Five Uncomfortable Truths About the Latest Alleged Assassination Attempt on Trump

Political violence in America should be condemned. So should be its principle promoter.

In the wake of Saturday night’s incident at the White House Correspondents dinner in which a 31-year-old California teacher named Cole Allen attempted to breach security and allegedly sought to attack the president or others in attendance at the gala event, the media has breathlessly reported every detail of the story…except several of those that may be most important.

We know where Allen went to school, what kinds of weapons he was carrying, how much money he donated to which political campaigns, the contents of his “manifesto” and how the Secret Service foiled his plan, whatever it actually may have been.

What has been missed or downplayed or suppressed (depending on which so-called media outlet to which you are referring) are the following salient stories:

1. I don’t care how close Allen got to the president last night, there was a much more violent man already in the ballroom. That is Trump. Trump decried Allen as a “lone wolf whackjob” but let’s be clear, a lone wolf whackjob with a few weapons under his jacket is nothing compared with the threat posed by a whackjob who controls the world’s most potent military.

2. With his actions, Allen disrupted a black-tie event where Washington elites could congratulate themselves for being Washington elites. (As someone who has been accused of being a “Washington elite” myself and who knows plenty of the folks who were in that room, let me assure you it is hardly a distinction.) But there was only one, comparatively minor, casualty. (And saying so does not diminish the courage or professionalism of those in the Secret Service and police who responded to the incident. To the contrary, such a low casualty count is to their credit.) With one similarly deranged act on February 28 Trump—without rationale, plan or concern for the consequences of his act—launched a war against Iran that has thus far resulted in the deaths of over 5,000 people and the dislocation of millions across the Middle East, has produced massive global economic disruptions that are causing hardship and suffering for billions worldwide, and did so in such a reckless way that he currently does not know how to end the conflict he started. You tell me who the more dangerous criminal in the room was Saturday night—and if you’re not sure ask the parents of the schoolgirls and other innocents who died as a result of Trump’s illegal war.

3. In the wake of the incident, we got one of the most insufferable Trumps of all—the one in which the con man, serial sex abuser, war criminal, racist, misogynist, immoral, most corrupt president in U.S. history became Saint Donald, the MAGA martyr. He talked about the need to bring Americans together and sang the praises of his own heroism. (I’m all for more national unity and amity. I just don’t think he was a credible messenger for all that.) He also asserted the reason he was attacked is because he is a consequential president and that inconsequential people don’t attract would-be assassins. (Tell that to James Garfield. William McKinley and Gerald Ford. Frankly, the case could be made that Kennedy was not a particularly effective president and that Reagan, also targeted, was hugely overrated, but this is not the place for that debate.) But here’s the punchline with regard to this point: no president in our modern history has done more to promote division or violence in the U.S. than Trump. He has made racism and sexism the policy in his administration, sent troops into America’s streets targeting and abusing countless innocent victims to date, and actively promoted violence among our police and even the citizens in attendance at MAGA rallies. If America has a culture of violence, he is this country’s principle Apostle of Violence—a promoter of gun culture, hate and lawlessness. What is more, we all know it. We know it. We can see it. It is woven into the fabric of our daily lives. (When Trump was asked by Norah O’Donnell about language in the gunman’s manifesto describing him as a rapist and a pedophile, he bristled and called her a disgrace. But, of course, after so many years, we know exactly who Trump is and he can’t just brush that reality away with an insult or a talking point. Just because Cole was a disturbed man does not mean he was not triggered by the reality of Trump—which of course, does not justify his behavior. But we do need to be honest about the nature of the moment and the authors of the toxic political environment in America right now if we are to fix it.) (Please note: “Both sides” are not responsible as some TV talking heads tried to suggest on Sunday morning. Trump and MAGA have played a hugely disproportionate role in stirring up hate and hostility and making them the currency of their movement.)

4. While we’re in the midst of our outrage at one individual storming the Washington Hilton ballroom and while Trump is commending his own heroism is wanting to go back in to the room so he could tell the anti-media jokes he had planned for the evening (his spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, earlier in the evening promised with regard to those remarks that there would be “shots fired” during the gala)…could we please take a moment to remember that the largest, bloodiest, violent attack on any Washington institution in modern memory was actually led by…Trump. On January 6, 2021, he incited an assault on the Capitol that resulted in multiple deaths, scores of injuries and even a call for assassination of Trump’s own Vice President. Trump not only triggered the attack and did nothing to stop it, he has defended it ever since, tried to recast the violent thugs behind it as heroes, pardoned many of the worst offenders and even elevated some of them into positions in his cabinet. Trust me, security at black tie events in DC is not the biggest violent threat the city faces…and many of those have come from the guy who lives in the big white house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

5. Speaking of that big White House, in one of the strangest twists in a very strange Saturday night in DC, Trump during and since his post-foiled-alleged-attack press conference and celebration of his own courage, suggested that the attack actually made building his monstrosity of a White House ballroom more urgent. His implication was that the only place he, as president, could be safe was in a fortified facility on the White House grounds. While this is an implicit attack on the competence of the Secret Service that has been defending presidents as they have traveled far and wide for decades…and while it minimized Trump’s own role in fostering the dangerous atmosphere in the US from which he would like to hide in his gilded bunker…it also reflects Trump’s twisted view of the world, the presidency, and of press freedom. This is another instance in which Trump illustrated his desire to be a king in the castle rather than a servant of all Americans living in “the people’s house.” He wouldn’t have done well in the 19^th Century when people could just wander up to and into the White House to call on the president without appointment. But it also suggests his authoritarian impulse to want to control all exposure to him. He wants events on his turf and terms. Never mind that the whole idea of the White House Correspondents dinner was that the “fourth estate,” independent of the government, was hosting its own event to which the U.S. head of state might or might not be invited, that is was an event for and of the journalists who covered Washington. Never mind that it was a private function to which he was invited. With his orchestration of media take-overs by MAGA-loving oligarchs and his assaults on press freedom including his evisceration of the White House press corps and control of White House press events so that only shills are allowed to pose questions, Trump has demonstrated that he does not believe in the “transparency” and “freedom of speech” to which he mouthed lame tributes late on Saturday evening. Trump’s view of the presidency is that of a robber-baron or vulture capitalist who has conducted a take-over of the United States. His sense is that this is his country now, he owns it, he controls it, he deserves a cut of it and the government should support him and defend him in each of those desires and all of his activities.

Trump has called for the White House Correspondents dinner to be rescheduled within the month. That shouldn’t happen. The event will only end up being hijacked by Trump so that he can, as he desperately wants to do, control the national narrative and direct it away from the criticism and questioning he so richly deserves. He sees redoing the event as a way past Epstein, Iran, our economic troubles and the political free fall in which the GOP finds itself. For those reasons and the uncomfortable truths cited above, holding the event again would end up doubly debasing it and serving to advance the violent and indecent agenda of a truly dangerous man and the greatest enemy the press in America has known in our country’s history.