Why the latest would-be Trump assassin is so hard to figure out

A photo of law enforcement detaining the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect in Washington, DC, on the night of April 25, 2026. | US President Trump via Truth Social/Anadolu via Getty

Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the attempted White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, is unusual among attempted assassins — in his normalcy. 

His political grievances, laid out in a manifesto and social media posts, are not dissimilar from those of an ordinary Democrat. He believed that President Donald Trump was a lawless...