Media elites are fixated on the recent incident at the White House Correspondents Dinner, despite not being in actual danger. This is in stark contrast to people across the United States who face real gun violence daily in various places like schools, churches, and neighborhoods.
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Less than a day has passed since a gunman attempted to enter the White House Correspondents Dinner. Although administration officials stated the gunman intended to target administration officials, the public shows little interest.
A quick glance at social media reveals widespread skepticism, with some asserting the incident was staged, while others express a sense of déjà vu and indifference.
This lack of interest has caught some media elites by surprise.
Dylan Byers from Puck News shared an account on X regarding a bar in Washington, DC, which refused to televise Trump’s press conference:
We asked a bartender to change the channel to CNN so we could watch the president’s briefing with captions, which they did. But then, a few minutes later, the bartender said he’d been informed by the manager that the bar had a policy against showing political content, and he’d have to go back to sports.
I tried to imagine what this bar might have looked like on March 30, 1981, an hour or so after Hinckley fired shots at Reagan at the very same hotel. I imagine every television would have been on CNN or the wall-to-wall special coverage on the broadcast networks, and that passers by would have come in to watch, as well. The media is giving this the ample coverage it deserves.
But it’s unnerving how desensitized so many people have become—to shootings, obviously, but also to political violence and the abnormality of the moment. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe we just picked the wrong bar. But I doubt it. Pew Research recently reported that attention to news in the U.S. has declined across all age groups since 2016, and that young adults (ages 18 to 29) have consistently had the lowest levels. Even as the news itself intensifies—in politics, geopolitics, technology, etc—more and more people seem to be tuning it out.
And I suppose this is how you find yourself in a bar in the nation’s capital, an hour after crouching behind a chair as secret service members evacuate the President of the United States from the room, being told that you’ll have to watch Penguins vs. Flyers.
Americans are deeply concerned about mass shootings and gun violence in the country. However, there is little concern for a president perceived as dismissive and detrimental to their lives.
The public’s indifference stems from the fact that wealthy media elites chose to be in the company of Donald Trump and were never truly at risk.
Mainstream media is perceived as aligning with Trump rather than the people, which is why many Americans are indifferent to their distress or the possibility of another attempt on Trump.
This ongoing cycle does nothing to address real issues like lowering costs or ensuring safety.
Do you care about this latest gunman coming after Trump? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
