![\"WASHINGTON,](\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2272611617.jpg?fit=5000%2C3333\")
As more and more<\/span> information<\/a> is published<\/a> about the suspect in the latest possible assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, commentators are in a typical scramble to assign an ideology or clear politics to the 31-year-old man.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s not a lot to glean so far about Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California. A since-deleted Bluesky account reportedly linked<\/a> to the suspect included run-of-the-mill criticisms of the Trump administration; he lists himself as a self-employed video game designer and part-time teacher. According to reports, he studied mechanical engineering and computer science, was part of a Christian fellowship, and also a nerdy-sounding club for students to have battles with foam toys. He reportedly donated<\/a> $25 to ActBlue in 2024 earmarked for Kamala Harris\u2019s presidential campaign. He was a registered voter with \u201cno party preference\u201d in California. From the evidence available so far, the suspect seems to be a normie.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s regime can give rise to a normie suspected assassin because the brutality and violence it has so wholly normalized, and the impunity it has reveled in, is deranging. In a piece of writing Allen left behind before the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner shooting, derangement peeks through between clear reasons for targeting administration officials.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He includes chirpy asides (\u201cstay in school kids\u201d), and bounces between formal and casual registers throughout. He lists as his targets \u201cAdministration officials (not including Mr. Patel),\u201d without explaining why FBI Director Kash Patel is named for exemption. His final message is more a summary explanation than a manifesto.<\/p>\n But in his more lucid moments, Allen cites concerns that people from across the political spectrum share about Trump and his administration.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me,\u201d Allen wrote in the missive<\/a> covered by multiple outlets. \u201cI\u2019m no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,\u201d he added, without specifically naming the president.<\/p>\n Republicans have, of course, been swift to blame<\/a> Democrats for the shooting. Trump, who earlier this month threatened to annihilate the \u201cwhole civilization\u201d of Iran<\/a> and revels in his regime\u2019s anti-immigrant violence, told<\/a> CBS News on Sunday that he thinks the \u201chate speech of the Democrats \u2026 is very dangerous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The president described the suspect\u2019s message as \u201canti-Christian,\u201d though Allen identifies with Christian faith in his writing. \u201cTurning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I\u2019m not the person raped in a detention camp. I\u2019m not the fisherman executed without trial. I\u2019m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration,\u201d Allen wrote. \u201cTurning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor\u2019s crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n