Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said the political rhetoric spreading on social media is alarming and that White House Correspondents’ Association dinner suspect Cole Allen absorbed it like “a sponge.”
“Cole Allen was kind of like a sponge for every crazy thing that is said on social media platforms,” York said on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
On Saturday, the dinner took a turn when gunshots rang out in the Washington Hilton. Secret Service agents captured the suspect, identified as Cole Allen, 31. He has been charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump.
No serious injuries were reported, but one agent is recovering after his vest was hit by gunfire.
York pointed to parts of Allen’s manifesto, which highlighted common rhetoric about Trump.
“If you look at the key allegation here, he calls Trump a pedophile, a rapist, and a traitor. If you go to any one of a bunch of anti-Trump media outlets or social media platforms, you’ll see that stuff all over the place,” York said.
York argued it’s alarming that many people regularly consume that rhetoric, as Allen seemingly did: “The scary thing, of course, is that there are a lot of other people like that.”
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However, York emphasized that while many people may absorb anti-Trump forms of media, they don’t act on its rhetoric.
“I think it’s important to say here that when we talk about these crazy beliefs, I do think millions of Americans have them, and at the same time, would never think of getting a gun and going to try to kill the president,” he said.