A Reflection of What It Is We Do

Political violence at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

It was around 8:30pm on Saturday, a few minutes after President Donald Trump had taken his seat at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, at the Washington Hilton. Weijia Jiang, the WHCA’s president, welcomed the evening’s guests. Then a series of distant booms could be heard in the ballroom. They were followed by the rattle of falling cutlery and the music cutting out. “Shots fired!” someone shouted. Armed Secret Service agents appeared and began dragging Trump and his cabinet members to safety. “A sense of danger spread across the room like a wave,” Michael M. Grynbaum, of the New York Times, wrote. C-SPAN cameras, trembling slightly, captured guests starting to crouch under tables for cover, though at that moment, as appetizers were meant to be served in the ballroom, C-SPAN’s coverage had cut to a studio debate about Trump’s relationship with the press. “Just a second, we have an issue here at the head table,” Peter Slen, the host, said on air. “We understand that shots were fired here at the dinner, and, uh”—he let out a long sigh—“and we’ll find out what’s going on here shortly.”