The first reports of the Slovak shooter's activities and membership in various groups seems contradictory and confusing. Maybe he was a troubled individual and influenced by a foreign intelligence service to target Fico (pronounced "Fit-so"). In any case, in this part of Europe there is very polarizing, manipulative and hateful rhetoric against "illiberal democratic-backsliding authoritarian xenophobic homophobic racist populists", as some like Fico and Orban have been labelled. That creates a social environment where extreme acts like this are more likely.