How Did an Assassin Get So Close to Trump?

Good morning!

A would-be assassin armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives came within 100 yards of President Trump on Saturday night and opened fire. The armed breach at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is one of several security breaches and assassination attempts against Trump in the last two years.

[BRIEF]

• “We have to learn from what happened last night, and we will,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, “but the first takeaway … is that the system worked. We stopped the suspect.”

Actually, the security failures enabling this close call—at the same hotel where President Ronald Reagan was shot 45 years ago—raise grave concerns.

• Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, bypassed much of the event security by registering as a guest at the Washington Hilton a day in advance.
• Minutes before the attack, he sent family members a chilling manifesto detailing grievances against the Trump administration, outlining plans to target officials from highest- to lowest-ranking, and even mocking the event’s lax hotel security in real time.
• Several guests reported indications of poor security: no checkpoints at street-level doors, tickets barely looked at, no bag checks.
• During the dinner, Allen sprinted through an outer security checkpoint outside the ballroom and shot one Secret Service agent, who was protected by a vest. Agents returned fire and tackled him in the lobby stairwell before he reached the 2,600 guests inside.

What if Allen had been carrying a bomb?

Dramatic events like this stoke conspiracy theories questioning the loyalty of the president’s security agents, though the president himself has expressed total confidence in them.

Nevertheless, in an open society, potential dangers are virtually unlimited, and perfect security is impossible.

• A single determined individual—armed with basic firearms, a manifesto and the element of surprise—can exploit public events, commercial spaces and the very freedoms of movement and assembly that define American life.

The political climate is growing more volatile and dangerous in the Trump age.

• U.S. Capitol Police threat cases against lawmakers rose 58 percent in 2025 and are on pace to climb further this year. Independent trackers report political violence and harassment spiking nationwide, fueled by lone actors, online rhetoric and polarized grievances.

It isn’t because “the system worked” that President Trump hasn’t been assassinated. It is because God is protecting this man! And God is protecting him because He is fulfilling specific prophecies for America.

When such events happen, don’t just raise your eyebrows, shake your head, and move on. Look at the broader prophetic picture unfolding in America and in the world, and acknowledge the Almighty God steering these events to fulfill His plan.

Iran War Update

• Iran has proposed a new deal to suspend its terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate over its nuclear program separately, according to Axios. The United States has so far insisted that any deal must involve not only its nuclear program but its complete dismantling.
• Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, was forced to resign as lead negotiator with the U.S., according to Iran International, apparently because Ghalibaf’s team offered nuclear concessions without authorization.
• President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social today that while his predecessors’ work with Iran “was a guaranteed road to a nuclear weapon,” this “will not, and cannot, happen with the deal we’re working on.”
• Giving up its nuclear weapons program seems to be Iran’s red line. The world now watches to see if the U.S. will erase its own red lines, again.

Europe Leads Global Military Spending to Record Highs

Europe led global military spending to rise to a record high of $2.9 trillion last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (sipri) reported this morning. Of all global economic output, 2.5 percent was spent on militaries, up from 2.4 percent last year, the highest level since 2009.

• Whereas the world’s military spending is up 2.9 percent in real terms, European military spending rose nearly five times faster—by 14 percent—to reach a total of $864 billion.
• German spending grew nearly 10 times faster than the global average—by 24 percent—making it Europe’s largest military spender and the world’s fourth largest. Italy increased by 20 percent, Poland by 23 percent, and Spain by 50 percent.

“In 2025 military spending by European nato members rose faster than at any time since 1953, reflecting the ongoing pursuit of European self-reliance alongside increasing pressure from the United States to strengthen burden sharing within the alliance,” said sipri researcher Jade Guiberteau Ricard.

Also outpacing the world average was military spending in Asia and Oceania, which rose by 8.1 percent. Japan’s military spending reached 1.4 percent of gdp, its highest level since 1958.

• Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s military spending dropped 2 percent, and U.S. military spending decreased 7.5 percent. However, the reason for America’s drop is that sipri counts military aid from the U.S. to Ukraine as U.S. spending, and that aid decreased.

The report comes the week after Germany published its first national strategic military planning documents since World War ii.

• “Germany is trying to shake off the traumatic memory of the 20th century and the embarrassments of the recent past by launching one of the greatest rearmament programs in peacetime history,” wrote the Telegraph over the weekend. A rapid rearmament program is an unusual way to “shake off” the “traumatic memories” of World War ii.
• “Money is no constraint on Germany’s military expansion—the only limitations are recruitment, industrial capacity and political will,” states the article. It also notes: “If any European country can build the industrial base for rapid military expansion, it is Germany.”

Political will is also strong. Matthias Strohn of Buckingham University told the Telegraph:

“German society has changed quite a bit. If you had asked me five years ago, I would have said that this isn’t going to last, and that this military strategy document will just disappear somewhere. But something has changed quite drastically in the last five years.”

Germany has talked big about its future plans for years. The sipri report confirms that Germany has, so far, followed through on those dramatic plans.

