Gunman Disrupts White House Press Gala — Everybody Is Safe

The gala dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) on Saturday night turned into a crime scene when law enforcement officers tackled and arrested an armed man who tried to enter the event at which journalists and newsmakers usually toast and roast each other. All of the attendees, including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several Cabinet members, were safe.

Trump posted an image of the alleged assailant after he was apprehended, as well as security camera footage of him running through a checkpoint, on his social media website. At this point, very little is known about the man or his motives, so it would be foolish to jump to conclusions (which is why countless people will do just that).

Here is what we do know.

Americans should really try to stop addressing their differences with violence. We realize that this is not going to be easy in a country that makes it so easy to obtain weapons at a time in which tech companies and influencers are getting rich off dividing people. Still, it would be nice if people made an effort.

Political violence is not an answer and it is almost always counterproductive. Americans of all ideologies will have an opportunity to change the course of the country at the ballot box on November 3, and we urge all of them to take advantage of it. The people of Hungary just showed them how this is done.

The WHCA dinner is a farce. It epitomizes the clubbish nature of the nation’s capital, where people yell at each other all day long and then party together at night because, ultimately, they all eat from the same trough. The press corps and the government should not be so chummy, especially right now. This president and his party have arguably done more to vilify and intimidate journalists than anybody else in recent US history.

That being said, the corporate media has also not acquitted itself well. Executives have paid off Trump to curry favor, reporters repeat statements that they know are lies to preserve their access to power, and many of them are withholding important news for future books.

People on both sides will try to take advantage of this incident to advance their agendas. Trump, for example, used the opportunity to make the case that it highlighted the need for his ballroom.

Those wishing to stifle dissent will use it to silence their critics, which is why it is important to remember that legitimate criticism of a president or a political party is always appropriate.

The guy who kept eating while everybody else cowered under their table or was evacuated will become an online sensation.