“Why do you think something like this keeps happening to you?”. Trump's response after the armed incident at the Correspondents' Dinner
US President Donald Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln and said that the gunman who broke into the gala he was attending in Washington could have targeted him because he was dissatisfied with his politics, reports AFP.
“I respectfully ask, why do you think this keeps happening to you?” a journalist asked Trump after the gunfire during the correspondents' dinner he was attending at the Hilton hotel in Washington on Saturday.
Trump seemed to have a ready answer regarding his place in the pantheon of American presidents:
“Well, you know, I've studied assassinations. And I have to tell you that the people who stand out the most, the ones who do the most — look at Abraham Lincoln (…), the ones who have the biggest impact, are the ones who are targeted.”
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated in 1865 in his theater box in Washington by an actor, a fervent supporter of the “Southerners”, who had just been defeated by the forces of the federal government.
“We changed this country, and many are not happy”
“I don't like to say I'm honored, but I've accomplished a lot. I've changed this country, and a lot of people are not happy about that. So I think that's the answer,” emphasized Trump, who survived an assassination attempt during a 2024 election rally in the United States.
“I lead a pretty normal life considering it's, you know, a dangerous life,” he said.
Trump has now adopted a moderate tone towards the media, after already calling it the “enemy of the people”, saying there is “a lot of love and solidarity” in the wake of the gun incident.
The US president said he was preparing to give “the most inappropriate speech ever”, but that it would be “very boring” when the dinner was rescheduled.
Saturday's incident also helped divert him from one of his favorite topics: the massive $400 million ballroom he is building at the White House.
Trump said the venue for the press dinner, the Hilton Hotel in Washington, was not “particularly secure,” which he said demonstrates the need to build the new ballroom.
