Hodgkinson is described by a friend:
“He was this union tradesman, pretty stocky, and we stayed up talking politics,” he said. “He was more on the really progressive side of things.”
As has been widely reported, Hodgkinson is a rabid Bernie Sanders supporter. He considers Hillary Clinton to be a “Republican lite.” This is the cover image on his Facebook page:
Hodgkinson appears to have drunk the progressive/Democratic Party kool-aid on every issue. More images from his Facebook page:
These are some of his “likes”:
Hodgkinson even likes this former journalist:
What media did Mr. Hodgkinson consume? These are the television programs he likes:
As a general rule, it is foolish to pay attention to a “shooter’s” purported ideology. Most of them are just nuts. Maybe that is the case here too, although Mr. Hodgkinson (age 66) is not a typical, 20s-loner mass murderer. But for what it’s worth, Mr. Hodgkinson apparently is, or was until today, a perfect exemplar of liberalism; of progressivism; of the Democratic Party. Maybe that will prove relevant, maybe not. But it certainly bears mentioning.
UPDATE: This one is worth adding:
Unfortunately, that kind of talk is considered mainstream among Democrats.
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