May 1, 2026
First Posted December 31 2025
The assassin who failed at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner should not be a surprise to WP readers…we wrote about this phenomenon in December. The original piece is below and we can add his name to the list:
Background: Trained mechanical engineer and computer scientist working as a tutor at C2 Education in Torrance, where he was named “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024. LinkedIn self-description: “mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth”
Studyed at Caltech, one of the most rigorous universities in the world.
In sum, another clearly gifted intelligence young man lost in what appears to be his own imagined universe, divorced from reality.
This is a thing.
December 31, 2025 Piece:
There Is Something Very Wrong Here
Gilman School in Baltimore, Maryland, an all-boys private secondary school. He graduated as valedictorian of his class in 2016.
College: University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated cum laude in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) in computer engineering and a Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) in computer and information science Wikipedia. His undergraduate studies included a minor in mathematics, and his graduate curriculum focused on artificial intelligence.
Education background of alleged murderer Luigi Mangione
He joined the National Technical Honor Society in 2021 as a junior and graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022 with high honors, winning a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative.
He earned an SAT score of 1530 out of 1600 and achieved perfect grades on three Advanced Placement exams.
Education background of Would-be Trump Assassin Thomas Crooks
At age 17, he placed third in the National Physics Olympiad in 1994 and represented Portugal at the International Physics Olympiad in Australia in 1995. He studied at Portugal’s Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) between 1995 and 2000 in the school’s physics engineering program. He graduated at the top of his class from this prestigious engineering school in Lisbon.
Education background of Brown and MIT shooter Claudio Neves-Valente
DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania – Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (2020)
Master’s Degree: DeSales University – Master’s degree in Criminal Justice (June 2022)
Doctoral Studies:Washington State University (Pullman, Washington) – Ph.D. candidate in Criminology and Criminal Justice (started summer 2022)
Education background of Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger
Skipped third grade due to her academic abilities. Was a year ahead of where she should have been based on her age. Scored 30 on the ACT at age 13 (a highly competitive score). Named Student of the Month and Student of the Year at her middle school. Described as a bright, academically gifted student who excelled in her studies.
Education background of teenage murderer Carly Gregg. Murdered her mother.
During his senior year of high school in 2020, he was taking 4 college classes on top of 4 high school classes, including AP calculus. He attended Pine View High School in St. George, Utah. He earned a 4.0GPA and earned a near perfect ACT score of 34, which secured him a four-year presidential scholarship at Utah State. graduating in 2021 He earned a 4.0 GPA and scored well on standardized tests.
Education Background of Charlie Kirk Assassin Tyler Robinson
Now there is something very, very wrong here. I have written before about the alienation that can plague kids with gifted IQ levels (say, 130 and up) and it is clear to me most (if not all) of the people above would qualify. And I wonder how highly intelligent people, most of whom had privileged backgrounds would come to the conclusion that murdering another human being was not only acceptable to them, but worthy of action? I have my thoughts but I’m not a mental health professional and wouldn’t add any value, I don’t think.
I tried to write about it, but I kept sounding like someone giving them an excuse, a behavioral hall pass, and I most definitely do not feel that way.
But I was left with a lingering unease. Where do they come from, I wondered? Where is their hate planted, and germinated and nourished?
I ran across the photograph below, featuring the rabid racist Nick Fuentes.
The overwhelming consensus among mainstream observers, civil rights organizations, and platform moderation teams is that his rhetoric crosses well beyond legitimate political discourse into racism, antisemitism, and hate speech. His promotion of Holocaust denial is particularly cited as evidence. I won’t repeat his words because I don’t want to give him a platform, but if you go and look, you’ll find a rabid racist.
And as a corollary a pox on Tucker Carlson who gives Fuentes airtime. For these and other efforts, Carlson was just awarded the Anti Semite of the Year Award by the Jewish advocacy group, StopAntisemitism. Any respect I had for Carlson was long gone but has now totally evaporated.
Now here is what struck me about this picture below. Take a good look at it.
And now, I want you to focus, not on Fuentes but rather, on the young men surrounding him. They appear to be his supporters, I suppose there may be a journalist or some ‘third party’ not directly involved. We can’t be sure.
But as these young men take in his racist rant, and no doubt continually stew in it…what effect on them?
Politically motivated killers/haters need…hate nurturing, manifestos, role models, causes, perhaps narcissism, a sense of outrage and a sense that the world lacks fairness, that it is ignoring them…which can be rectified with a violent act.
In sum, I find this a chilling picture to contemplate.
Public personalities, most especially politicians, need to tone down the rhetoric. If a young man commits a murder, and someday stands in some heavenly court of law, where everything is noted and seen…those celebs and pols might be seen as accomplices. Although in our human existence here, their name will never appear. But guilt doesn’t lie in exposure, exposure punishes guilt.
No, guilt lies in how you contributed to a wrong, how you may have encouraged it, enabled it, and ginned up a weak mind to do what you might imagine doing in your darkest moments. Setting up the other person as inhuman, and thereby, worthy of elimination.
From the President on down, we need better in 2026, and beyond.
FYI, it is reported that incoming Mayor Mamdani is gutting the NYC Public School Gifted and Talented program. He has labelled it as “racist.”
Over here, I’m labelling it as badly needed.
Thoughts, questions, or reflections? I’d love to hear them. You can reach me anytime at anthony@workingprofit.com
