Shooting reveals how political violence has become feature of American life on a night dedicated to press freedom
Ahead of this year’s White House correspondents’ dinner, conversationscentered onthe role of the media and freedom of the press as journalists prepared to dine with the president.
Instead of a speech stacked with heated barbs against the media, the event ended like many in the US do:with gun violence.
A man was apprehended at the Washington Hilton – the same hotel where then president Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. The shooter was outside the ballroom that held the president and various cabinet officials, and thousands of members of the media.Donald Trumpdescribed him as a “lone” gunman, though details on the man and his motives aren’t yet clear.
Trump has been the target of two prior assassination attempts, including one in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a man attending a Trump rally was killed. Charlie Kirk, a rightwing commentator, waskilledwhile speaking at an event at a Utah university. Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband werekilledby a gunman at their Minnesota home in what has been called a political assassination. Elected officialsreportfrequent threats against their lives. More stateshave passed lawsto allow officials to use campaign funds for security, noting the ongoing rise in targeted violence.
Shortly after the sounds of gunshots were heard on Saturday night, journalists and their guests had flipped over chairs andhid under tablesin their tuxedos and gowns, asking each other what had happened and making calls to loved ones. Then the Secret Service and security cleared the president and top officials from the room, and security yelled that people should leave the ballroom, though others remained inside, the message not extending to the entire ballroom.
Even so, initially the correspondents’ association said it intended to continue the event. The idea that the show would go on – that people would come out from hiding under tables in a tux after a shooting – struck a chord about theregularityof gun violence in American life.
“Every few months, Americans are asked to resume their banquet and pretend a shooting didn’t just happen,” one commentator on Blueskywroteafter the correspondents dinner. Another account responded: “Well, in fairness, that’s what we ask of school kids.”
Eventually the dinner was pronounced done and would be rescheduled.
The president instead held a press conference to share minimal details on what happened, and vowed to hold a makeup event soon that wouldn’t be as harsh on the media as he intended to be on Saturday.
Source: Drudge Report
