It has been said “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Bullets, however, are another matter entirely.
At the White House Press Association Correspondents Dinner, there were bullets, not pointed words, sarcastic comments, overcooked chicken, or bad jokes being dodged.
Another wild-eyed acolyte of Progressive twaddle, radicalized by the Left, and bristling with arms, rushed toward the elegant affair intent on decapitating our government with violence. Thankfully, he was subdued without significant injury to anyone, except civil discourse, if it yet exists.
Some of those in attendance at the gala sported pocket squares designed by that paragon of virtue CNN’s Jake Tapper. These swaths of cloth were emblazoned with the words, “Congress Shall Make No Law Abridging the Freedom of Speech or of the Press.”
Black tie sporting, sequined designer gown clothed “oppressed” journalists freed from their imaginary detention centers flocked to attend a $350 per person dinner. Those handkerchiefs should have read, “Don’t Shoot, I’m rich!”
No laws seeking to abridge our First Amendment rights have been passed, proposed, or even considered by the Trump administration, but clearly this is a top-level worry for many in the Legacy Press. How freer can a Press be than when they are guzzling champagne purchased by their employers?
These self-promoters pretend the constitution is under assault while galivanting at the highest levels of society and government. They are, along with the political class, our country’s most despised elites. People who lament the conditions in the dust amongst the great unwashed while bathing in Perrier.
The one person in the room, part of neither the political nor press elites, was the man they all came to see, President Trump. The shooter, a California native, came to see Trump in the most violent extremity.
In the aftermath of the sprinting shooter’s attempt, Trump seemed as non-plussed as anyone who’s ever been the subject of an assassin’ s bullet.
Trump praised the Secret Service and law enforcement and then called for an end to this one-sided violence and for unity, “But in light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences peacefully. We have to — we have to resolve our differences. I will say, you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals, and progressives… everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd. There was a tremendous amount of love and coming together.”
Unity was short lived as voices on the Left quickly reminded us there is violence on “both sides”. Never mind they’ve never produced a scintilla of data proving any form of “right-wing” violence. Their claim of “both sides are guilty” lacks evidence and merit.
Three assassination attempts on President Trump and the murder of Charlie Kirk and yet somehow, to the Left, we’re all at fault.
Unlike the Southern Poverty Law Center, which funds the extremism they purport to fight, Liberals and the Legacy Press create myths to make monsters. They use dehumanizing rhetoric and the ever present “existential threat to democracy” to gin up hate and discontent.
Fascists, Nazis, Kings, and Tyrants all deserve death, and their mindless drones are extremely happy to oblige.
Never one to miss an opportunity, Trump in the moments after the incident, took time to explain why we need the new White House Ballroom he is building. “We looked at all of the conditions that took place tonight, and I will say, you know, it’s not a particularly secure building. And 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. 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 is a little bit different, because today we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before.”
Only Trump could spend the precious moments after a near-death experience selling real estate. He is truly one of kind and we don’t deserve him.
Always unfiltered, Trump responded sincerely and as humbly as he is capable of to the question, “how does this event impact you as the leader of our country?”
He said, “I like not to think about it. I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I handle it as well as it can be handled. I really take it as it is. I do it for the country. I’m not doing it for any other reason.”
Trump’s job is dangerous because his political opponents on the Left and the Legacy Press have made it so. Despite the danger Trump does it for the only plausible reason any honest person of integrity would, “I do it for my country.”
If our choices are bullets or ballrooms, leave the guns and grab your dancing shoes.
Stephen Piccirillo © 2026
