The same people who fretted over Donald Trump once warning of a “bloodbath” in the auto industry if there was a second Joe Biden term is now calling Trump “a guy who wants us dead” in reference to the press — but just figuratively, they swear! — about a half hour before someone seems to have wanted him dead at a dinner hosted by the White House press corps.
So yeah, not a great look.
As you’ve probably heard by now, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen is in custody after rushing past Secret Service at the Washington Hilton on Saturday and toward the room where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was happening.
Allen, police say, was heavily armed and shot a law enforcement agent.
WATCH: President Trump evacuated from the WH Correspondents’ Dinner following loud noises, security concerns: pic.twitter.com/kJUJZ83N9U
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) April 26, 2026
The law enforcement officer was wearing a bulletproof vest and is expected to be fine, according to Associated Press reports. Footage of Allen sprinting past Secret Service and then being taken into custody was widely available shortly after the incident.
President Trump just posted video of Secret Service shooting at attempted assassin from the White House Correspondents’ dinner, allegedly Cole Allen, and photos of him. https://t.co/HKykZwT3Fe pic.twitter.com/UvJBIs3gsg
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 26, 2026
Now, it’s unclear what the attempted assailant’s motives may have been, although one need not be Sherlock Holmes nor Hercule Poirot to assume what a man who was heavily armed running past Secret Service into a room where the president of the United States was might have been trying to accomplish.
That’s doubly true when you consider the fact that his donation history and political leanings, such as could be uncovered in a short period of time, all seemed to indicate that this was someone who had definite left-wing, anti-Trump inclinations.
It’s not really a superb look, then, when the left wing’s cable network of record has one of their token sorta-conservative NeverTrumpers on just a half-hour before the attack saying that Trump was “a guy who wants us dead.” Metaphorically, though!
S.E. Cupp — one of those nominal conservatives who voted for Joe Biden and loathes Trump, which is why she gets a gig — was talking about how journalists were showing up for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner even though Trump was a big meanie. This, according to a CNN transcript, had her “real bummed, real bummed.”
Yes, well, far be it from us to harsh her mellow, but this take didn’t really age that well:
“And you just heard Brian Stelter say that the Correspondents’ Association was trying to sort of mend some fences with a guy who wants us dead — figuratively, figuratively,” Cupp was quick to add. “He wants journalism dead.”
30 minutes before a shooter fired at the WHCD with Trump in attendance… CNN’s S.E. Cupp said Trump was “a guy who wants us dead…” pic.twitter.com/XiQFtAGWZW
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) April 26, 2026
Again, one would be more inclined to give her grace if one, people gave Trump and his supporters similar grace and two, there wasn’t a long history of violence from her side toward Donald Trump and his supporters, including no less than two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign.
As for that grace part, let’s go back to the old “bloodbath” hoax, where Trump said in a March 2024 speech that if there weren’t tariffs on foreign autos, it would be a “bloodbath” for the U.S. car manufacturing industry.
That’s not how CNN spun it, however, leading with this: “Former President Donald Trump warned Saturday that if he were to lose the 2024 election, it would be a ‘bloodbath’ for the US auto industry and the country.” [Emphasis ours]
He actually said no such thing about the country, but that didn’t stop them from allowing the Biden campaign to paint it that way:
President Joe Biden’s campaign latched on to Trump’s use of the word “bloodbath,” saying the former president “wants another January 6.”
“This is who Donald Trump is: a loser who gets beat by over 7 million votes and then instead of appealing to a wider mainstream audience doubles down on his threats of political violence,” Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement Saturday evening.
The “bloodbath” hoax got lost in the mix because, more or less, everything from then on in was so hectic it was basically like an extended 35-minute modernized rewrite of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” in which Trump was almost killed twice and yet it was Biden who wasn’t on the ticket come November, albeit of events authored by his own hubris and the ravages of time.
However, it’s worth pointing out for those of us with short and/or selective memories that this was a Very Big Deal™ for a week or two, especially at CNN, which tried to squint as hard as it could to make it look like it was Donald Trump explicitly calling for violence.
Now one of its own correspondents says Trump wants them “dead” — but “figuratively,” she’s quick to point out! — and this’ll get buried as bad timing and nothing else. As, to be fair, it probably should — if it weren’t for her own network’s standards when it comes to metaphorical language like this.
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