Brett Cooper — You Can’t Feed Into Mental Illness And Expect Stability | Episode 137

Two days ago, a 58-year-old man named Robert Dorgan shot and killed his ex-wife and their son while attending their other son's hockey game. He also shot and wounded three other people, including his ex-wife's parents and one of her mother's friends. And as of the time I'm recording this episode on Tuesday afternoon, all three are still in critical condition. And as normally happens after any kind of high-profile shooting, the internet and the media jumped into action dissecting every single part of the story.

But what's interesting to me about the discourse going on right now is that anytime there is a mass shooting like this, the left and the right launch out. You guys know what I'm talking about. They're looking for a way to make it political. They're hoping or often assuming that the shooter is on the other team, and then they use that information as, you know, political fodder. The left runs with it if it is a straight white man, they say that it is racism, that it is misogyny, especially if he likes Trump.

Oh my god, then that's even worse. The right jumps into action if it is a gender-confused they/them these days, just to the latter, just saying. But that's what happens every single time. But right now, with this shooting, even though this is happening a little bit, there is something a little more niche going on because the shooter is so complex. And so, instead of just seeing the left versus the right, we are actually seeing two factions within the right duke it out.

And honestly, at this point, I am just tired of the finger-pointing, because obviously, this issue is so much deeper than politics. Now, before we dive into the rest of the story, please subscribe to our channel if you found this video valuable and informative. Make sure to leave a like, and if you want to stay up-to-date on every single one of our episodes, make sure to ring that notification bell. Okay, so, from where I am sitting personally, I see no debate over this man's motivation.

This man went to a hockey game where his entire family was going to be. He intentionally killed his family members. And court documents that we all now are seeing show a long history of domestic disputes within this family starting around the time that he transitioned back in 2020. Because, yes, this is another trans shooter. Now, one article says that Dorgan went to the North Providence Police Department, this all happened in Rhode Island, and reported that he had recently undergone gender reassignment surgery, and that his father-in-law wanted him out of their North Providence home because of it.

So, there's an issue there with the in-laws and then the article goes on to say that around the same time his then wife, Rhonda, who is the woman who was shot and killed, filed for divorce. Under grounds for divorce, Rhonda initially wrote, "Quote, gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic and personality disorder traits." Those reasons were then crossed out and replaced with irreconcilable differences which have caused the immediate breakdown of this marriage.

And yeah, I would say that your husband transitioning is irreconcilable differences. So, I understand her there. Now, that divorce was finalized in June of 2021 according to court documents. So, what I'm trying to get out here is that this entire thing was personal. This was not a political assassination. This was not just somebody open firing in a movie theater or a school. He had direct and clear targets. And tragically, if you guys did not know this, but these types of family disputes are the most common type of mass shooting.

One article talking about this reads that between 2014 and 2019, 68.2% of mass shootings included the perpetrator killing one family member or having a history of domestic violence. And also, on top of that, nearly half of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former romantic partner. So, obviously, Dorgan's ex-wife, Rhonda, is now in that category. So, again, this is not inherently political. But because it's the internet in 2026, it is going to become political.

Now, soon after the shooting, as she was leaving the local police department, the press caught Dorgan's daughter and asked her a few questions. They just stuck a microphone in her face and she also confirmed that he was mentally ill. Just watch. >> My father was extremely My father was >> And what happened? >> He shot my family. >> And Who is dead now? >> What was the reasoning? Was there a family argument or >> He has mental health issues.

So, >> So, yes, she goes on to describe those mental health issues a little bit more. She says that uh he had been struggling with uh mental health for quite some time. She said, "Quote, he was very sick. >> Now, in another interview later on, that same daughter said that her father struggled with mental health his entire adulthood, adding, quote, I think that his gender identity issues are a symptom of a deeper issue.

And so, I'm guessing that all of this is probably why our lovely friends over at Blue Sky went totally silent after it was revealed that this man was transgender. Because at first, everyone on that app was talking about the story. They were doing their usual posts calling for gun control, like saying things like a hockey rink, a school, a grocery store, a church. It keeps changing the location so we pretend it's different.

It isn't. This is the cost of choosing gun absolution over human life over and over again. But, you know, in response, I would say that maybe, just maybe, this is the consequence, actually, of a society that affirms somebody's delusions over and over again instead of encouraging them to get help. Just a thought, sir. But, we will get back to that later on. Because then, again, after the news broke, after his identity was revealed, people went silent.

And people on Blue Sky are even accusing the app of hiding specific conversations. For example, one person said, I find it interesting that when searching Rhode Island shooting, all the posts have a lot of comments. When searching Robert Dorgan, all of the posts that mention that he also went as Roberta have no comments. Wrong narrative? And then, this same person replied to himself and said, it is now over 10 hours since the name Robert Roberta came out, and still no to few comments on the posts.

