How did this happen? The administration is run by morons

● A man rushed through security at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night. The Associated Press said his name is Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from Torrance, California. Chaos ensued, including government officials and high-profile journalists dramatically ducking for cover. It was all caught on camera. Most of the "news" is news about the spectacle of it all.

● The suspect was apparently armed "with guns and knives." He was tackled after running through security. It was a "chaotic scene that resulted in shots being fired," the Associated Press said. Who fired the shots? It's not clear yet, but footage shows government agents taking aim after Cole broke through. One security official was struck in the bullet proof vest.

● The US Department of Justice announced this morning that Allen's targets were "members of the Trump administration." The president has already suggested he was the intended target. He believes his interests are the same as the country's. “Today we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before,” he said. "We’re not going to let anybody take over our society.” The Washington press corps will almost certainly accept that as true.

● Allen is reportedly unaffiliated with a party. That won't matter to the president and his allies. Even if he were a registered Republican who voted for Trump three times, they'd still blame "the left," meaning the Democrats. The man who tried to kill Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a disillusioned rightwinger. That fact didn't matter, only the story did.

● There's a lot of chatter online about the moment being staged. The same chatter accompanied the Butler assassination attempt. But the simplest explanation is probably the best explanation for so-called inconsistencies in the story so far. People do crazy things sometimes, like daring the Secret Service. Moreover, this administration is run by morons.

● Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked how the suspect was able to get guns into the Washington Hilton. He said he didn't know. That's what I mean by morons. The hotel was not secured by the Secret Service. Only the event was. It took place underneath the hotel in a massive ballroom. Allen broke through security on the floor above the ballroom. I know all this because I read about it in the AP. Maybe the acting AG should do the same.

● Trump and the Republicans face "an extinction-level event," Hakeem Jeffries said, noting polls indicating midterm wipeout in the fall. The impulse will be to use last night as a chance to portray the president – and by extension America – as a victim of leftwing violence. Give the House to the Democrats, they will suggest, and you give in to people who hate America.

● Will that work? Some liberals are pooh-poohing the idea. They say polling suggests a public that's already dug in. While that may be true, let's not overlook media power. Journalists, who were already deferential to Trump, are going to act like they were also potential victims of political violence. They are going to make last night seem like "a turning point," or some such pivotal event, in The Narrative that will arise from this moment, with the consequence being that lots of Americans will end up believing the same thing, therefore siding with Trump.

● Remember that the press corps is predisposed to giving Donald Trump endless benefit of the doubt. That's why, even though he's an old man, he was never given the old-man treatment the way that President Biden was. Journalists have the incentive to play along with the GOP's bad faith. Above is CNN's Dana Bash asking Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin if the Democrats hold any responsibility for their "heated rhetoric against the president."

● Raskin's response suggests a larger strategy to counter the impact of last night's event. First, he asked what rhetoric? That cast doubt on the premise of Bash's question. Then he brought the focus back to where it belongs, on Trump's choices, the results of which have been political violence. The suggestion is that the Democrats oppose him for legitimate, good-faith reasons – reasons that the public also recognizes as legitimate and in good faith.

● I'll close with this. Because everything about last night's news was recorded, we got to see things we don't normally see, including Trump's feebleness. In this video, released by Getty, you can see that he struggles to get up from his chair as Secret Service agents rush to cover him. You can see him stumble badly before being brought to his feet and ushered offstage. This is a president of titanic vanity. His desire for dominance is wrapped up in appearances. A viral video of him falling to his knees under pressure would be beyond humiliation.