America Without a Lincoln or Roosevelt |
The evening at the Washington Hilton left behind a sense of fear that is difficult to describe. Having lived in the United States for many years, I have grown accustomed to a public discourse that is sharp, often excessive. But what happened at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) seems to signal something deeper.
American society is flirting dangerously with political violence, perhaps even with its own cohesion. The first reports spoke of gunfire, of an armed individual, and of a wounded Secret Service agent. The question that arose almost immediately was whether this was yet another assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
There is also a certain irony in the fact that the incident unfolded at an event dedicated to the press. A president who, in recent years, has repeatedly attacked the media –branding them “fake news” or “the enemy”– now finds himself at the center of an event where words give way to bullets. And........