Mormon Church Attack: MAGA TERROR?

An attack on a Mormon church leaves the nation horrified. Republicans and Democrats rush to blame each other, but what's really going on? Why does this keep happening? Welcome to America Uncovered. I'm Chris Chapel. You know, I'm convinced. It's not YouTube trying to crush this show. It's the news cycle itself. I mean, how am I supposed to talk about this without setting off the content bots? I'll be shocked if this isn't instantly demonetized, which is why I'm so grateful to have today's sponsor. You see, 2026 is less than a 100 days away. And if you look back at the goals you set, you would have barely made progress, especially when it comes to learning the skills you'll need to survive next year as AI rapidly transforms our world. Right now, Microsoft is poaching the best AI talent while spending tens of billions of dollars on data centers and AI development. 78% of businesses are already using AI. It's scary, but not this Halloween. Not for you. 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Click the link in the description to register. Don't miss out. And now on with the show. On Sunday, a pickup truck crashed through the front of a Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The driver then exited the vehicle and opened fire on church attendees. An accelerant, most likely gasoline, was used to fuel a five alarm fire which utterly consumed the church. About 8 minutes later, the attacker was killed in a shootout with the police. The attack left at least four innocent people dead and another eight injured as police continue to sift through the rubble for those unaccounted for. Without a moment's hesitation, the internet started placing bets. Who was it this time? Another porn adult furry? A trans memel lord? Good old-fashioned Muslim extremist? Well, it turns out none of these. The shooter was identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, an Iraq war veteran from Burton, Michigan. Was this finally it? The MAGA on MAGA violence so many had been waiting for? I mean, look at this guy. If I told you to draw a picture of a Trump supporter, that would probably be who would come to mind. And come on, who else drives a Chevy Silverado with two American flags sticking out the back? He's even got a Trump Vance sign stuck to his fence. Unless this was supposed to mean stop Trump. That one's a bit unclear. But assuming Thomas Sanford was some kind of Trump voting conservative, that doesn't explain the reasoning behind the attack. The Latter-day Saints aren't exactly liberal, so why target them? Chris John's, a candidate who was out campaigning for Burton City Council, claims to have spoken to Sanford just a week before the attack. Here's what Sanford told him. And after a short while, it the conversation went to the Church of Latter-day Saints, Mormonism, and he just made the position multiple times that that Mormons are the Antichrist. Mormons are the Antichrist. That's pretty harsh. What would lead someone to think that? What's this guy's backstory? And then he went into his background, how he was a Marine. He had served overseas and again he spoke about just some experiences with with drug use, but he to start new had moved out to Utah to shovel to plow snow. He then had began a relationship with a woman who was in the LDS church and then in not so when we that the conversation changed to tattoos which he had a lot of and how he had to have all his tattoos removed in order to be you know in for certain religious ceremonies and it was just a piece where I was very careful how I answered because it's one of those things where I did not know what response was going to be acceptable to him and so it's a case of like I just wanted to get off the door and away from him. Yeah. No kidding. That's a door-to-door canvaser's worst nightmare. You go up to a house expecting to talk about filling in the city's potholes and then some crazy guy starts telling you his life story and going off about religion. But as John's points out, none of this seemed overtly political. But I want to reinforce that this is not a blue or red issue. This is 100% personally held beliefs. Yeah, I believe that. It doesn't sound like Sanford had some deep theological disagreement with the Mormons. And if this was political, why go after the Latter-day Saints? I mean, there are way more liberal denominations out there. No, this sounds like a deeply troubled person who struggled with addiction, with relationships, and who may have seen some things while fighting a war overseas. The Mormons just happened to be the unlucky group his brain zeroed in on. And before you say anything, please know that I am not just running cover for conservatives. As I covered in a previous episode, there's plenty of mass casualty events stemming from both sides of the aisle. I'd suggest you check that one out. But to keep things brief, there's a particular image around mass shooters that's been cultivated by the media and by people online. Crazy people latch on to these images. And that's why we see a lot of the same sorts of weapons and tactics used in addition to choice of targets. It's less of a political crusade and more of a death cult. The transsexual Minneapolis Catholic school shooter scribbled messages on his weapons, targeting not just Christians, but Jews, black people, gay people, Muslims, Hispanics, and others. A year before that, 15-year-old Nally Rupnau shot up the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, killing two and injuring six others before taking her own life. Her manifesto detailed her sense of isolation from her family and society at large and called for a general war against humanity. Or how about the Lakewood church shooting where 36-year-old Janice Moreno shot and injured two people at the beginning of a Spanish language service before being gunned down by offduty police. According to her mother-in-law, she was being treated for schizophrenia. Perhaps something similar was going on with Sanford. Rather than this being a political attack, maybe he was just brain damaged like the Midtown Manhattan shooter who targeted the NFL headquarters. Turns out he did have CTE after all. Even the motivations of wouldbe presidential assassins are not so cut and dry. Ryan Ruth, who was found guilty of attempting to assassinate then candidate Trump, gave some really weird testimony in court. He began with questions like, "What happened to Homo Erectus?" He continued on to other tangents, crying as he recounted the contributions of the Wright brothers. He went on and on about the nature of beauty and building wheels and then topped it off by trying to stab himself in the neck with a pen. That's insane. But it tells you something about the nature of a lot of these attacks. We attribute all of these different motivations to these shooters, but a lot of it boils down to some people just being plain crazy. Crazy and easily influenced. That is the media's hype around assassins and shooters is obviously affecting people. People who were already unstable. These attacks are dominating the news cycle and it's creating a feedback loop where more attacks create more coverage which leads to more attacks and it's all made worse by the fact that everyone is keeping score of which side is committing these horrible acts. I actually feel sort of guilty covering this. Am I just feeding into the narrative cycle that turns these maniacs into celebrities and who go on to inspire others to commit atrocities? I hope not. I just want to explain the process that's helping create these tragedies. Maybe if we can understand what's happening as a society, we can figure out ways to stop any of this from happening again. Whether that means changing how we consume news, how we discuss things online, or how we treat people suffering from mental health issues. I know it's a lot to deal with. I'm sure this endless parade of tragedies is taking as much of a toll on you as it is me. So, uh, here's a Pomeranian. Feel better? Yeah, me neither. What do you think? Leave your comments below. And don't get left behind when everyone else is learning to use AI. Be one of the first 10,000 people to click below and book your slot for Outsklls AI training this weekend. I'm Chris Chapel. Thanks for watching.