Trump life attempt

Saturday's assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was resolved without any loss of life, but it was hardly a win for the people charged with keeping the president safe. The would-be assassin managed to clear several layers of security in the hotel, and was just a few metres away from the door to the hall where Trump, his wife and several others were visible from the back of the hall. If not for the blind luck of security officials who were able to tackle him, including a Secret Service officer who was shot - the only person injured in the incident apart from the shooter himself - the incident could have been much worse, given that the shooter was able to fire six shots with a pistol and had other weapons on his person as well.

Reports suggest that the suspect was able to get a large cache of weapons past security by using a rather simple plan - showing up at the hotel a day earlier and renting a room. Most US hotels do not check guests' luggage, so while security officials were making life difficult for event attendees, hotel guests and passersby outside the hotel, the would-be killer was already inside.

Part of the reason Trump and his team have to label the exercise as a success is that Trump's downsizing of the government - ostensibly to finance last year's tax cuts - and reallocation of law enforcement resources to go after his political rivals have led to severe corrosion of the investigative capabilities of FBI and other agencies.

As for why it happened, Trump and his allies may blame his opponents for using heated rhetoric, but he is the one who, in recent weeks, has threatened to exterminate an entire civilisation, called for sedition charges against critics including war heroes, and celebrated the deaths of two of his perceived opponents, including the brutal murder of Hollywood director Rob Reiner. Trump allies, however, still see nothing wrong with him celebrating the deaths of widely respected, law-abiding Americans. American politics does need the temperature turned down through consistent messages of national unity, but it has to start from the White House.