The shooting that took place at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner venue on Wednesday (local time) marks the third assassination attempt targeting President Donald Trump in the past two years. In July 2024, while he was a presidential candidate, Trump was grazed by a bullet that pierced the upper part of his ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. That incident is considered the decisive "event" that delivered him victory in the presidential election. The image of Trump, with blood on his ear and face, raising a clenched fist as he was evacuated surrounded by Secret Service agents, was broadcast around the world.
Just two months later, in September of the same year, a man was arrested at a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, after pointing a rifle at Trump.
With the addition of the White House Correspondents' Association dinner incident, Trump has now been exposed to three shooting attempts in the past two years. In particular, this latest shooting marks the first direct assassination attempt since he took office as president.
There have also been foiled plots. Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan national charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with conspiring to assassinate Trump at the direction of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was indicted. The case is said to have served as a starting point for Trump's "Midnight Hammer" operation against Iran.
Trump appeared triumphant even in the face of threats to his life, invoking historical figures who had been assassinated. Citing President Abraham Lincoln and others, he said, "Assassination attempts are made against the most influential figures," adding, "I have accomplished a lot." After being dissuaded from resuming the event immediately following the shooting, he said nonchalantly, "We will hold the (canceled) correspondents' dinner on an even bigger scale within 30 days."
