Good afternoon from Washington, where the WHCD brunches are in full swing despite the collapse of the WHCD.
A gunman tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night, opening fire on Secret Service agents inside the Washington Hilton in an attack that disrupted the dinner and prompted the evacuation of President Donald Trump.
It could have been far worse. According to an alleged manifesto obtained by The New York Post, the gunman wrote that he planned to target Trump administration officials but he would kill “most everyone” at the dinner “to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people chose to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit).”
In the chaotic hours after the shooting, guests raised questions about the level of security at the event. Entering the Hilton was a breeze. You just had to wave your paper ticket to be ushered through. Magnetometers were only present downstairs in the basement, at the entrance to the ballroom, though the gunman was apprehended before he made it that far.
In the alleged manifesto, the gunman mocked the “insane” lack of security at the hotel, where he was staying as a guest. “I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat,” he wrote.
The main event was cancelled, but the after parties carried on. This is a report from Washington as the town’s big weekend continued in the wake of the WHCD shooting. | 
