For all the headlines since July 13, 2024, what compelled 20-year-old Thomas Crooks to stalk and nearly kill a former U.S. president?

The facts of the day are well documented.

Crooks climbed onto a roof with an AR-15–style rifle, fired eight shots, grazing Trump’s ear and killing firefighter Corey Comperatore. Two more were left critically wounded.

Secret Service lapses were egregious: a rooftop left unguarded, a communication breakdown with local police and anti-drone gear that failed.

The why is more elusive.

Crooks’ background doesn’t fit a neat ideological box — no manifesto, no party loyalty, no obvious radicalization.

But he does fit a broader, more troubling pattern.

In the aftermath of pandemic lockdowns, young adults — especially young men — face rising rates of anxiety, depression and despair.

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Your Rundown for Wednesday, July 16, 2025...

Depressed, Disconnected and Dangerous

“Loneliness is at epidemic levels among young American adults,” adds the latest World Happiness Report which ranks global well-being.

Of some emotional significance: 25% of Americans aged 18–24 say they eat every meal alone, up 80% since the year 2000, according to a 2025 CNBC study.

This isolation is exacerbated by economic anxiety over record-high rents, inflation-sapped wages, perpetual student loans and exorbitant interest rates.

No wonder a 2025 Harvard Youth Poll finds more than 4 in 10 Americans under 30 describe themselves as “barely getting by” while just 15% believe the country is on the right track.

The idea of participating in the American Dream — owning a home, getting ahead, having a personal stake — has largely dissolved into hopelessness.

Tucker Carlson, speaking at the Turning Point USA summit last week, articulates the grievances many young Americans feel.

Onstage, he didn’t waste words, skewering bipartisan leadership:

“We are governed by the most selfish, reckless and incompetent people imaginable. Their policies have made it impossible for younger people to become part of their own country.”

Although MAGA rails against the system’s status quo, actions indicate otherwise.

One day anti-war, the next saber-rattling…

One day anti-censorship, the next withholding the Epstein Files…

One day anti money-printing, the next passing the profligate BBB.

Love him or hate him, Tucker’s brilliance is that he reliably reads the room.

And a year after the assassination attempt in Butler, PA — and five years after heavy-handed COVID lockdowns — America risks more disaffection… more Thomas Crooks… and more economic fallout.

“One day, the people you ignored are going to decide they want their country back,” warns Tucker. “And there won’t be anything you can do to stop them.”

[Agree or disagree, reader? Do you have sympathy for the plight of young Americans today? Or are they whiners with a case of “affluenza”?

How has the upheaval of the past five years affected your community? Your insights matter.]

Market Rundown for Wednesday, July 16, 2025

S&P 500 futures are slightly in the green at 6,285.

Oil’s down 1.20% to $65.60 for a barrel of WTI.

Gold is up 0.20% to $3,343.10 per ounce.

And Bitcoin is up 2%, just under $119K.