“It was a massacre, it’s obvious.” What was the attacker’s objective? “Was it President Trump? Was it shooting randomly at the crowd because he blames Trump for everything?” General Christophe Gomart, European deputy Les Républicains, questioned on franceinfo Sunday after the evacuation on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in the evening, of participants, including Donald Trump, from the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, where gunshots were heard. According to authorities, a “lone shooter” breached a security checkpoint in the hotel lobby just outside the ballroom hosting the dinner.
“Behind such an action, we can indeed measure the increasing polarization of the political debate in the United States, where Donald Trump communicates constantly, but ultimately with quite harsh words, accusing his predecessors of not doing anything. He has incredible words towards his predecessors, towards a certain part of the American population, so this exacerbates violence, and he himself is not a violent man, but in any case, his words are very violent, and indeed, they push people to act.
“Violence is intrinsic to the United States,” he believes, and is “exacerbated” by American President Donald Trump who “communicates constantly.” “He has incredible words towards his predecessors, and towards a certain part of the American population,” words that are “very violent” and “push people to act,” the general points out.
The White House tenant “really polarizes the political situation in the United States, people are either for Trump or against Trump,” denounces Christophe Gomart. “He plays on this frontal opposition with his political opponents.“
Another attack against Donald Trump
European LR deputy pointed out the previous assassination attempts on Donald Trump, including the one in Pennsylvania in July 2024. “We remember this image where he rises with his arms up and shows a sign of strength.” This image had “undoubtedly served him” in the presidential campaign, “since there was an effect of ‘Trump resisting shots,’ and he used it himself,” analyzed the general.
These new shots that happened on Saturday can “turn the situation in his favor, at a time when, on the international geopolitical level,” Donald Trump is “facing difficulties in Iran,” as well as “on the domestic political level,” analyzes Christophe Gomart. “He is far from winning the midterms,” the midterm elections, and “so it serves him, because he shows himself capable of resisting everything.” “He presents himself as the white knight and as the one who will restore and bring greatness to the United States of America,” concludes the MEP.
