President Donald Trump’s insistence on quickly rescheduling the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was interrupted Saturday by shots fired near the ballroom where he sat at the dais, might seem curious. The president had boycotted the annual event in years past.
But his explanation, given at a hastily called news conference that evening, hit the right note. People, especially those who run nations and important institutions, should neither cower nor change their schedules because of outside threats.
“We’re not going to let anybody take over our society,” Trump told reporters.
Even his critics said that struck the right tone at the right time.
Third shooter event involving Trump
It remains unclear whether the president or some of his closest aides were the intended targets of the attack, but reports indicate the suspected gunmen expressed anger at the administration. The disturbing event marked the third time Trump has faced the threat of a gunman in his immediate vicinity. That includes a shooting at an outdoor event in Butler, Pennsylvania, at which a local firefighter was killed and Trump, who at the time was a candidate, was injured in an ear.
At the time, we said the bullets really were intended for all Americans, meant to destroy the democratic process that empowers the will of the people and replace it with physical force. Saturday night was a similarly pathetic example of that.
It’s prudent to ask what more could be done to provide a higher level of security for an event such as this at a ballroom in the Washington Hilton Hotel. Those evaluations are already underway and will certainly be necessary with plans to have the event at a later time.
The list of attendees alone would suggest a much tighter security presence. In addition to the president, it included the vice president, the speaker of the House, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense and several other cabinet members.
And, of course, it was held during a time of war.
Yet, despite a widely circulated video showing the alleged gunman running past a Secret Service checkpoint, the security detail did its job. The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, was subdued before entering the ballroom. Although he reportedly shot one agent, that bullet did not penetrate a protective vest. No one was seriously hurt.
Attack on the rule of law
The nation should be grateful for that. Regardless of a person’s political leanings, Americans must respect the rule of law and eschew violence, which is the henchman of coercion. Too often in U.S. history, armed men have sought to overthrow leaders elected by freely cast ballots.
We’re also optimistic about the feelings expressed by the president and others after this thwarted attack. Trump’s running feuds with members of the media are well known, and yet he was quick to acknowledge the shooting as an attack on the nation’s constitutionally protected freedom of the press.
Indeed, a feeling of unity seemed to come over many in the assembled crowd within the ballroom, as evidenced by the applause that broke out when Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, initially announced that the evening would continue, which had been the president’s intent.
That decision later was overturned by security officials.
Event celebrated the Constitution’s freedoms
“This was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press,” Trump told the news conference. “And in a certain way it did. Because the fact that they just unified, I saw a room that was just totally unified. It was, in one way, very beautiful, a very beautiful thing to see.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would be “praying for our country tonight” along with his wife. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, R-New York, said, “The violence and chaos in America must end.”
Yes, it must. Trump’s explanation that violence “comes with the territory” is perhaps an expression of our current reality, but it is not acceptable. Neither was the statement by Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, that explained how often he receives death threats.
“I think we live in a climate where everybody recognizes it’s a problem, but I don’t think people fully appreciate how much of a problem it really is,” he said.
This cannot be considered normal.
We hope the president will lean into the message he gave the nation at the press conference Saturday night when he said Americans “have to resolve our differences.”
“I will say you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals and progressives. … But yet everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd, there was a record-setting group of people, and there was a tremendous amount of love and coming together. I watched, I watched, and I was very, very impressed by that,” he said.
We don’t expect political differences to disappear, nor that nastiness will go extinct. But the nation’s future will be brighter if we all remember its laws and values and unify against such violence.