But it’s worth noting that Gonzalez’s alleged motivation was to tell the president the atmosphere is collapsing. In other words, while PTSD — or some other mental defect – may be to blame for his delusions, describing him as “Army veteran Omar Gonzalez” doesn’t really tell us anything about his motivations. It doesn’t fit into the “narrative” save as evidence that he might have PTSD. But to use “Army veteran” as a euphemism for PTSD sufferer is somewhat obscene.

It’s also worth noting that you don’t hear the word “alleged” a lot. He is in most media accounts the “White House intruder” or the “White House fence-jumper.” Now I don’t have much trouble with that because we know he’s the guy and we know what he did. But compare all this to the coverage of Alton Nolen. In virtually every report, Nolen is described as the “alleged” or “accused” “suspect” of an office place beheading. He’s never described as “Muslim Alton Nolen” or “Islamic extremist Alton Nolen.” And that’s probably right. But why is Omar Gonzalez not afforded the same standard?