Gunman Left Online Manifesto w Anti-Trump & Anti-Israel Rhetoric

Summary

The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

Episode Date: August 28, 2025
Episode Title: Gunman Left Online Manifesto w Anti-Trump & Anti-Israel Rhetoric
Host: Ben Ferguson
Production: Premiere Networks

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Ben Ferguson delivers an in-depth commentary on the tragic shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. Ben explores the aftermath of the attack, the shooter’s motives as evidenced by an online manifesto, media and political reactions, and broader implications for public debate on gun control, hate crimes, and transgender issues. The episode’s central theme revolves around the alleged political and ideological motivations of the shooter, institutional responses, and what Ben perceives as the mainstream media’s selective coverage.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Shooting and Initial Details [00:40–05:52]

• Incident Recapped:
  Ben Ferguson opens with details of the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting, which left two children (ages 8 and 10) dead and 17 wounded.
• Federal Response:
  FBI Director Cash Patel confirms the event is being investigated as a hate crime and act of domestic terrorism targeting Catholics.
• Political Context:
  Ben contrasts the Trump administration’s clarity on the incident with what he sees as political hesitation from local Democratic leaders, particularly the Minneapolis mayor.

"These parents, they want answers. Everyone wants to know why. There is no answer to the why. Nothing explains shooting at children."
— Podcast Host/Commentator [00:05]

"The FBI director...making it clear that he believes this was a hate crime. Yet the mayor in Minneapolis, playing politics, refuses to say the same thing."
— Ben Ferguson [00:40]

2. Shooter’s Identity and Background [05:52–08:12]

• Profile of the Shooter:
  The shooter identified as Robin Westman, legally changed from Robert, and was transgender. Ben highlights that the shooter was a former student of the school, and their mother worked there.
• Attack Details:
  The attack occurred during Mass; the shooter used a pistol, rifle, and shotgun, firing through windows at children in the pews.
• Shooter’s Motives:
  Authorities uncovered social media posts and a YouTube manifesto detailing the shooter’s obsessions and ideological dislikes.

"The coward that shot these victims took his own life in the rear of the church. That coward has been identified as 23 year old Robin Westman."
— Law Enforcement Official [06:18]

"Police say they also found a litany of writings."
— News Analyst/Reporter [07:01]

3. The Online Manifesto & Rhetoric [08:12–10:08]

• Manifesto Content:
  The shooter’s online posts and video contained explicit anti-Trump and anti-Israel rhetoric, admiration for previous mass shooters, and messages painted on weapons.
  • Phrases included "kill Donald Trump," "Israel must fall," and "Where is your God?"
• Media Omission:
  Ben criticizes media outlets for not highlighting the shooter's political and ideological leanings, as well as their transgender identity, alleging a double standard in coverage.

"This shooter had a YouTube manifesto and it included vile anti-Trump messages written on guns... 'kill Donald Trump,' another one said, 'where is your God?' and another one 'Israel must fall.'"
— Ben Ferguson [10:10]

4. Political and Media Reactions [09:24–16:07]

• Political Leaders:
  Ben highlights statements from Democratic officials like Senator Amy Klobuchar and local Minnesota leadership, who quickly called for stricter gun control even before all weapon details were confirmed.
• Mental Health & Ideology:
  Discussion shifts to how the shooter’s mental health and radical ideology are often downplayed or normalized by progressive leaders, according to Ben.
• Community Response:
  The Minneapolis mayor’s statements are spotlighted, emphasizing calls for gun reform and expressing skepticism toward “thoughts and prayers.”

"Why is it so easy to get a gun? Why is it so easy to get a whole heap ton of guns? Why is it that you can buy a gun virtually every month if you wanted to? What good is that?"
— Minneapolis Mayor [13:06]

"That is the part that's the most shocking. You now have two very different narratives. You have clearly leadership in Cash Patel and the Trump administration calling this what it is. And then you have local liberal police who are saying, no, we don't have enough to actually look at this as a hate crime."
— Ben Ferguson [08:12]

5. Critique of Selective Coverage and Bias [10:10–16:07]

• Criticism of Progressive Narratives:
  Ben asserts that the left and mainstream media are using the tragedy to push gun reform while ignoring aspects of mental health, religious hate, and the shooter’s anti-Trump/anti-Israel ideology.
• Backlash Against Mayor:
  The Minneapolis mayor is criticized for statements perceived as dismissive of people offering prayers in response to the tragedy.
• Call for Truthful Reporting:
  Ben stresses the need for the media to fully address all dimensions of such tragedies.

