Gunshots expose the darkness of Trump's America

Shocking. Disturbing. Unpredictable. Violent. I've been following the upheavals of Trump's America for a decade with the privilege of journalistic distance. On Saturday night, I felt the darkness creeping in frighteningly close.

Boom! Boom! What was that? Where did it come from? At 8:36 p.m., panic and chaos reigned in the spacious ballroom of the Washington Hilton. Men ran, and shouts of “Get down!” and “Stay down!” were heard.

I saw the guests at the annual White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner—men in tuxedos, women in dresses—throwing themselves under the round tables, and almost as if on cue, I did the same. It was a scene from countless Hollywood movies, but now it was happening to me, here and now.

Secret Service agents rushed through the room, guns drawn. An eerie silence fell. When I stood up to look toward the podium, Donald and Melania Trump had already been rushed away. In their place stood four police officers with helmets and rifles, standing guard in front of a backdrop with a picture of the White House and the words: “Celebrating the First Amendment.”

Then they brought a gray-haired man in a tuxedo past our table, leaning on two men because he couldn't walk without help. Who was he? Was he hurt in the drama? We didn't know.

How did I feel? That's a question journalists always ask their interviewees. At that moment, I felt a deep sense of confusion and uncertainty. We were in the eye of the storm, but we didn't know how big the storm was or what it looked like.

It was supposed to be the most secure place in America. The Hilton was beefed up after being the site of Ronald Reagan's assassination 45 years ago. I showed my boarding pass several times and went through a metal detector like at an airport, because Trump was attending the White House Correspondents' Association dinner for the first time as president.

This meant that the evening was already filled with tension: would he attack the media on their turf? Would the journalists and other guests applaud him, remain silent, or walk out? The disturbing questions of the Trump era hung in the air - questions of truth, normalization, resistance, capitulation, authoritarianism.

Cheers and applause erupted as Trump entered the room to the familiar strains of “Hail to the Chief.” The president saluted throughout the anthem. Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, told him, “It’s significant that you’re here tonight.”

Guests were chatting, eating pea salad and burrata and drinking wine when the interruption occurred. We later learned that the attacker, armed with guns and knives, stormed a Secret Service checkpoint in the hotel lobby before being subdued. One agent was shot, but was protected by body armor.

Minute by minute, an eerie calm descended on the hall as it became clear that the danger had passed. A metaphor for the new normal. Journalists called their newsrooms or filmed video on their phones. One, who was closer to the scene, told me he heard five shots; another claimed there were four. One diplomatic official said the sound of the gunfire reminded him of his time in Afghanistan.

This meant that the evening was already filled with tension: would he attack the media on their turf? Would the journalists and other guests applaud him, remain silent, or walk out? The disturbing questions of the Trump era hung in the air - questions of truth, normalization, resistance, capitulation, authoritarianism.

Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, told me that the Secret Service had knocked him to the ground. “People were screaming and calling out to each other,” he said. “People were terrified. Now they seem relieved, but it’s clear the night is over.”

Frank Lunt, a consultant and opinion analyst who has long warned about the poisoning of the political environment, said: “What worries me is that people seem to feel they have the right to shout, to threaten, to throw stones, to behave in a terrible way, and I hope you in the UK never have to go through this. You went through it during the IRA. Let’s hope it doesn’t come here tomorrow.”

For a while, it seemed like the dinner might go on. I imagined Trump seizing the moment, as he did when he emerged bloodied after the assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, with a “the show must go on” performance that might have charmed even his critics in the room. But protocol dictated otherwise, and the dinner was postponed.

The president retreated to the White House and held a briefing for reporters, many of whom were still in their formal attire. He couldn’t resist using the incident as an argument for one of his favorite projects. “I didn’t want to say this, but that’s exactly why we need everything we’re planning at the White House. We need a ballroom.”

Fox News' Peter Ducey asked why this keeps happening to Trump. The president mentioned Abraham Lincoln and said, "I've studied assassinations, and I have to tell you - the most influential people ... the people who do the most work, who have the most influence, they're the ones who get targeted."

But that's not the point. The past decade has been marked by a shooting at a baseball practice for members of Congress, a deadly white supremacist march in Charlottesville, the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, and the murders of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Political violence is on the rise, and on Saturday, in a lavish Washington ballroom, Trump and the media took a momentary peek into the abyss.

Translation: A. Š.