MAYBE?

Maybe he hired a hitman (or hitwoman) to do the deed? Maybe he realized just how much damage he was doing to the American psyche and decided to spare the country, and his family, future consequences. Or…

Maybe he wanted to make an even bolder statement and further divide the country with his inflammatory statements by becoming a martyr for the cause? (Which would still require hiring a hitman (or hitwoman)). Or…

Maybe he didn’t really want to become a martyr and, like the president, have an attempt made on his life (to further fan the fires of hate and division) but… something went wrong and, gee, you never know how bullets will react when hitting a bulletproof vest. Sometimes they ricochet and, well, plans go awry. Or…

Maybe he was secretly working undercover for the FBI, infiltrating the racism-soaked, hate-mongering, MAGA-loving, party of Lincoln to take down the inner circle of covert investors and instigators, and should be hailed as a true American hero who died for the cause… the other cause. Wait, which cause are we talking about? Or…

Maybe he was having a secret affair with one of his most ardent critics (male or female, it really doesn’t matter), and a) his wife found out and hired a gunman (or gunwoman) to put the fear of God in his cheating heart and, sadly, things went awry (the whole unfortunate bullet ricocheting thing), or b) this secret affair person was wrought with guilt for sleeping with the enemy and, fearing public exposure, decided to eliminate the threat, true love be damned! Or…

Maybe he was simply an asshole who fed off the asshole ideas of his followers and had created a persona that put a target on his back… well, front… and, regardless of the fact that he had a wife and two children, tempted fate and fate responded in the form of a message carried on the wings of a bullet.

Just remember… Nobody cried when Charlie Manson died. He had family, too.

Kurt Newton’s writings can be found festering in such places as God’s Cruel Joke, Punk Noir Magazine, Apocalypse Confidential, Urban Pigs Press, Cajun Mutt Press, Hobo Camp Review, and Heroin Love Songs. His recent collections include Moonlight Apocrypha, The Body Snatchers & Other Death Rituals, animals, The Ever-Evolving Alphabet, and A Troubled Sleep.