Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of trying to assassinate President Trump late last month, appeared to consume political news like so many of his fellow citizens, absorbing daily doses of outrage on social media, metabolizing the anger, and projecting it out into the world in his own voice. His posts are remarkable for how typical they are for such platforms, where expressions of disgust are currency and polarization is the product. In response to a clip of Vice President Vance expressing pride in ending aid to Ukraine, a Bluesky account reportedly used by Allen read, 'What a piece of shit.' When another account argued that members of the administration were 'damned' for serving a president who posted an AI image of himself as Jesus, the assumed Allen account quoted from the Book of Revelation about God's fury at worshippers of 'the beast.' When Trump proposed charging tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, Allen apparently responded, 'It's public knowledge that he likely IS basically a...
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