The initial chaos and drama surrounding the apprehended gunman at the White House Correspondents Dinner is beginning to clear up and facts are beginning to emerge.
Political partisans will certainly try to play this up, and members of the media present in the ballroom have sounded hysterical as they described the situation, but it appears that neither Trump nor the media in the ballroom may not have been in much danger, as the shooter reportedly never entered the event grounds.
People who know the WHCD well couldn’t understand how a shooter could almost get in.
Sam Stein posted on X:
The WHCA dinner is one of the most monitored and secured dinners of the entire year. Multiple security screenings at multiple levels of the hotel. Shocked, a gun could even come close
That’s quite shocking.
The AP quotes a “law enforcement source” as saying shots were fired at the hotel. “Gunman opened fire at hotel where Trump attended dinner, law enforcement official says.”
There is no ballroom inside the hotel.
MS NOW reports that the incident took place outside the ballroom:
From your perspective, it appears the safety device worked. The shots weren’t fired in the ballroom here.
…
To summarize, the likely scenario appears to be that there was an attempted breach of the secure perimeter and the killer failed to reach it, that the person now in custody is unable to penetrate, and that shots were fired outside the ballroom.
Video:
The fact is that the mainstream media and Trump are both so unpopular that we don’t know for sure whether the president, the people in the room, those elites, or both were targeted.
Attempted or otherwise is undemocratic and never the solution, but this is yet another sign that Trump and his party need to tone down their rhetoric. A decade of divisive politics has led to extremes, and people, especially those with mental health or other problems, may come to see violence as an acceptable option.
Violence is NEVER an acceptable option.
The facts will come to light over time, but initial reports of shots fired in the ballroom were incorrect. When people are struggling to afford health insurance and buy food, it may not be the best time for elites to put on their tuxedos and treat themselves to multimillion-dollar parties.
What do you think of these events? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
