Donald Trump Book Linked To Oregon Shootings? Gunman’s Mom Read ‘Art Of Deal’ To Son From Early Age


In 1987, Donald Trump wrote a book that, in 2015, is back in the news — for reasons that Trump certainly never anticipated. Oregon shootings suspect Christopher Harper-Mercer was read the book, The Art of the Deal, aloud by his mother from an early age, according to a new investigation into Harper-Mercer’s background by the New York Times.

As the Inquisitr reported this past weekend, the Oregon shooter’s mother, Laurel Harper — who divorced his father, Ian Mercer, about 10 years ago — boasted online about her own stockpile of weapons, and according to acquaintances, took her son to shooting ranges and encouraged his fascination with firearms, even though Laurel Harper, a licensed nurse, knew the boy suffered from a mental disorder and often discussed the difficulty of raising a child with psychological difficulties.

In one online posting, uncovered by the New York Times, Laurel Harper claimed to have Asperger’s Syndrome — a disorder that can impede social development — herself, adding, “I didn’t do so bad. Wasn’t easy (understatement) but it can be done.”

Most of her postings were found on the Yahoo! Answers message boards, where, posting under the screen name TweetyBird, Laurel Harper posted answers to nearly 34,000 questions.

In one boasting, he boasted of reading Trump’s book aloud to her troubled son — even as he was still in the womb.

“Fact: Before my son was even born, I was reading out loud to him from Donald Trump’s ‘The Art of the Deal,'” Harper wrote. “And now my son invests in the stock market along with me, turns a profit and is working on a degree in finance. His language and reading skills are phenomenal.”

Donald Trump Art of the deal

The Times was unable to find out whether the Oregon shootings suspect actually obtained, or even studied for, the finance degree mentioned by his mother in the post.

She also states in the postings that her son possessed extensive knowledge of guns and gun laws. She also boasted again about her own gun arsenal.

“I keep two full mags in my Glock case. And the ARs & AKs all have loaded mags,” the shooter’s mom wrote. “No one will be ‘dropping’ by my house uninvited without acknowledgement.”

In other posts, republished by the news site Heavy.com, Laurel Harper discussed the effects of gunshot wounds, seeming to offer advice to someone who was contemplating shooting someone in the “gut.”

In answer to the question, “How long does someone have to get medical attention after shot in the gut with a Sniper Rifle?” Laurel Harper responded, “Immediately! The gut is the abdomen.”

“This would be a penetrating gunshot wound to the abdomen,” she continued in the posting. “But you’ll need to decide (A) if you want her to die, or if not (B) how much permanent damage she’ll have and therefore, (C) where exactly she’ll be shot.”

Of the 14 guns recovered by police in the possession of Christopher Harper-Mercer — who committed suicide as police closed in after he killed nine people and wounded seven more at Umpqua Community College in Oregon on October 1 — some were owned by Laurel Harper, though police have not revealed how many of the guns belonged to the mom, and how many to her son.

Donald Trump Book Oregon Shooting Christopher Harper-Mercer
Oregon Shooting Suspect Christopher Harper-Mercer

Harper-Mercer’s father, Ian Mercer, who still resides in California, expressed views on gun ownership that differed sharply from those of his former wife, expressing disbelief that his son was able to acquire as many guns as he apparently did.

Donald Trump, after the Oregon shootings, has repeatedly expressed his opposition to gun control laws, saying, “The gun laws have nothing to do with this. This is mental illness.”

[Images: Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images / MySpace / Wikimedia Commons]

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