Plenty of comments on the ice rink shooting. Is Blue Sky censoring posts to protect a narrative? It sure looks like it is. I mean, I wouldn't put it past them, but I also wouldn't put it past people on that app to just conveniently ignore that part of the story. Like, it might not be Blue Sky censoring them. It might just be like, "Ooh, that doesn't fit my narrative, so I'm just not even going to talk about it. Moving on to the next thing.

Well, what's Trump what's Trump doing? We're going to talk about that." And maybe I'll comment on the posts that just say ice rink shooting rather than diving into the harsh reality that maybe this is connected to something other than just guns. Now, before we dive into the rest of the story, I do want to take a moment to tell you about my friends over Ajevity who have sponsored this episode. Now, between being postpartum and having an infant and breastfeeding and doing all the farm stuff and the show and traveling, I know that I am depleted of all my nutrients, but it does not have to be that way.

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Classic New York Times. I mean, it is just almost comical at this point. They are basically bending over backwards in their refusal to say that Robert Egon was transgender. And instead, in their headline, they wrote this, "Two killed in shooting at a high school hockey game in Rhode Island." And then this was their subtitle. They said the shooter was born in 1969 and went by two different names. Thank you, New York Times.

Got it. Totally normal. Makes a lot of sense. Thank you for that hard-hitting journalism. Like, I'm sorry, New York Times. This is not a Charlie but went by Chuck situation. Let's be honest here. His name was Robert, but in recent years he had gone by Roberta. And you can see Roberta in this photo right here. That interestingly, the mainstream media has decided not to publish. They're not posting a lot of photos of him as Roberta.

Now, as they do, internet sleuths immediately found this man's ex. And it is as disturbing and chaotic as that photo that I just made you all look at. And people were quick to see that the night before he decided to go kill his family, he was making threats online. Under one Kevin Sorbo post about Congressman Tim Saramac Bride, Robert said, "Keep bashing us, but do not wonder why we go berserk." And then in that same threat, he issued a similar warning to Alex Jones after he commented so creepy under Kevin's post.

And Robert, Roberta, then replied, "Shut the F up, Alex. Don't be so butt-hurt over somebody different. Then wonder why trans people go effing berserk." Both of those comments were on February 15th, 3 days ago, the night before the shooting. Now, the other thing I will say here is that this sentiment of trans people going berserk if you do not affirm them or treat them as they want to be treated, that's not new. Because for years now, we have watched the radicalization of people on the left, especially those in the LGBTQ community.

And Antifa really is the culmination of all of that. But they have talked about buying guns. They have threatened people. And obviously, they have carried out shootings. We have experienced all of this. And so, unsurprisingly, soon after the news broke, people were on Reddit echoing that sentiment. And I wanted to share this with you guys just so you know what we are dealing with here. One person said, "Until society stops ostracizing and demonizing people with different sexual preferences or mental illnesses, this sort of tragic occurrence will continue.

Care, acceptance, tolerance, and inclusion are the only smart path forward. So sad. Now, the original poster on this entire thread then replied and said, "Whenever a trans person commits an act of violence, we should all pause and consider what led them to take this drastic step in the first place." Drastic step, killing their family is a drastic step, got it. Most of the time, their story ends up being sadder than the victims.

I mean, it's just it is insane. It's focusing on the shooter who took innocent people's lives over the people who are dead. And also, I'm sorry. Actually, I'm not sorry to say this anymore, but care and acceptance and tolerance, that is actually what got us here. Because all of that care was fake to begin with. Because real care does not involve affirming somebody's delusions and their mental illness. Care does not involve egging people on as they start to believe that everyone is out to get them, that their human rights are being stripped away.

All of that is toxic empathy and I want none of it. It is not productive. It is the opposite of healthy. And it's not just in regards to the trans community. When you were dealing with anybody with severe mental illness, you cannot affirm that. And we've tried. I mean, I've done so many episodes talking about mental health, mental illness, talking about my experiences in my family with my brother. An illness of that severity, the things that you see on the streets if you're walking around Los Angeles or San Francisco or New York City, you cannot fix that with tolerance and affirmation.

We have tried. That's why those cities look like that. That's why we see shootings like this. I'm sorry, but that is simply the fact. Greg Price summed all of this up well and he said, "If a white guy named Robert who decided one day that he's now a Latina woman named Roberta got sent to an asylum instead of having his delusions affirmed, his wife and daughter would still be alive." And I agree. And I know that it's controversial to a lot of people, especially in the mental health world, the ACLU, all of those types, but that is why I am in support of reopening our institutions.

