“There Was Tremendous Camaraderie” – The White House

Following a gunman’s intrusion at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington on Saturday evening, President Trump participated in a noteworthy interview with 60 Minutes. During the conversation, he lauded the efforts of law enforcement, celebrated the sense of unity that emerged after the incident, and challenged the false narratives and hostile discourse that contribute to political violence in the U.S.

Highlights you might have overlooked:

On unity: “There was tremendous camaraderie… There was spirit in that room. I mean, it was like the whole country was together. It was pretty amazing. It made a big impression. It was very nice to see.”
On the ballroom: “I’m building a safe ballroom, and one of the reasons I’m building it is exactly what happened last night… and that ballroom’s being built on the safest piece of property in this country—probably one of the safest pieces of land in the world.”
On political violence: “It’s always been there… I do think that the hate speech of the Democrats, much more so, is very dangerous. I really think it’s very dangerous for the country.”
On the media peddling depraved lies: “I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would—because you’re horrible people… You read that crap from some sick person?… You should be ashamed of yourself, reading that — because I’m not any of those things.”
On the gunman: “I read a manifesto. He’s radicalized. He was a Christian—a believer—and then he became an anti-Christian, and he had a lot of change. He’s been going through a lot, based on what he wrote. His brother complained about him, and I think reported him to the police… he was probably a pretty sick guy.”
On law enforcement: “He was fast. When you look at it on tape, it’s almost like a blur—but it was amazing because as soon as they saw that, you could see them draw their guns. They were so professional.”
On the officer struck by gunfire: “I spoke to him. He had a bulletproof vest on… he’s 100%. He didn’t want to go to the hospital, he really didn’t.”
On consequential leadership: “When you’re a consequential president or if you have a consequential administration, things happen that wouldn’t happen if you’re Sleepy Joe Biden.”
On groups financing extremism: “Southern [Poverty Law Center] is financing the KKK and lots of other radical, terrible groups… Charlottesville was all funded by the Southern Law—that was a Southern Law deal, too, and it was done to make me look bad—and it turned out to be a total fake.”
On the importance of rescheduling the dinner: “I hope we’re going to do it again. Norah, tell them to get it going… it’s not that I want to go—I’m very busy, I don’t need that. I think it’s very important that they do it again.”