Until he was accused of attacking the White House Correspondentsโ Dinner on April 25, people acquainted with Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, thought of him as mild-mannered, gentle, and intelligent. He comes from a highly accomplished family โ pillars in their community. He graduated from respected institutions, had his choice of promising careers, and was active in a church.
But when arrested, this โmild-mannered, gentle, and intelligentโ man carried a Maverick 12-gauge shotgun, an Armscor Precision .38 semiautomatic pistol, a Ka-Bar knife, and three Smith & Wesson boot knives. Thus armed, he sprinted through a security checkpoint leading into the Hilton ballroom filled with 2,600 people. The crowd included the President of the United States and the next two people in the line of succession โ the Vice President and the Speaker of the House. The Secretary of State and other Cabinet officials were also present, along with some of the most influential members of the worldโs media.
At 8:30 that evening โ just six minutes before the attack โ Allen emailed a manifesto to family members. The explanation for his violence sounded like a social media post from someone desperate to appear witty, principled, clever, cute, and morally superior. He signed it, โCole โcoldForceโ โFriendly Federal Assassinโ Allen.โ The New York Times explained, โCole Tomas Allen posted on Bluesky as โcoldForce,โ who wrote and promoted liberal views that did not stand out on the left-leaning platform.โ
On social media, emotion trumps evidence. If you accuse a hated person of a crime, people who join you in that hate tend to believe you whether or not you present evidence of the alleged crime. The email made no attempt to substantiate its nonspecific allegations against President Trump.
Human systems of justice sometimes fail. No matter how hard we try to get it right, from time to time, we convict the innocent or acquit the guilty. At other times, corruption enters the picture, intentionally subverting justice. Frustrated with the system and unable to persuade others through reason, an increasing number of people now answer with violence โ either directly or through their applause.
The flood of memes celebrating the assassinations of Turning Point USAโs Charlie Kirk and UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson boggles the mind. All three recent assassination attempts against President Trump drew applause from parts of the internet โ though some criticized the would-be assassins for โmissing.โ A growing number of Americans and Europeans have recast Hitler as the hero of World War II.
One of the most frightening verses in all the Bible is found in Romans 1:28. โEven as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.โ Hal Lindsey often defined a โreprobate mindโ as โa mind so perverted it can no longer think in its own best interest.โ
To endorse government by assassination is to cease thinking in your own best interest. Applauding vigilante justice invites terror into your life, the lives of your family members, and into your country generally. Do these people really want a world where roaming gangs rule the cities and countryside dispensing revenge as justice? Do they want to live in a place where the most violent rule? Do they really want their children to grow up in a society ruled by fear, vengeance, and political violence?
The second half of Romans 1 tells the story of civilization crumbling into chaos and terror. Reprobate minds do not emerge at the beginning of the process, but near the end.
