None of this should be normal. But it is.
This time it was the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner that was interrupted by gun violence. The Washington press corps and their political and celebrity guests — more than 2,500 people — ducked under tables when gunshots were heard outside the banquet hall doors at the Washington Hilton Hotel. One law enforcement officer was injured in the incident.
It was the third time someone has attempted to shoot the President of the United States with a gun in the past 21 months.
It should not be normal. But it is.
Kids can’t attend schools without preparing for the possibility of a shooting. Shoppers can’t go to malls without fearing gun violence. People can’t worship at their churches, mosques or temples without worrying about gun violence.
On Sunday — the day after the aborted White House Correspondents’ dinner — five people were shot near Indiana University in Bloomington during the “Little 500” bike race. Four men were shot inside a Queens nightclub in New York. And a woman was killed and three others injured in a fight in a bar’s parking lot in Parks Township, Pennsylvania.
This should not be normal. But unfortunately it has become a way of life in American society.
And a way of death in American society. Far too many deaths.
According to Wikipedia’s List of Mass Shootings, in less than four months the U.S. has exceeded last year’s statistics. (The list defines "mass shootings" as incidents in which four or more people are injured or killed due to firearm-related violence.) So far, 141 people have been killed in 131 mass shootings in the first 116 days of 2026. Last year, 116 people were killed in 98 mass shootings.
It should not be normal — but it is — for politicians simply to offer their “thoughts and prayers” after the deadly violence, instead of engaging in substantive discussions with members of both parties to propose common sense solutions to fixing what I consider is our biggest national problem.
Yes, the Second Amendment gives everyone the right to bear arms. But must people use firearms to solve every dispute in a bedroom, parking lot, food court, church, playground, workplace, tavern, school or street corner? Should it be as common for some teens to carry a gun as it is a cell phone?
Many of the best and most important journalists were in the Washington Hilton ballroom Saturday night, and experienced that panic first-hand. I hope they turn their fear into action. I’d like to see lots of stories about America’s violent society. The nation, as we prepare to celebrate our 250th birthday, needs to understand the pervasiveness of the problem.
Here’s an idea: TV news networks, and their websites, could run a rolling total of American gun deaths with every story, every day. Just like the way CNN and other networks broadcast a daily total of COVID-19 deaths as the toll grew toward 1 million. Yeah, a body count. Perhaps the grim milestones will help Americans understand the magnitude of the problem
The Saturday evening gathering at the Washington Hilton was for the WHCA’s annual celebration of the First Amendment, freedom of the press and excellence in presidential news coverage.
What should not be normal is the United States president not respecting the work of journalists. President Donald Trump calls us the “enemy of the people,” or the “Fake News.” It’s normally part of every Trump rally.
For our current president, it’s normal to insult journalists to their face when he doesn’t like tough questions. When Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey asked an Epstein files question on Air Force One in November, he hushed her by saying, “Quiet, piggy!”
Trump called New York Times reporter Katie Rogers “a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out.” When ABC's Mary Bruce asked him about the Epstein files in November, Trump responded, “It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter” and “terrible person” who works for a “crappy company.” When her ABC colleague Jonathan Karl asked him a question in September, Trump said, ”ABC is a terrible network, a very unfair network, and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
That should not be normal. But it is with President Trump.
On 60 Minutes Sunday night, correspondent Nora O’Donnell interviewed President Trump about the swift heroic action by Secret Service officers who whisked the president, first lady and vice president out of the ballroom to safety. Back at the White House, Trump told reporters in the briefing room that the ballroom packed with reporters “was just totally unified. It was in one way very beautiful.”
That was good to hear. But it was not Trump's new normal. Far from it. When O’Donnell asked if Saturday night would change his relationship with the press, Trump basically said it won’t, and gave what for him was a fairly normal reply:
“Well, look, for whatever reason, we disagree on a lot of subjects. Uh, we talk about crime. I’m very strong on crime. It seems like the press isn’t. It’s not so much the press, it’s the press plus the Democrats, because they’re almost one in the same. It’s like the craziest thing.”
For the record, “the press” isn’t "the Democrats." We’re journalists seeking to find and report the truth about every story we write. It’s not a political party thing, despite what the president thinks. To say such a thing, no matter how often, doesn’t make it normal. Or accurate.
At past White House Correspondents’ dinners, the current president (except Trump) attended the dinner and shook hands with the print, broadcast, digital and visual journalists who won awards for their excellent White House coverage. This was Trump’s first time attending the WHCCA dinner, and it was hard to imagine him congratulating reporters for winning awards for work he didn’t respect. (Some reporters have criticized the WHCA for having Trump participate in such a charade this year. Don’t be surprised if the awards dinner is not rescheduled.)
O’Donnell also asked about the “so-called manifesto” by Cole Allen, 31, the California man charged in the attempted shooting Monday. In the manifesto, Cole named “administration officials” as his targets, and signed it, “Friendly Federal Assassin.”
“He also wrote this: ‘I’m no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.’ What’s your reaction to that?” O’Donnell asked, prompting this exchange.
TRUMP: Well, I was waiting for you to read that, because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody. I’m not a —
O’DONNELL: Do you think he was referring to you?
TRUMP: Excuse me! Excuse me! I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. I got associated with all the stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. You friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, let’s say Epstein, or other things. But I said to myself, you know, I’ll do the interview. And I read the manifesto. He’s a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that, because I’m not any of those things.
O’DONNELL: Mr. President —
TRUMP: And I was never — excuse me! Excuse me! You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes. You’re a disgrace. But go ahead, let me finish the interview.
On CBS this morning, O’Donnell explained the obvious — that the president’s reaction to the manifesto was newsworthy.
“There are important questions about what happened, and why it happened. The president told us he thought the gunman was a lone wolf,” O’Donnell says.
Then she added: “But there are real questions about the state of America, political violence and extremism, and what is driving that.”
Why is violence — not just political violence — accepted as normal? Why is hate speech toward journalists accepted as normal?
I wanted to start this column by saying “This is not normal.”
Unfortunately, that’s just not true today. Gun violence and hate speech of any kind should never be considered normal.
We must remember that — and work individually and together to fix it.
John Kiesewetter's opinion is own and not that of Cincinnati Public Radio.
