"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." Matthew 26:25. Cole Allen, the alleged shooter at the White House Correspondents Dinner, wrote a short manifesto about why he targeted President Trump and his administration: "Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor's crimes. I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done."
President Trump, and his policies, have been unnecessarily violent. The ICE killings in Minneapolis, detainees dying in ICE custody, bombing a girl's school in Iran, and blowing up scores of small boats in the Caribbean rather than seizing the boats. All of this violence inspired Cole Allen to commit violence against the Trump administration.
Allen was critical of the war in Iran, killing fishermen in boats in the Caribbean Sea and teenage girls abused by criminals in the administration. He told his family that he had a plan to do "something" to fix the issues with today's world.
As to why he did any of this, Cole Allen said: "I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes."
Allen presented arguments to himself. He said, "Rebuttals to objections:
"Objection 1: As a Christian, you should turn the other cheek.
"Rebuttal: Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I'm not the person raped in a detention camp. I'm not the fisherman executed without trial. I'm not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration.
"Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor's crimes.
"Objection 2: This is not a convenient time for you to do this.
"Rebuttal: I need whoever thinks this way to take a couple minutes and realize that the world isn't about them. Do you think that when I see someone raped or murdered or abused, I should walk on by because it would be 'inconvenient' for people who aren't the victim?"
By Joel D. Joseph
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