“Adopting Trump’s Voice” [IOW #Trump dictated the DOJ’s filing] #DOJ Asks Judge to Let #Ballroom Proceed
The court filing links the security breach at the #WHCD to the lawsuit over Trump’s ballroom project.
[problematically for this argument is that the WHCD CANNOT be held at the White House — idiots! -- the #WHCA is a #PrivateOrganization, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. And the White House has NEVER been rented out for private events.]
Traumatized members of the Washington press corps desperately seeking unopened bottles of wine to take with them following shots fired at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday.
Will Bunch thinks that what happened at the White House Correspondents Dinner "went beyond metaphor for a depraved and decadent America." ...
"Despite the dull surprise of more gunplay in a nation where firearms outnumber human beings, it does seem odd that so many in the black-tie crowd wanted to keep eating after a man with a long gun nearly burst into their ballroom. Or maybe not."
LISTEN⏵The shooter wasn’t the biggest evil at the #WHCD last night. That honor belongs to every journalist who thought it was a good idea to be there given the appalling treatment of the press by this rogue Trump regime.
Following what happened at last night's White House Correspondents Dinner, Marcy Wheeler points to a valuable "Breaking News Consumer's Handbook" from WNYC's On the Media. The handbook is in the image below.
A threat of gun violence at the annual "nerd prom" has co-opted all the attention media was paying to other critically important topics. Convenient, hmm?
"There can be no denying that violence surrounds this regime. …
We also need to recognize that there was violence in that room last night long before shots were fired. And the reporters who had gathered to mingle with members of the regime, for a night that I suppose, in their view, represented a mix of entertainment and obligation, were, by showing up, helping to normalize trauma, suffering, and death on an epic scale."
"He has incited violence against members of the media at rallies, and he kicked off the celebration of the United State’s 250th anniversary in Des Moines, Iowa last July 4th by declaring hatred for Democrats and others who would not support his dramatic cuts to nutrition assistance and healthcare."
"At a press conference back at the White House, Trump claimed he felt 'everyone coming together' before the shots were fired and called for unity in response to the gunman’s actions. But Trump has spent a decade exploiting every possible fault line to divide Americans."
~ William J. Barber II and Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove
"We must not allow the corporate media nor even members of the Democratic elite to bully us into not asking questions. While the facts surrounding the shooting are still being gathered as I write this on Sunday morning, there are many questions raised that demand answers.
For starters, we should be suspicious of any and everything involving Trump."
"The whole grotesque spectacle was supposed to be a celebration of press freedom. Instead, it became a case study in institutional self-abasement.
Then came the shooting. ...
Both last night and this morning, these journalists congratulated each other all over social media for rushing to the White House to cover their own assassination attempts. They should hang their heads in shame instead, based on what happened inside the briefing room."
"The old media order dressed up for a banquet and discovered that its own credibility was on the menu. ...
They showed up to preen and party anyway.
They put on gowns and tuxedos, smiled for cameras, and clinked glasses. They feted the president who has made attacking them central to his political identity. They feted the president who has made attacking them central to his political identity."
"In response to a question about why Trump thought attempts on his life happened so frequently—a reminder: there is as yet no information about what the man’s plan or motives were—he responded that assassins come for 'impactful people' and boasted of how much he has done for the country."
"'It’s actually a larger room, and it’s much more secure. It’s got— It’s drone proof. It’s bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom. That’s why Secret Service, that’s why the military are demanding it. They’ve wanted the ballroom for 150 years for lots of different reasons, but today’s, uh, a little bit different, because today, we need levels of security that probably nobody’s ever seen before.'”
"Trump took to the podium a little after 10:30. Referring to the threat of a shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner—which has never happened before—he said: 'I will say, you know, it’s not a particularly secure building, and, uh, I didn’t want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House.'"
Tonight the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) held its annual black-tie dinner, which is designed both to raise money for the institution and to provide a glitzy night out for journalists.
"The problem with having a criminal President who promotes conspiracy theories, incites an insurrection, & lies habitually about everything and is enabled by an entire political and media movement that does the same is that after a while, people don’t believe him and create their own narratives."
