He was absolutely left-leaning, likely chronically online leftish and hated his family’s politics.

I grew up in a deeply conservative environment, I was a bible-thumping conservative right up until I was around this person’s age when I started having friends coming back from Iraq in bags and pieces. I never could have remotely imagined doing something so violent and radical, but I also know that when you’re young, surrounded by people who seem disconnected from you, frustrated and you feel outnumbered, you can be influenced real easily to start feeling like you have some kind of power and “destiny” to make changes to the world.