Nothing says “tea partier” like an atheist 9/11 Truther who likes “The Communist Manifesto” and had displayed no previous interest in firearms. Clearly a man who would love Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.

Mistrust of government was Loughner’s defining conviction, the friends said. He believed the U.S. government was behind 9/11, and worried that governments were maneuvering to create a unified monetary system (“a New World Order currency” one friend said) so that social elites and bureaucrats could control the rest of the world.

Too often people hear “mistrust of government” and automatically think “small government conservative”. But conservatives and libertarians aren’t the only mistrusters of government. Think the G20 protesters. And left-wing anarchists. And, I don’t know, some nutty guy who thinks it’s okay to shoot children.

This guy wasn’t stable. He liked The Communist Manifesto, Animal Farm, and Mein Kampf all at once. He talked about government controlling grammar. He thought American agents carried out the 9/11 attacks. He lied about having a career in the military. His classmates say he would laugh maniacally at serious literature. He thought the space shuttle was faked.

Does this sound like a guy who needed to be driven to psychopathic acts by heated political rhetoric? He held a grudge against Congresswoman Giffords back in 2007 — before the Tea Party existed, before names like “Sarah Palin” and “Glenn Beck” were universally known.  He’s a pyscho.