Probably not, but emphasis on probably. I’m referring to an apparent attempted assassination of President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner:
The suspect studied engineering and is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology, also known as Caltech, according to materials shared with CNN.
As we reported just moments ago, authorities have identified the suspected gunman as a 30-year-old male from California, according to multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the latest. [CNN]
A nation in which political power is shifted via warfare does not end well; but some folks will argue that, at some point, it’s a necessity and we must take the chance.
And how does one argue the point? What measurements are used, when are we so close to the abyss that we must?
But here’s another point that will need consideration: Just reading the above link, what I read and see puts me in the mood of a classic Hollywood production. The President the target of bullets, his guards close around him and rush him off, then he holds a press conference where he extols how all came together for a vital moment, and then the virtues of his new ballroom … ok, that’s a plot twist I didn’t expect.
But a correction: alleged target of bullets.
Because, yes, this sounds scripted to me. I am almost certainly wrong, but if investigative reporters come out with the discovery that this is all a setup, I WILL NOT BE SURPRISED.
The President’s a sick man, and sick people, deprived of a moral compass by life, upbringing, or by illness, will attempt such a scheme that achieves important goals for them that another person wouldn’t dare. Perhaps the President wants to be the center of attention, or wants public support for his proposed ballroom; or perhaps he wants attention pulled away from the developing debacle at the Strait of Hormuz, or away from the Epstein Files and their potentially fatal load.
There’s a multitude of goals that a stunt of this caliber might achieve simultaneously. For a man who has no concept of morality, it’s not hard to see him using the Correspondents’ Dinner for his own purposes.
And we may never know for certain.
