Your ‘Friendly Federal Assassin.’ That’s how the man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner referred to himself in messages that the Associated Press says he sent relatives just before the shooting began.
■ The New York Post has published the full text of that “manifesto.”
■ CNN and WXRT News alumnus Charles Jaco: “What he did was wrong … but his observations are 100% sane.”
■ Former AP D.C. bureau chief Ron Fournier on what disturbs him most: The language in that note “mirrors so much of what we read and hear online from MAGA lovers and MAGA haters”—and from President Trump himself.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “If you’re a Democrat … be prepared to apologize, in case some lunatic overhears you. But if you’re Dear Leader, you are forever a Very Special Boy Who Gets To Say And Do Anything He Wants.”
‘Remarkably zen.’ That’s how The New York Times (gift link) describes Trump’s demeanor after the incident …
■ … but Axios’ Zachary Basu says the president’s truce with journalists lasted less than 24 hours …
■ … crashing to an end as he sat down with CBS’ 60 Minutes.
‘Reporters in formalwear quickly pivoted.’ Poynter’s Tom Jones surveys the work of journalists who shifted from celebration to coverage.
■ The AP unwinds a tick-tock of what happened at the Washington Hilton—the scene of a 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan.
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link): “America is growing so numb to political violence that the first instinct of the president and the elite media after an attempted assassination is to sit back down for the next dinner course.”
■ CNN’s Victor Blackwell: “The people in that room were confronted with what schoolchildren and moviegoers and congregants and people at grocery stores have been confronted with, and that is the threat of gun violence.”
■ The Times (gift link) catches up with the guy dubbed “Salad Man”—for calmly picking at his plate as the mayhem unfolded.
Had things gone differently … With five of the top six officials in the presidential line of succession present Saturday night, law professor Joyce Vance notes it’s not clear who in the administration was the “designated survivor.”
■ Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein: The suspect wasn’t on the FBI’s domestic counterterrorism radar.
■ The havoc has law enforcement rethinking security at Trump’s future public events …
■ … as Trump and his Justice Department assert it justifies his plans for a $400 million White House ballroom …
■ … a position that historian Heather Cox Richardson calls “an odd angle to take.”
■ Law Dork Chris Geidner: “Trump’s proposed ballroom would not fix the problem.”
■ Former Politico editor Garrett Graff says Congress needs to OK the ballroom, exercising check-and-balance control over “just how extensive the fortifications of the White House end up being. Strong enough to sustain a hostile attack? Absolutely! Strong enough to withstand the end of democracy? Absolutely not.”
■ Political analyst Brian Beutler counsels Democrats: “Do not authorize the f@cking ballroom.”
Conspiracy theories everywhere. Wired says the word “staged” exploded on social media Saturday night.
■ PolitiFact has had its hands full quashing falsehoods.
■ Yes, Snopes confirms, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did predict there would be “shots fired” at the dinner.
‘Conservatives are supposedly pro-life, and we’re celebrating the deaths of people just because we don’t agree with their politics.’ A veteran Illinois Republican strategist tells Politico why he’s quitting the party.
Cop-killing suspect. Police have charged a 26-year-old man with the shooting that left one Chicago officer dead and another wounded and “fighting for his life” at Swedish Hospital.
■ The suspect had been released on parole in January.
Bridges to trouble? A Sun-Times analysis of federal bridge inspection records finds an above-average one in six Chicago bridges in poor condition.
■ Got a favorite bridge? Check its specs here.
‘HACK THE PLANET.’ A criminal complaint briefly made public—and spotted by the Tribune before the feds resealed it—says that’s the edict spelled out on a diamond-studded necklace worn by a 19-year-old cyber-hacker charged in Chicago with helping infiltrate big corporations’ computer systems, collecting millions of dollars in ransom.
■ Medtronic, manufacturer of pacemakers and other medical devices, says a cyberattack last week didn’t compromise its products or its services to patients …
■ …but the data extortion group ShinyHunters claims to have snagged more than 9 million records.
■ The AP: As college students scramble to find “AI-proof” majors, no one knows what those are.
‘The march toward extinction continues.’ Award-winning former radio reporter turned media critic Rob Archer quotes another radio veteran as he assesses a potential merger for iHeartMedia and SiriusXM.
■ Your Chicago Public Square columnist in a 1998 note to radio colleagues: “Internet startups represent the biggest challenges to … traditional radio.”
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