The Arrogance of Assassins: Cole Allen, WHCD Shooter

The news hasn’t changed since Saturday night’s assassination attempt on Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Turn it on any channel and people smarter than me will be addressing security, free speech, and political violence. Great.

It’s all necessary. But behavior and communication is my jam. Why we do what we do and say what we say. So, I want to talk about the manifesto of Cole Allen, the bright but “burdened,” warrior. Would-be murderer.

Here is his light-hearted greeting.

Essentially, it’s… “Hey fam! Laughy face, suprised face… lol heart-hands.” So fresh and relatable. So millennial.

And a fairly revealing tell. We will talk about the apologies in a second, but notice that he’s just destroyed his parents’ lives. For the rest of their lives. And your apology comes with jokes, son?

That’s not charming, friends. It’s callous–unaware of the gravity of the situation and unconcerned with the unending nightmare he has thrust his family into.

So, there is your first take-away: this man’s capacity for sincere compassion is deeply distorted. 

We know that because he “apologizes” for a non-offense while showing zero remorse for the most egregious ones.

Watch. He’s going to do that again, and again.

The Sorriest Apologies Ever

If this were inductive Bible study, I’d tell you to count the repeated words.

Shall we? I. Apologize…One, two, three.

And for what? Now notice the verbs. I apologize to those…whose trust I abused…my parents for omitting details…dishonesty to my colleagues. “I had an interview. I had a personal emergency…to those in danger because they are near me?” That line is interesting. Because they came near me? Buddy, they aren’t in danger because THEY came NEAR YOU. They are in danger because YOU ARE dangerous and evil.

But no…Sorry, I had to go kill some innocent people?

Not sorry for that, is he?

Allen has apologies for everyone who ever entered his orbit. Almost.

And he is sorry for everything. Almost. Except his actions.

Notice how he names by-products of his actions but not his actions as things to regret. All those apologies and zero remorse. How can someone be so sorry, so “earnestly transparent” while feeling justified in murdering others? That’s a million-dollar question, isn’t it?

Moral Superiority & Selective Morality

“To all those who were abused…suffered…before I was able to attempt this?” Seriously? All those? Ever? Before you stepped-down from on high to intervene and try to save them? That social justice savior-complex is pretty brassy considering the low-success rate of the saving.

Zero captives were set free, my guy.

Only blinding pride could cause such grandiose ideations and then allow them to be executed so poorly. He is so fractured and entirely unaware of it.

Cole Allen has a moral compass but only he is its true north.

Do you see that? He has his very own framework or ethic, that determines good and evil…innocent or guilty.

Someone on the train? Innocent. Sorry for the inconvenience of breathing the same air as me.

Someone in the Hilton? Guilty. You may need to die.

What seems like glaring contradictions to us probably seems entirely consistent to Allen.

He has essentially drawn a circle of value and good. Emphasis on “HE HAS DRAWN.”

Everything in is good.

Everything and everyone outside is bad. And not just bad…not human. De-human. That’s why they are not owed an apology. The arrogance is staggering. This is moral supremacy.

He sees his judgment as entirely above reproach. He is wisest and best. And because he sees it all so rightly, he was compelled to act.

I Had No Choice

There was no other way. In his eyes, he is not a villain. He is a reluctant hero made necessary by Trump’s evil. Aren’t they all?

He didn’t want to be “the guy,” he had to be because no one else would or was capable. He is trying to project humility, but it is a veil so painfully thin. It does not hide at all what he actually believes, which is: he has unique clarity, superior moral reasoning, and undeniable authority…which is why the rules do not apply to him. (We are about to see this in granular detail in his “rules of engagement.”)

The Why

Yeah…I call BS. Now, he is projecting duty. “I take citizenship so seriously. I have a higher calling and am part of something bigger. My representatives reflect me…and I am no longer willing…?”

My righteousness demands it.

That’s what he is saying.

It’s interesting that he is binding himself to representation he despises rather than distancing himself from it. And it’s on purpose.

Because in seeing himself as responsible for their actions, he is also seeing himself as responsible for their correction. Do you see that? He is not escalating. He is correcting. It’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” and Cole Allen is God. It’s an honor killing. How scary is that?

Caught Red-Handed

Then this little gem…”coat my hands with his crimes.” What does that make you think of? Blood on your hands? It’s purity/contamination/guilt language.

It sounds extreme because it is. It’s also how you justify extreme measures.

He is giving himself permission to cross any and every line.

The blood on his hands demands it. But I don’t think Allen feels sincere guilt any more than he feels sincere remorse. These are the things we tell ourselves and others to give ourselves license to do whatever it was we wanted to do in the first place. You were caught red-handed buddy–by your own words, actions, and the divided mind they reveal.

Rules of Engagement

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