A Man with a Gun Ran Through the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The Aftermath Was Predictable.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from California, ran through a metal detector at the Washington Hilton — the venue of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — and fired one or two rounds before being shot and taken down. The Secret Service extracted the Vice President in seconds. Trump was flanked and removed in twenty. By any operational measure, the protection apparatus worked. By any other measure, someone with a gun got into the same building as the president at a nationally televised event.
Social media did what it does. Conspiracy theories circulated before the situation was resolved. CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan spent airtime debunking claims that were still spreading while the ballroom was still sealed. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN the suspect appeared to be targeting members of the administration. A note attributed to Allen indicated he intended to target officials. Trump told Norah O’Donnell he made the Secret Service’s job harder by wanting to see what was happening before complying.
The event that produced the incident — a formal dinner celebrating the First Amendment at which a president hostile to the press made an appearance and received applause — was itself a minor spectacle before the shooting. The gunman’s speed became briefly surreal when Trump described it to O’Donnell as NFL-caliber. It was a blur on the tape, he said.
The security question will produce recommendations and hearings and a round of official statements about how lessons have been learned. The harder question — what combination of conditions produces someone who drives from California to shoot their way into a ballroom — will receive less sustained attention. It is less tractable and generates fewer deliverables.