In the sobering aftermath of the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump, many Americans have rightly focused on glaring failures in coordination between federal and local law enforcement. But while the spotlight has shifted from the chaos on the ground to broader security lapses, one deeply troubling piece of the story remains conspicuously under-examined: the man who pulled the trigger—Thomas Crooks.
Now, disturbing new details are emerging about Crooks’ activities leading up to that fateful day, details that ought to raise alarms about how close this country came to witnessing the successful assassination of a presidential candidate — and possibly a sitting president. Yet, the media seems more invested in offering a sympathetic portrait of Crooks than in asking how a would-be political assassin managed to get so close to pulling it off.
Report: Alleged Would-Be Trump Assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks Was ‘Designing a Bomb’
I wonder what he was planning to bomb?
We still have so many unanswered questions about this young man.
Who was he communicating with?
I hope at some point we get the answers we deserve.… pic.twitter.com/tZElxR3rCk— NWRain-Judi (@RYboating) May 27, 2025
According to federal investigators, months before the attempt on Trump’s life, Thomas Crooks was not just quietly stewing in discontent. He was acquiring materials commonly associated with bomb-making. The FBI has revealed that Crooks ordered two gallons of nitromethane, a highly volatile substance frequently used in drag racing — and in improvised explosive devices.
In a January 2024 email uncovered during the investigation, Crooks politely inquired about his delayed shipment:
“Hello, my name is Thomas. I placed an order on your website on January 19. I have not received any updates of the order shipping out yet and I was wondering if you still have it and when I can expect it to come.”
The courtesy of the message shouldn’t distract from its gravity. This was no casual Amazon order. According to FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek, Crooks had been researching explosive compounds, including nitromethane, as well as components “consistent with the manufacturing of explosive devices.” A backpack-size bomb made from such material could have had a blast radius of up to 30 feet — more than enough to devastate a crowd or a motorcade.
It has been the better part of a year since Thomas Crooks tried to assassinate now-President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania — and we’re somehow just learning that he attempted to acquire explosives that could, depending on how they were used, take… https://t.co/lh1FylJlu5 pic.twitter.com/HbsBeeFxUW
— The Western Journal (@WesternJournalX) May 27, 2025
Yet incredibly, as details of Crooks’ dark preparations surface, CBS and others in the media have chosen a very different focus: Crooks’ academic accolades, his 3D-printed chessboard for his blind mother, his favorite holidays, and his SAT scores.
This airbrushed portrayal mimics the same media playbook used in the Michael Brown case: lead with a cap-and-gown photo, build a story of promise and potential, and downplay the reality of the violence that occurred. CBS called Crooks “a student with a bright future,” noting that he was torn between “two irreconcilable futures” — one as a budding engineer, and the other as a would-be assassin.
To be clear, Crooks wasn’t arrested. He wasn’t sent to trial. He was shot dead by the Secret Service while attempting to assassinate a former president of the United States. Yet much of the media seems more interested in humanizing him than in asking the urgent questions: Who radicalized him? Did he act alone? What did law enforcement know — and ignore — in the months leading up to the shooting?
CBS News reported that it’s obtained “hundreds” of Thomas Crooks’ emails and other academic records, but it’s only released ONE email.
Cue up another Pulitzer Prize!Also pictured here is a 3D chess board Crooks made for his blind mother. A 3D printer was found in his room… pic.twitter.com/mOnfABKE4Q
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) May 26, 2025
The FBI continues to claim the investigation is ongoing and has released very little about Crooks’ motives or connections. This vacuum of official information gives mainstream media the freedom to construct their preferred narrative — one where Crooks is not a domestic terrorist, but a confused young man who happened to try to assassinate Donald Trump.
This isn’t just a failure of journalism — it’s a failure of national seriousness. It’s proof that far too many in the media class are still unable or unwilling to reckon honestly with the threats posed by political violence when the target is someone they don’t like.