I know that they were not perfect. I know that there are institutional problems that need to be fixed. I know that it should be done differently, but we do need to figure out how we compassionately protect and care for individuals like this. And compassionately protect and care for their family members who are left vulnerable. Because right now our system does none of that. Back to Robert's story, and this is getting more into the discourse on the right, I want to note that both of his tweets that we just read were targeted at prominent people on the right, which normally would make sense in the case of any other trans shooter.

But Robert, Roberta here, was a Republican. There are countless tweets and replies from him about supporting Trump, like this one from November 9th, 2024. He said, "Trans my whole life, post-operation, back Trump 100%, love America. They don't stand for me, they don't speak for me. F these assholes." He was even against transitioning children. Back in May, he even tweeted and said, "Post-op trans here, six kids, got to leave the kids alone.

It is a commie plot to divide and destroy the country, believe me." And I read this and I immediately think, like, sir, maybe we maybe we don't just stop with the kids at this point because you have not set a glowing example right now for supporting your community and supporting these transitions. Back to the point, I'm showing you guys this because this was not your average Republican, this was not your average trans person.

Somebody commented and said, "When there's a mass shooting US, half the country expects it to be a far-right person, and half the country expects it to be a trans person. So, I suppose the day was bound to come when it would be both." It's insane, but yes, I mean, this is, you know, the horseshoe political theory at work. But again, and this is where I want to go a little more direct to the right. Like I said, he was not, obviously, your average run-of-the-mill moderate Republican.

You know, he often engaged with Nick Fuentes. He retweeted Alex Jones. He wanted Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene to run for president. And because he seemed to like Massie and Fuentes and Tucker, now people on the right have begun to point fingers. And so now I'm seeing people argue over how radicalizing that, specifically, that type of content is. AG Hamilton tweeted last night and said, "So, the alleged Rhode Island shooter was a trans anti-Semite and racist who was a huge fan of Nick Fuentes, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

If any of that surprises you, then you haven't been paying attention." And here's the thing, I am not disputing that any of those figures could drive radicalization at all. I mean, they're all polarizing, but stop acting so holier-than-thou when there was literally somebody driven to try to assassinate Candace over her views on Israel. Both things are bad. Both things are radicalization. People can and are radicalized on all sides, on all issues.

So, stop using this as a gotcha moment. It's weird when the left does it, it's weird when the right does it, it's weird when anybody does it. Because maybe this isn't the politics. Maybe it isn't the commentator. Maybe it's the vulnerable American populace. Maybe it's the internet at large and what it's doing to our brains. Maybe it's our mental health crisis, which honestly is at the crux of this entire issue. Now, over on Blue Sky again, where people were blaming the guns per usual, there was one comment that did stand out to me.

Again, you see here, it's always the guns. We have strong gun laws. And then this person said, "Sad and terrible and ordinary. Gun violence is a public health crisis." Okay, again, but what about what about the real public health crisis here? The mentally ill people who are lonely and insecure, who then turn to the internet for affirmation and they find it in a myriad of different factions across the internet. Who are vulnerable, who are radicalized on both sides.

Like that is the actual issue. This was a chronically online, angry, politically engaged, mentally ill man. And based on his comments that I can see, he seems like he was easily set off and easily influenced, which is a recipe for disaster while being online, obviously. But that also correlates, clearly, to his actions in real life. Now, this is not confirmed, but somebody shared this tip where a friend said, "From what I am hearing, the man shooter was very upset that he was not invited to the senior day ceremony because this ex-wife wanted to spare the son in the embarrassment of having a trans parent walk out with the student."

They believe that that is why he snapped. John DePetro Show posted this and he said, "Parents walk out on the ice on senior day. It's like they do with football games, soccer games. It is a normal thing in American high schools." And this also makes sense to me, especially considering the comments that he was publicly posting the night before. His family, based on everything we know from court documents, from his comments, understandably, due to his mental illness, had pushed him aside.

And I'm sure that there was a level of embarrassment and anger on their part. And then he felt rejected, he was angry, and he snapped. It's everything those commenters on Reddit were saying as they tried to rationalize this individual's actions. But according to their worldview on Reddit, the solution would be to further coddle the unstable individual, to continue to feed into their delusion and self-importance, rather than acknowledging point-blank that this is a dangerous individual and addressing the root issue of mental illness.

And I also want to say that this is not exclusive to the transgender community. Like we see domestic violence and family disputes across the entire spectrum of mental illness all the time. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, all of it, we see it happens every day and we just brush it under the rug and we still don't have a solution. They're bouncing around between jails and temporary hospitals and the streets and halfway homes.

That is not a solution. And affirming that illness, regardless of what kind of illness it is, only makes it worse. So, that is the public health crisis. It's not the guns, obviously.