"Don't say it's about thoughts and prayers right now. Wow. That is the mayor of a liberal city that normalized a radical leftist who said, 'kill Trump, kill the Jews,' and killed the children that are Catholic. And what are they focused on? Gun control."
— Ben Ferguson [16:07]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the shooter’s motives:
  “Admiration for mass shooters, hatred of multiple groups, no sympathy for any victim is just some of what the shooter... reveals in videos posted online.”
  — News Reporter [05:52]

• On the divergence in responses:
  “You now have two very different narratives... leadership in Cash Patel and Trump administration calling this what it is. And then you have local liberal police who are saying... we don't have enough to actually look at this as a hate crime.”
  — Ben Ferguson [08:12]

• On the media’s selective focus:
  “Why is the media not covering that? Why is the media also not covering the fact that this was a transgendered shooter?”
  — Ben Ferguson [10:10]

• Minneapolis Mayor’s emotional appeal:
  “We have more guns in America than people... This has gone down in other countries and they say, you know what, we're not gonna allow this anymore.”
  — Minneapolis Mayor [13:06]

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Important Segments and Timestamps

• Shooting Summary and Federal Response: [00:40–05:52]
• Shooter Identity, Background, and Videos: [05:52–08:12]
• Manifesto Details, Media Coverage Critique: [08:12–10:10]
• Political Reaction and Community Response: [09:24–15:02]
• Backlash Against Mayor and Final Editorials: [15:02–16:07]

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Tone and Language

Ben Ferguson’s delivery is urgent, opinionated, and critical of political and media responses. He uses direct, sometimes confrontational language, especially toward Democratic officials and the mainstream media, while seeking to highlight ideological motives and religious hate crimes that he feels are being ignored.

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Summary for Non-Listeners

This episode provides a passionate, right-leaning critique of political and media reactions to the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting. It emphasizes the shooter’s documented anti-Trump and anti-Israel sentiments—allegedly ignored by mainstream outlets—and highlights tensions between federal and local characterizations of the crime (hate crime vs. “too early to tell”). Ben Ferguson puts a spotlight on the political and cultural flashpoints of gun control, transgender identity, mental health, and religious hatred, urging for more transparent and balanced coverage. If you seek a deeper understanding of the conservative framing around this tragedy or want to follow the narratives developing on the right, this summary covers all major talking points, key voices, and key moments from the episode.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

This is an I heart podcast.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

These parents, they want answers. Everyone wants to know why. There is no answer to the why. Nothing explains shooting at children. We could bring in the world's foremost forensic psychiatrist. Okay, he was troubled. So if we are waiting on a why, then we are going to be unsatisfied. And where we direct our energies and our emotions is to the trial. And he deprived those parents of justice by taking his own life. They'll never get the answers that they want.

[Ben Ferguson]

You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.

Good Thursday morning. Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. And we've got one major story that we're talking about. It is the horrific shooting in Minneapolis at a Catholic school that has claimed the lives of two children, an 8 and a 10 year old. I want you to hear from what the FBI director is saying about this now, making it very clear that he believes this was a hate crime. Yet the mayor in Minneapolis playing politics, refuses to say the same thing. We're also going to introduce you to that mayor. And what is he talking about right now? Not about the transgender student and the radical left ideology that is clearly broken. No, he's now talking about gun control and saying that you shouldn't have the right to go out and buy guns. This is what Democrats are doing, using the tragedy to push a political agenda. And even Amy Klobuchar getting in on the action, saying we don't even know what guns were used yet or if certain laws can stop this from happening. But she still wants the laws to be passed anyway. But first, I want to talk to.

