First Draft: 🇺🇸 The Land of Endless Political Violence

After the WH Correspondents’ Dinner attack, the same elites who tolerate mass shootings and bombing kids are outraged about political violence. Plus: Israel is ravaging Lebanon during a 'ceasefire.'

On this day in 2011, President Barack Obama released a copy of his long-form birth certificate to silence racist conspiracy theorists, including Donald Trump. “I am really honored, and I am really proud that I was able to do something that nobody else could do,” Trump responded.

Good morning, friends. Prem and Andrew here. Wishing you a wonderful Monday morning wherever you are. Today, we need to talk about “incitement,” political violence, and who is actually desensitized to violence: the American people, or Washington, DC?

In today’s ‘First Draft,’ we review the bizarre DC political and media response to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner gunman, Israel’s violence in Lebanon shatters any illusion of a “ceasefire,” and the Senate Democratic primary races in Maine and Michigan heat up.

The Party Goes On

An agent points his weapon at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, 2026. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

“I’ve been coming to DC for almost 16 years, trying to make change. And I’m hoping this is the last time I have to come.” That’s what Judi Richardson, who lost her daughter to gun violence in 2010, said in front of the US Capitol last week. Richardson was among several family members of gun victims whom Prem followed around Congress as they begged our elected leaders to finally do something about America’s unique and horrifying epidemic.

They only had a handful of meetings, and the visit drew little attention. There was no momentum to be found on Capitol Hill for gun reform last week.

Days later, across the city, a gunman attempted to breach the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with multiple shots being fired by law enforcement as he ran through the security perimeter inside the Washington Hilton. The incident – which took place at a glitzy media gala attended by President Donald Trump, his top officials, and titans of industries – set off a firestorm of controversy.

Trump and Republicans are using the shooting as fodder to support building the president’s pet project – a massive, corporate-funded White House ballroom. Even before Trump addressed the public, the talking points already seemed to be circulating.

“I don’t want to hear one more fucking criticism of Trump’s new ballroom at the White House,” conservative pundit Meghan McCain tweeted, setting off an avalanche of similar tweets from right-wing influencers and politicians – even though, to be clear, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is a media event, hosted by an independent organization, and is unlikely to be hosted in the White House ballroom, were it to be completed.

We’re also seeing right-wing politicians and media figures laboring to blame the apparent assassination attempt on rhetoric from Democrats. And we’re seeing concerns from Beltway journalists about how Americans – who live in a nation with more guns than people, and the only country in the world where mass shootings are so commonplace – have been “desensitized” to “political violence.”

What planet have these people been living on?