Through the years, we've seen many political manifestos emerge from one addled mind or another. These documents run the gamut, from the marginally literate ravings of a lunatic to frightfully focused, well-written screeds that express horrible ideas in a calm, literate, deliberate manner. Of the two, the latter is the most worrisome; a combination of evil and even a modicum of intelligence can be trouble.
Cole Allen, the would-be presidential assassin who made his attempt Saturday night at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, falls towards the latter end of this spectrum. He appears, from what we know now, to be an addled leftist - but not a stupid one.
The New York Post has released what they describe as Allen's manifesto. It merits some consideration. You can view the whole thing here. It paints a fairly vivid picture: Cole Allen may be nuts, but he's not stupid. He planned this and prepared for it for some time. The one place where he went badly wrong was in underestimating how swiftly the Secret Service would respond.
Let's look at some of the more troubling aspects. He starts with an insincere "apology."
I apologize to my parents for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for “Most Wanted.”
I apologize to my colleagues and students for saying I had a personal emergency (by the time anyone reads this, I probably most certainly DO need to go to the ER, but can hardly call that not a self-inflicted status.)
I apologize to all of the people I traveled next to, all the workers who handled my luggage, and all the other non-targeted people at the hotel who I put in danger simply by being near.
I apologize to everyone who was abused and/or murdered before this, to all those who suffered before I was able to attempt this, to all who may still suffer after, regardless of my success or failure.
Nobody has been abused and/or murdered by any of the people Allen set out to kill, least of all Karoline Leavitt's unborn baby. In this fake apology, Allen reveals how deeply he has been taken in by the inciting rhetoric of the far left, who accuse President Trump and his administration of these things on a daily basis.
Now, as for his "target list":
Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest
Secret Service: they are targets only if necessary, and to be incapacitated non-lethally if possible (aka, I hope they’re wearing body armor because center mass with shotguns messes up people who *aren’t*
Hotel Security: not targets if at all possible (aka unless they shoot at me)
Capitol Police: same as Hotel Security
National Guard: same as Hotel Security
Hotel Employees: not targets at all
Guests: not targets at all
Why did he exclude the FBI Director? Was it because Kash Patel is a "person of color?" Could he be that deluded?
And, of course, there's nothing left to doubt when he says "from highest-ranking to lowest." That means he would have attempted to hit President Trump, first. We were pretty sure of that in any case, but there we have it, in his own words. Furthermore, he casually dismisses hotel employees and guests as "not targets." That reveals something; he may have practiced with the weapons he used in the attempt, he may have spent some range time, but if he had managed to breach that perimeter and started exchanging fire with the Secret Service and local law enforcement, it's a near-certainty that some bystanders would be hit, whether he called them "not targets" or not.
Read More: No, I'm Not Going to Call This a 'Lone Wolf Attack'
What We Know Now: Suspect Mailed Manifesto to Family Just Before WHCD Attack
Finally, his characterization of President Trump is a laundry list of far-left ranting about the 47th president. Referring to his "target list," Allen wrote:
I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.
President Trump is none of those things; nobody who isn't completely addled by the ravings of the far left thinks so. He is not a pedophile, nor is he a rapist or a traitor. There is not an ounce of validity in any of those wild-eyed, spittle-flecked accusations. But this is, almost word for word, the ravings of the far left. We see this exact kind of language from the far left daily, on every social media site, at every leftist "protest" (riot) and, all too often, from elected officials. And, yes, this sure looks like incitement.
Finally, Allen signs his manifesto:
Cole “coldForce” “Friendly Federal Assassin” Allen
Crazy. Not stupid, but crazy.
This manifesto bears reading. It's a look into the mind of a member of the self-deluded far left, into the mind of a would-be presidential assassin, a man who would have killed every administration official he could find, had he been able to do so - including, presumably, Karoline Leavitt and her unborn baby, but, for unknown reasons, sparing FBI Director Kash Patel. There's no rational argument in this, but being irrational and being smart, calculating and committed are not mutually exclusive. That, perhaps, is the most important thing to take away from this affair.
One good thing: No matter what legal penalties Cole Allen may face, no matter what (hopefully) long, long prison term awaits him, he gets to live with one thing for the rest of his life:
He failed.
That may be the best punishment of all.
