The idea | Political Violence Is Blamed. That Doesn’t Make Him a Lesser Trump.
Cole Tomas Allen, who was arrested when he tried to raid the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, may have become America’s first terrorist.
The right, naturally, sees Allen as part of a pattern, including him with figures like Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot Donald Trump in 2024, eating his ear; Ryan Wesley Routh, who carried an automatic rifle to one of Trump’s golf courses a few months later; or Tyler Robinson, who was charged with the murder of Charlie Kirk last year. But all those men had strange or different politics. Crooks was a nihilistic Republican. Routh had a history of violence and manipulation in Ukraine, where he reportedly tried to join the war effort. Robinson seems to have cooked his brain on internet subcultures.
But Allen, who was indicted on Monday for trying to kill the president, was seen as a man of ordinary political views. Social media posts that appear to be from him suggest that he despised ICE, cared deeply about Ukraine, and, like most Americans, wanted to see Trump prosecuted. Far from a radical leftist, he also wrote criticisms of Palestinian protesters and left-wing broadcaster Hasan Piker. He wasn’t exactly a typical democrat — he wasn’t registered with a political party, and at least at one point he was an evangelical Christian — but from what we know so far, before his appearance at the Washington Hilton, he had conservative beliefs.
This makes Allen’s apparent attempt at political martyrdom particularly convenient for conservatives seeking to deflect criticism of the Democratic president. National Review blamed “Trump’s strong opposition” for allowing “many extremists and losers to turn to political violence.” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board tied Saturday’s attack to a political culture in which Trump’s opponents have lost “all judgment and balance.” Some non-partisan journalists have respected this framework. On CNN, Dana Bash asked Representative Jamie Raskin if he thinks twice about “strong words” about the president, such as calling him “bad for this country.”
I can’t really blame the Republicans for exploiting the attack; Allen has given them an irresistible rhetorical cudgel. The problem, of course, is that Trump is really bad for this country. The fact that people tried to kill him will not be a reason to shy away from speaking frankly about his depravity. On the contrary, it is a reason to emphasize that even corruption does not justify political violence, which is morally repugnant, socially harmful and useless.
It is true that Allen’s alleged manifesto contains exaggerated allegations. “I am no longer willing to allow a rapist, a rapist and a traitor to close my hands with his crimes,” the manifesto said. There is no concrete evidence that Trump ever abused children; All women charged with sexual assault are adults. Calling Trump a “child abuser” has become the most common way to describe the president’s close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the cover-up of the Epstein files. The manifesto is a reminder that we must all be clear in our language. Describing Trump accurately, however, will always sound to some like motivation.
There is a strong debate in America about whether the right or left is more violent. Until recently, there was no competition: There was privilege. (A 2024 study using data from the National Institute of Justice found that in the United States since 1990, “right-wing extremists have killed far more ideologues than far-left or radical Islamic terrorists.”) However, in recent years, there has been a sharp increase in left-wing terrorist attacks and plots.
A report on the situation from the Center for Strategic and International Studies suggests that there is a ratchet at work. It noted that Republicans and Democrats overestimate their adversaries’ endorsement of violence, and said, “Widespread alienation and misconceptions that the other side is more violent than it actually is creates a dangerous environment where extremists can easily justify using violence.” Each act of political violence further destroys our social fabric, laying the foundation for totalitarianism.
After any act of political terror, conspiracy theorists often invoke the “false flag,” and Saturday was no different; as the New York Times reported, the use of the word “stage” increased significantly in X. Of course, there is no protection against spreading misinformation or engaging in self-deception. However, we can see that people start such rumors because they understand very well that violence often undermines the causes that motivate it. Left-wing terrorism rampant in the 1970s helped usher in Ronald Reagan, not social revolution. The Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 ended up being a boon for Bill Clinton in politics. By trying to kill Trump in 2024, Crooks helped elect him. Violence is not only morally reprehensible; it is strategically stupid.
At least one person at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was amused by the chaos caused by the shooter. Describing the agents who rushed into the room with guns drawn amid screaming and table-slamming, Dana White, the Trump-backed head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, said “it was great – I took every minute of it.” Perhaps he understood that the attack had given his movement a gift. No matter what evil the killer thought he was fighting, all he did was feed it.