[Ben Ferguson (Ad Read)]

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[Ben Ferguson]

47 Morning Update and it starts right now. There is one thing we are getting from the Trump administration when it comes to the shooting in Minneapolis. It is clarity. The FBI director Cash Patel saying the shooting is now being investigated as a hate crime targeting Catholics. This is something we did not get from the prior administration. The FBI director used a post on X to make it clear that the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting will be investigated as a hate crime specifically targeting Catholics. It was reported that the alleged shooter changed his name from Robert to Robin at 17 years of age. Fox News correspondent Brooke Taylor reported that his mother signed off on the suspected shooter's name change from Robert to Robin yet again. Another transgendered individual shooting up a school. Police indicated the alleged shooter used a pistol, a rifle and a shotgun to carry out his attack on the church Wednesday morning. From inside the church he shot through windows, striking children as they sat in the pews during Mass. As you know at this point when I am recording this, two children have been killed, 17 other individuals have been wounded. Patel putting it on X saying updates on the shooting. In Minneapolis, the FBI is investigating the shooting shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics. There are two fatalities, an 8 year old and a 10 year old in addition to 14 children and three adults that were injured. He went on to say after that quote, the shooter has been identified as Robin Westman, a Male born as Robert Westman. The FBI will continue to provide updates on our ongoing investigation with the public as we are able. Now even CNN is having to admit that this was a radical. Here is more of what they said about the shooter.

[News Reporter]

Breaking news, Admiration for mass shooters, hatred of multiple groups, no sympathy for any victim is just some of what the shooter in today's Catholic school massacre, which he murdered two children reveals and videos posted online. Videos that police are scouring through right now for clues and answers about the shooter who has been identified as a 23 year old named Robin Westman. Brian Todd has the latest on what we know about the shooter.

[Law Enforcement Official]

The coward that shot these victims took his own life in the rear of the church. That coward has been identified as 23 year old Robin Westman.

[News Analyst/Reporter]

Westman seems to have left a series of online videos which describe an obsession with school shootings and even named other mass shooters such as the 2012 Sandy Hook gunman, the Columbine gunman and the man who attacked the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018 swing.

[Ben Ferguson]

Here's my note to my family.

[News Analyst/Reporter]

The video also shows written statements and several guns painted with slurs. In another clip, the speaker simply reads aloud from a clothes dryer manual.

[Ben Ferguson]

Dryer safety, your safety and the safety of others are very important.

[News Analyst/Reporter]

Police say they also found a litany of writings.

[Law Enforcement Official]

We're also aware of a manifesto that the shooter had timed to be released on YouTube. This manifesto appeared to show him at the scene and included some disturbing writings. That content has since been taken down with the assistance of the FBI and it now remains under active review by our investigators.

[News Analyst/Reporter]

Apparently part of the plan that the shooter seemed to illustrate in those Same videos on YouTube a photo of a slab of wood, an actual slab of wood was found at the scene blocking a door from the outside.

[News Reporter]

This will be for the emergency exit.

[Ben Ferguson]

Pop it through the hand, I don't know where.

[News Analyst/Reporter]

According to social media posts, the shooter's mother worked at the school from 2016 to 2021 and the shooter graduated from the school in 2017. The shooter, now known as 23 year old Robin Westman, identified as a female and changed their name legally to Robin from Robert in 2020. The agency is investigating this as an act of domestic terrorism and as a hate crime targeting Catholics. Police Chief Brian o' Hara says officials there have not yet established enough of a motive to charge it or to investigate. I hate crime, Aaron.

[Ben Ferguson]

That is the part that's the most shocking. You now have two very different narratives. You have clearly leadership in Cash Patel and The Trump administration calling this what it is. And then you have local liberal police who are saying, no, we don't have enough to actually look at this as a hate crime. Yet. The question I would ask is, when will you have enough? As the Minneapolis police chief describing the attack on the mass as, quote, evil, noting that the worship service was marking the first week of school for children that are attending the Catholic school, he described the shooting as a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping, but won't call it a hate crime. Yet if you want to know what's wrong in this country, this is a perfect example of it. Democrats, even when evil is staring them in the face, will refuse time and time again to call it exactly that. If there's one thing that is happening right now, it is that Democrats are using this to push for gun control. Amy Klobuchar said, I have long supported assault weapons ban, even before she knows.

[Ben Ferguson (Ad Read)]

What guns were even used.

[Ben Ferguson]

Many others are also saying the same thing. Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki breaking down in tears on msnbc. And then the Minnesota mayor saying, why is it that you can buy a gun virtually every month if you wanted to? Again blaming the gun instead of the transgendered person who they decided to say that their mental health issues were normal and decided that, you know, we're never going to help them with their mental health. We're just going to try to normalize it. Former FBI profiler said the shooter's parents, well, they're ones to blame as well, saying you helped them change their name at 17. That's probably when the fuse was lit.

