I have spent most of my life in the Monongahela Valley. So, here is what I know about the events of last Saturday.
Butler County, Pennsylvania, has long been a right wing stronghold. The Tea Party held sway there, during the Obama years. In 2016, it became Trump country. Trump flags fly in people’s yards along with the stars and stripes and the Christian flag.
WPCB, the local “Christian” broadcasting station has their headquarters in Butler.
There are rumors of Klan activity out that way.
In short, people are pretty conservative out there, despite the county being a popular tourist destination.
Morraine State Park and McConnells Mills are popular destinations for hikers, boaters and rafters. I go camping there every summer, with ten thousand of my closest friends.
I am hearing that The Secret Service is blaming local law enforcement for allowing the shooter to get so close to the rally. The building he climbed to take a shot at the former president was outside of their perimeter.
It is surprising that local law enforcement, who should be among Donald Trump’s most devoted supporters, either didn’t see, or ignored a potential shooter.
The fact that the AR 15 has become something of a holy relic to Republicans, may have had something to do with it. Or they may have been so entranced to see their dear leader in person that they didn’t notice a young man with an AR 15 climbing a ladder, and ignored the cries of the people who did see him.
The alleged shooter comes from Bethel Park, a suburban community, where even the Democrats are Republicans.
At 20, he would have considered himself immortal, most men that age do. He might not have contemplated the consequences of his actions. Most men that age don’t.
With luck we will learn his real motive.
He was part of something called the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club. That’s interesting.
If you’ve ever seen “The Deer Hunter”, you’ve seen Clairton. It’s a mill town, run down and struggling to get by. It is nothing like as affluent as Bethel Park. Mostly, when you hear about Clairton on the news, it’s an air quality alert. Clairton, Pennsylvania, is not the best place to breathe in.
But a young man, from an affluent community, went there to shoot, when he wasn’t working in a nursing home.
There’s another interesting question. Pittsburgh has a plethora of institutions of higher learning. You’ve heard of Carnegie Mellon. You may have heard of the University of Pittsburgh. You may not have heard of Duquesne University, or Point Park University, or Robert Morris University, or Chatham University, or Carlow University, or Community College of Allegheny County, but they’re all in Pittsburgh.
Penn State has branch campuses in the area too.
Why wasn’t the alleged shooter enrolled in one of these schools?
He may have had some mental health issues, like John Hinkley Junior.
It has been reported that the young man’s mother is a Democrat. That isn’t surprising. Bethel Park is in Allegheny County, which is very very blue. The mayor of Pittsburgh is, for all intents and purposes, chosen in the Democratic primary. People in Allegheny County, will, sometimes, register as Democrats, so they can have some say in local elections.
In the next few days, we will get the facts, not to mention a few sets of alternative facts.
We may get the truth, in time, but there will always be a few people who will tell you the truth is a lie, and the lie they know is the truth.
It will be interesting to see what we learn, and what we don’t learn, in this age of conspiracy theories.
But I’ve given you the facts on the Monongahela Valley, as I know them, having lived here most of my life.
