OPINION:
The person in the chair seated behind me crashed into mine, and I was annoyed. How rude, I thought, as we were all packed in like sardines at the 2,000-person White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton.
After an hour of being in the ballroom, the president had just arrived, and the dinner and program had just begun. I sat upright as I saw practically everyone else in the room leap under their tables.
That was what the man behind had been doing: ducking for cover.
I didn’t understand what was going on. It was then that I saw about 30 men stand up and run into the line of fire. One Secret Service agent leaped in front of the president, on stage, to guard him with his body as others got the vice president, first lady, press secretary and members of the White House Correspondents’ Association safely off the dais.
I was in awe of their heroism. In a room that was crashed by a crazed gunman only about 100 yards away, I felt safe.
It was the third attempt on President Trump’s life in just three years. It was the first time Mr. Trump had decided to attend the event as president, and it was widely advertised. The ticket was one of the most coveted in Washington. It was the 98th time the Washington Hilton had hosted the presidential event.
The gunman didn’t get into the ballroom because of the brave men and women of the Secret Service. Their action was fast and practiced. As others cowered, these men and women, who had gone without a paycheck because of a lack of government funding, leaped into action and took down the gunman as he rushed past a security checkpoint.
Much coverage will be focused on the failures that led to how the gunman was permitted to be in the hotel or get so close, but it wasn’t a breakdown of the system. This was a carefully planned and executed attack. The gunman knew what he was doing, was motivated by his hatred of the president (his manifesto echoing the radicalized talking points of the left) and was apprehended by authorities.
Their action was swift and steady.
In the ballroom, I was encouraged to see the bravery of men protecting their loved ones from the perceived threat. Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy, guided his pregnant wife to safety. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood up and shielded his wife. Cabinet secretaries were ushered from their tables out of the building, surrounded by an army of patriots.
It was chaos, yet there was a calm.
It was a rainy night, and the most frequent complaint from the guests was how far they had to walk to reach the hotel. Security perimeters were widened. No one could travel by car up or down Connecticut Avenue, where the hotel is located.
The gunman had been a guest at the hotel. If he wanted to attack administration officials, then he could have done so at any time before the event. Soft targets were abundant in the lobby and bar as folks worked their way down to the ballroom before the program began.
The gunman must have been watching C-SPAN cameras in his room to know exactly when the president arrived and was seated on stage. His actions were premeditated and precise as to their timing.
Many in the media are pretending not to know the gunman’s motive, yet his written manifesto echoes their printed and spoken words of false accusations charged at Mr. Trump. He wrote, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
The New York Times featured Hasan Piker on one of its podcasts just last week. Mr. Piker was praising and justifying political violence. He is a friend to Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Ro Khanna and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other elites on the left.
Twenty-five percent of Americans who call themselves “very liberal” think political violence is justified, compared with 3% of those who call themselves “very conservative” and believe the same.
This is not a “both sides” problem; the bullets are aimed in only one direction: left to right.
Still, the president was not silenced. He used the evening to later address the press in the White House briefing room. He showed strength, toughness and a willingness to redo the event at a later date, and he tried to offer support to a rightfully shaken press corps.
I watched from my bedroom after we were eventually evacuated from the ballroom. The show and the fight must go on, despite the troubled times we live in. Being on the right, we all know the risks of speaking up and out. This time, however, the press witnessed exactly what their rhetoric had sown.
Thank God for law enforcement and the brave men and women of the Secret Service. Without them, our democracy would be at the hands of the tyrannical.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.
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