Now, story number two, there's another part.

Of the story about the trans Minnesota Catholic school shooter that the media is not covering. It doesn't fit the narrative that they want this story to be about, which is gun control. And we don't even know what guns were even used yet, but they're calling for it anyway. Well, here's the other part of the story they're not talking about. This shooter had a YouTube manifesto and it included vile anti Trump messages written on guns. The transgender gunman who opened fire during that mass at the Minneapolis Catholic school had a YouTube channel that contained his manifesto as well as the anti Trump rhetoric. A senior Trump administration official has now confirmed that the now deleted YouTube page belonged to the gunman. A video posted by the gunman showed the manifesto in all of the gunman's weapons. One of the magazines contained the words kill Donald Trump. Another one said, where is your God? And another one Israel must fall were among the words written on the gunman's magazines and the actual weapons. The person who appears to have carried out that shooting, reported by local news, had it this way, posted a video showing the manifesto and the weapons and one of the magazines. They put the picture up. Kill Donald Trump. The shooter also went to the Catholic school and hated people of faith. He was a Trump hater, a Jew hater, and he appears to be a supporter of the Palestinian Islamic movement. The shooter also wrote Israel must fall. And that was just some of what we've seen in a post on X. As you know, Caspertel provided an update of the shooting, which he stated that two children, an 8 and a 10 year old, were killed and it's by someone that is anti Trump and anti Israel. So why is the media not covering that? Why is the media also not covering the fact that this was a transgendered shooter? Yet again, the same issue we had in the Nashville school shooting there. Yes, this is a real problem and they're not covering it. And that's the other issue, which is when will the media start actually telling you the truth? When will the media actually start asking the tough questions? Yes, we know that the left loves pushing gun control when something like this happens. The Minnesota mayor, for example, not talking about the mental health issue, not talking about the anti Jewish rhetoric. No. What was he talking about? He was talking about gun control as well. Listen carefully.

[Minneapolis Mayor]

And yet it does.

[Ben Ferguson]

What does that look like? I mean, you know, well, obviously from being a mayor for some time in Minneapolis, that there are gun laws in Minneapolis, in Minnesota that other states don't have, but there are some things that could still be done. Is that something that you hope people in the legislature have a, have a will to do at this point in time?

[Minneapolis Mayor]

We have more guns in America than people. Say it again. We have more guns in America than people. Why? Why is it so easy to get a gun? Why is it so easy to get a whole heap ton of guns? Why is it that you can buy a gun virtually every month if you wanted to? What good is that? We're not talking about your father's hunting rifle. We're talking about people that have gotten guns that seemingly, in this case, legally, that obviously have a whole ton of mental health issues. You're not right in the head. If you're going to a church to shoot it up, you're not right in the head. But the fact that you have guns, in fact, many, many guns, why is that? Okay, you know, this has gone down in other countries and they say, you know what, we're not gonna allow this anymore. We're not, we don't want this to happen anymore. We're going to do something about it. It's got to be out of love for our kids, a common kind of humanity that you understand how deeply I love my little girls. I've got a almost five year old, four and three quarters, she'd tell you. And I've got a three week old. And I many times today have thought about the last things that I have said to her before she went into school. And you know, you shove these things off as, you know, maybe even an annoyance. Get out the door, put on your shoes, let's go. Here's your headband. Come on. But there's also a beauty to it in that I love her so dearly and I want her to be able to experience the school and her life safely. That's not too much to ask. And the fact that we've seen these things happen again and again throughout our country, what it tells me is maybe we're not seeing these kids as our own. And so that's my ask to people, don't think about these as just somebody else's kids. Think about them as if they were your own.

[Ben Ferguson]

By the way, that same mayor, hours after that interview going on the anti gun tirade, he is now facing fierce backlash after attacking people of faith for offering prayers during a press conference on a tragic shooting at the Catholic school. Critics now blasting the mayor's remarks as tone death and callous in wake of violence has specifically targeted children at worship. But at the news conference, the mayor declared, quote, don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church. These are kids that should be learning with their friends. They should be playing on playgrounds. They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence. So don't say it's about thoughts and prayers right now. Wow. That is the mayor of a liberal city that normalized a radical leftist who said kill Trump, kill the Jews and killed the children that are Catholic. And what are they focused on? Gun control.

Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.

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