As the old saying goes, never let a crisis go to waste.
That's exactly what President Donald Trump did on Sunday morning as he tried to use last night's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner to sell his signature White House Ballroom project, which has been temporarily halted by a court order. During the event, alleged shooter Cole Allen fired between five and eight rounds, striking one Secret Service agent in their bulletproof vest, before he was detained.
Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and several of the president's cabinet members were swiftly whisked away from the event, which was held at the Washington Hilton.
"This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House."
Trump's comments stunned political analysts and observers, who shared their reactions on social media.
"Children are starving, and people are going bankrupt from routine surgeries," author John Pavlovitz posted on X. "What the hell is wrong with you ghouls?"
"Trump wasted no time in turning the shooting into an advertisement for his ballroom," journalist Mark Jacob posted on Bluesky.
"The solution is impeaching and convicting Trump, not building a $400M ballroom," Morgan J. Freeman, a TV producer, posted on Bluesky.
"Wow! Trump sure made lemons ("assassination attempt") into lemonade (justification for his pet construction project)," Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Rand Paul Institute, posted on X.