For one brief shining moment — one that will hopefully endure — both President Trump and the media, U.S. and European, came together in response to an incident that could have led to tragic consequences. The event, as most of the world now knows, was the White House Correspondents’ Dinner honoring the First Amendment, with President Trump as the principal speaker.
As the gathered guests began the first dinner course at about 8:36 p.m. ET, gunshots rang out, and police and Secret Service sprang into action. It turns out that the gunshots accompanied the attempted break-in of the dinner by an assailant armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and “multiple knives,” as police reported.
The assailant was later identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California. He was a registered guest at the Washington Hilton Hotel, where the event was being staged.
Trump, who was whisked off the dais after the gunshots, actually wanted the dinner to continue after the incident, but the Secret Service decided that that was not a good idea. Instead, Trump went back to the White House to hold a press conference. “In light of this evening’s events, I ask all Americans to recommit to resolving our differences peacefully,” Trump told reporters.
During his remarks, Trump actually thanked the gathered journalists for their composure during the incident and for being “very responsible in their coverage,” certainly a rare moment of praise in his two terms as president.
I watched several channels, including CNN, OAN, Fox, NewsNation, the BBC, and France 24. All took a nonpartisan view of the event, which is — to say the least — unusual in any event involving Donald Trump.
I thought Trump’s remarks during his White House press conference and the Q&A afterwards with reporters showed the president at his best. If he could exhibit the same restraint and presidential demeanor during all his public and press gatherings, he probably could help the nation resolve “our differences peacefully.”
N.B. CBS is reporting that Allen admitted during an interrogation following his arrest that Trump was indeed his target. Also, Trump called for the dinner to be rescheduled for some time in the next 30 days. No word yet on whether that will happen.
[PICTURED: Trump at his impromptu press conference following the shooting incident.]
