The sound of gunfire had barely stopped echoing Saturday night before Donald Trump started doing what Donald Trump always does: find an angle.
Trump, several members of his cabinet, and hundreds of guests – including journalists and public figures – were attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel when a gunman charged past security guards on the top floor of the ballroom and opened fire near a security checkpoint.
A federal agent was shot, but was protected by a bulletproof vest.
The suspect – identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old computer science graduate from California – has been taken into custody.
Fortunately, no one died.
But the next day, Trump posted on Truth Social; and what he said was as sad as the revelation.
‘What happened last night is the reason why the Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for varying reasons, every President for the last 150 years, has DEMANDED that a large, safe, secure Ballroom be built OVER THE WHITE HOUSE,’ he wrote.
The ballroom in question is Trump’s proposed $400 million, 90,000-square-foot White House project that is currently pending after months of litigation, and which Trump has now said, in light of Saturday night’s events, ‘cannot be built fast enough’.
And, of course, the MAGA machine revs into full gear – and full synchronously.
Disgraced former mayor and disbarred attorney Rudy Giuliani urges ‘haters’ to support ballroom; Right-wing political activist and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec said he was grateful Trump had built the system.
A Florida congressman announced the ‘Build the Ballroom Act’. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert said she is drafting legislation.
The message is so well coordinated it would make a PR company blush.
His reactive communication may have been impressive – but there was something truly sickening about his speed.
One scary night, in which journalists dived under tables and smelled gunpowder in the air, was stripped of political capital even before the adrenaline wore off.
Of course, no one wants to use the event to push for the gun control the US desperately needs, only the President’s vision stands out.
But apart from the taste being bad, the logic itself is unreliable.
The Correspondents’ Dinner is not a Presidential event. It is run by the White House Correspondents’ Association – an independent organization – and helps fund scholarships for future journalists. The president is the invited party, not the host.
So, Trump’s suggestion that the WHCA would agree to host the annual dinner at the White House is preposterous – especially since the organization aims to educate the public about the value of press freedom.
Consider the significant conflict of interest in holding a supposedly independent press event on the president’s own property, with journalists as his guests.
And even if the event were held in Trump’s proposed – and as of yet non-existent – ballroom, the capacity would be about 1,000 people, less than half the Hilton ballroom, meaning less revenue for journalism scholarships. (Then again: maybe that’s the point.)
But most importantly, this surprising incident did not just happen. There is some aggravating context; context that makes Trump’s response even more implausible [<again; feel free to reword].
In America, on average, someone is shot dead with a firearm every 12 minutes. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 126 mass shootings – defined as attacks involving four or more people – in the first four months of this year.
For context, the gun death rate in the US is around 340 times higher than in the UK.
These events are not acts of God; they represent countries that have made – and continue to make – very different decisions.
One of Britain’s darkest chapters occurred in Dunblane in 1996, when 16 children and their teacher were shot dead at a primary school. The following year, almost all firearms bans were implemented. There has never been another school shooting in the UK.
After the terrorist attack in Christchurch in 2019, in which a gunman killed 51 people at two mosques, New Zealand banned semi-automatic weapons a week later.
A week.
But Trump’s first and only solution after Saturday night’s events is, apparently, to return to his pre-presidential past, namely building palaces of gold.
This is not the first time Trump has received threats. Each time, his shots came close enough to scare his base but apparently not close enough to make them think; let alone creating laws to try to reduce the amount of armed violence, political and otherwise.
Together, Washington’s political class – reeling from yet another shooting – and a MAGA base determined to find the perpetrator, will do anything – including the ballroom – before they get there. That conclusion.
Trump said Saturday’s incident ‘would never have happened’ because his ‘Secret Military Ballroom’ had already been built.
Possible.
But this also wouldn’t have happened if America had decided to act after one of the thousands of mass shootings that claimed someone’s child; and if the President seeks any solution to gun violence that might have the added benefit of protecting more than one person.
Do you have a story you want to share? Contact us by emailing Ross.Mcafferty@metro.co.uk.
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