The attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last Saturday captured everything that is wrong with the nation: violence, incompetence, hypocrisy, toadying, corruption, conspiracy theories, and the destruction of democratic values, all neatly wrapped up with a made-for-television bow.

Let’s start with the obvious. Violence of any kind is wrong, and political violence is especially destructive. Whatever the reasons the alleged shooter had for his actions, they can’t justify attempting to assassinate political figures. Fortunately, the shooter was never really close to any potential targets.

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That said, political violence has become more commonplace in large part because of how much Donald Trump has rhetorically embraced it. He kicked off his first presidential campaign by calling for violence against protesters at his rallies. “I’d like to punch him in the face,” he said about one heckler. He applauded violence against political opponents and the media. When then-representative (and now Montana governor) Greg Gianforte assaulted a reporter, Trump praised him: “Any guy that can do a body slam, he is my guy!”

Trump has always forgiven his followers for their violence. The most notable example was the January 6 insurrection. That day, Trump tweeted “Get smart Republicans. FIGHT!” before telling a crowd of angry supporters to march to the Capitol and “show strength.” After proclaiming themselves furious at the attack on the seat of democracy, Republicans quickly fell in line, whitewashing the violence as “legitimate political discourse” and the attackers as “hostages.”

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At the same time, he has escalated his rhetoric against his political enemies, characterizing them as threats to the nation. He suggested that former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Mark Milley be executed for treason. He has called opponents “Communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country” and said that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

By using such inflammatory language, Trump is fueling the partisan divide in the nation in a way that makes violence more likely. He takes no responsibility for it, of course, instead blaming Democrats. “I do think that the hate speech of the Democrats … is very dangerous,” he said following the shooting. Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters went even further, saying the shooting was “the inevitable result of a radicalized left that has normalized political violence.”

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt continued the association of Democrats with the shooting. “The entire Democrat [sic] Party has made their pitch to voters across the country that Donald Trump poses an existential threat to democracy, that he is a fascist, and that they compare him to Hitler,” she complained.

There’s a big difference between saying that Trump is a threat to democracy and saying the nation’s leading general should be convicted of treason. (Also, among the people who have compared Trump to Hitler is J.D. Vance.) Also, Leavitt and company make Republicans the only victims of the charged political environment, ignoring the assassination of a Minnesota legislator and arson at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home.

Such hypocrisy is simply par for the course. What made the shooting especially emblematic of the Trump era was the venue: a dinner at which the mainstream media was honoring Trump, who has called the press “the enemy of the people” that should face “charges of treason.”

The willingness to don a tuxedo or evening gown to listen to what promised to be another vicious attack on the press is a hallmark of today’s media. The press has largely failed to grapple with Trump’s authoritarian moves. Instead, in the words of Margaret Sullivan, who was once the ombudsman at The New York Times, “They are focused on not looking biased; they are focused on taking things down the supposed middle; they are focused on performative fairness to Trump and to MAGA — even while this president and his allies are trying to destroy what journalists do.“

Why? Because on a day-to-day basis, the press depends upon access. Burn a source, and the access dries up. At the same time, the D.C. press is involved in an incestuous relationship with its sources. While much has been made of CBS having such Trump lackeys as Pete Hegseth and Steve Miller as its guests at the event, the network is just doing what everyone else does – socializing with the people it covers.

If reporters were truly committed to letting the chips fall where they may, they would recognize that you can’t be sharing wine and burrata salad with newsmakers, let alone honoring them – especially those who don’t believe in the First Amendment. No wonder public trust in the media is at such low levels.

Trump is already using the shooting to justify his grand ballroom, another of the monuments to his ego that he keeps pushing. It’s also an opportunity for large corporations with government contracts to donate to the ballroom’s construction, thus ensuring that they are in Trump’s good graces.

No major event these days would be complete without conspiracy theories. Immediately following the shooting, people insisted that the shooting was staged, their theories amplified by AI images. Trump has made conspiracy theories so much a part of the political discussion that their appearance after the shooting was inevitable.

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