“From the end of World War ii until his death in 1986, Mr. Armstrong warned that Germany would rise again,” Stephen Flurry wrote in the February Trumpet issue. “For 36 years, the Trumpet has continued sounding the alarm that a German war machine will rise. This war machine is here now!”

This report is dramatic proof of Bible prophecies we have proclaimed for decades. To keep up to date with this critical story, sign up for your free subscription to the Trumpet magazine.

Suspected New IRA Bombing in Northern Ireland

A delivery vehicle exploded outside a police station in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, on Saturday. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack (which did not injure anyone), but it resembles a bombing in March claimed by the New Irish Republican Army.

• Groups like the New ira emerged out of the original Irish Republican Army terrorist group, which accepted a peace deal in 1997 and shifted its energies as a political party, Sinn Féin. These groups have conducted dozens of sporadic attacks over the past three decades.

The dispute between Catholic Irish Republicans and Protestant Britons in Northern Ireland has been mostly quiet for 28 years. But deep divisions remain.

• For most of Northern Ireland’s history as a political entity, Protestants were the majority. Today, Catholics slightly outnumber them. This demographic shift has strengthened the possibility of Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom and joining the Republic of Ireland.
• Sinn Féin is one of the largest parties in the Republic of Ireland and is the largest party in the devolved government of Northern Ireland. Northern Irish First Minister Michelle O’Neill is a member, and she represents the first time Sinn Féin has led a government. She said, “Those behind last night’s attack in Dunmurry speak for absolutely no one. They have no vision, no support, and have nothing to offer our society. Our communities deserve peace.”
• The Northern Ireland conflict, known as The Troubles, was mainly between terrorists from the ira and Protestant groups, with the British government caught in the middle. It lasted from 1968–1998.

As Herbert W. Armstrong proved in The United States and Britain in Prophecy, the British people descended from the patriarch Joseph. That ancestry is the key to why Britain received such enormous power historically and why it is rapidly losing what power it has left. (The entirety of Ireland was once British territory.)

Mr. Armstrong showed that the prophecies of the Bible directly apply to Britain, and that its disobedience to His law would be punished specifically through intervention from a Catholic-dominated European power developing from the European Union, to which the Republic of Ireland belongs. Increased tensions among Catholics in Northern Ireland, as we wrote in 2024, could contribute to this.

IN OTHER NEWS

mercosur to reconsider Venezuela membership: South American trade group mercosur is preparing to possibly readmit Venezuela. On April 22, Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said Venezuela is now in a “different moment” after U.S. forces removed dictator Nicolás Maduro in January. The resource-rich nation had been suspended from membership in 2017 for breaking democratic rules and trade promises. Under Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela is rebuilding ties with the United States, the International Monetary Fund, foreign oil companies and mercosur. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in “Germany Unites the World Against America” that mercosur is teaming up with the European Union against the U.S. Bringing Venezuela’s oil, gas, gold, ore and diamonds into the group will make it much stronger.

Vatican moves to police AI: Pope Leo xiv is taking strong action to control artificial intelligence. According to an Axios report on Friday, the Roman Catholic Church is deeply worried about easy-to-use AI tools creating realistic fake news, videos and voices that deceive people. The Vatican is moving faster than most governments to set rules for this powerful new technology, increasing partnerships in cybersecurity, and establishing formal AI rules and monitoring systems inside the sovereign nation of Vatican City. Leo chose his papal name to honor Pope Leo xiii, whose famous encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things) addressed the Industrial Revolution and advanced Catholicism’s so-called third way, which rejects both the free market and socialism and advances Catholic influence, an update of the medieval feudal system. As the world again grapples with “new things” and technological revolution, Catholicism is once again seizing the opportunity to exert its influence.

French president: U.S., China and Russia are “dead against the Europeans”: Emmanuel Macron, president of France, warned Friday that Europe must defend its own interests because the U.S., China and Russia are “dead against” it. In a discussion at Athens with Greece’s prime minister, Macron said he expects EU-U.S. tensions to continue to worsen even after Donald Trump’s presidency. He remarked, “This is the right moment for us to wake up.” The Bible prophesies that animosity from Europe toward the U.S. is an ominous trend for the entire world.

U.S. seeks renewed relations with Eritrea: The U.S. is considering initiating a reset on relations with Eritrea, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. This could include reopening high-level diplomatic communications and easing sanctions. Egypt reportedly facilitated talks between the U.S. envoy for Africa and Eritrea’s president and foreign minister. This comes as a reaction to Iran terrorizing shipping in the Strait of Hormuz crisis and Iran-backed Houthis now threatening to attack ships in the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The U.S. is trying to combat Iran’s radical terroristic power in these vital maritime choke points, but the Bible prophesies that these efforts will fail. Eritrea will soon be added to the list of Red Sea nations allied with Iran.

U.S., EU sign minerals memorandum: On Friday, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the signing of a memorandum of understanding concerning partnership on critical minerals. This move comes as part of America’s push to insert itself into the China-dominated rare earth and mineral markets. Regardless of the world trade wins the Trump administration is winning or claiming, Bible prophecy warns Europe will soon ally its economy with China to the devastation of the U.S.