"He also used the shooting to promote his ballroom (bunker) and MAGA, of course, blamed 'the left' and said this is why Congress should fund DHS, and by extention secret service.
Unfortunately, STAGED was already trending on Twitter before we received all of these details."
A nation must prepare itself for a nauseous, self-congratulatory display of awfulness & gaslighting that will emanate from the corporate press class & Trump Administration following the WHCD shooting.
"When the president was asked at a press briefing late Saturday why he’s been targeted by several attempted gunmen now, Trump said he’s 'studied assassinations,' and they often target 'the most impactful people' and 'the big names.'
'I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot,' he said. 'We’ve changed this country, and there are a lot of people that are not happy about that.'”
"There is a close relationship between Trump and violence — not just the attempts on his life but also the violence he’s unleashed on the world, the violence his ICE and Border Patrol agents have caused inside America, the violence he has incited among his followers."
"I fear violence will become a defining characteristic of the next few months, leading up to the midterms. It is the lexicon of what now passes for debate in the Trump era."
Because I had spent the better part of this Saturday documenting exactly how we arrived at a place where something like this could feel — in the most sick and twisted way imaginable — not just possible but almost inevitable."
"the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and the killings of the former Minnesota house speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk. Political violence is rampant and on Saturday, in a fancy Washington ballroom, Trump and the media glimpsed the edge of the abyss."
"For a decade I have been following the twists and turns of Donald Trump’s America with the privilege of journalistic distance. On Saturday night I felt the darkness come viscerally close. ...
The past 10 years have witnessed a shooting at a congressional baseball practice, a deadly white supremacist march in Charlottesville," (continued in /2)
The man accused of trying to storm the ballroom at the #WHCA dinner with #guns & knives had written about targeting #Trump admin officials, & his family raised concerns with law enforcement before the event, Trump said Sunday in an interview on the Faux News Channel.
I’m mean come on now, everyone knows ballrooms prevent assassinations. It’s not law enforcement, it’s not a protective details, it’s certainly not policies and laws that rule a country effectively and remove all motive for assassination: it’s ballrooms.
If you just ignore the huge number of assassinated political figures through history that _had_ ballrooms, then like no one left who got assassinated ever had a ballroom.
Officer shot in bullet-resistant vest at correspondents’ dinner but is expected to be OK, law enforcement official says
The #FBI said the shooter is in & and that its Washington field office is responding to the #shooting.
The suspect is alive & has been transported to a hospital, according to one US official & one law enforcement official. A #SecretService agent was injured & is in the hospital, a US official said.
#Trump said that a “shooter has been apprehended” in a post to Truth Social about 30 minutes following a security incident at the White House correspondents’ dinner.
Both Trump & JD #Vance were uninjured in the incident.
Trump to give statement at White House after #shooting incident at correspondents’ dinner
#Trump & other top leaders of the #US were evacuated from the annual #WhiteHouseCorrespondentsDinner on Saturday night after an unspecified threat. There did not immediately appear to be any injuries.
The #SecretService & other authorities swarmed the banquet hall as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck.
![{ Charles Gaba [5]
@charlesgaba.com
2,000 professional journalists literally on the scene when it happened
and no one knows what is actually going on?
# Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social - 51m
So just to recap, in the last minute CSPAN says it was a false alarm, CNN
says the shooter was killed in the lobby, and the pool report says he's in
custody, do | have that right?
01:52 - 26 Apr 2026 @ Everybody can reply
278 reposts 23 quotes 11K likes](https://friendica.hellquist.eu/photo/preview/640/5563444 "{ Charles Gaba [5]
@charlesgaba.com
2,000 professional journalists literally on the scene when it happened
and no one knows what is actually going on?
# Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social - 51m
So just to recap, in the last minute CSPAN says it was a false alarm, CNN
says the shooter was killed in the lobby, and the pool report says he's in
custody, do | have that right?
01:52 - 26 Apr 2026 @ Everybody can reply
278 reposts 23 quotes 11K likes")
