It's a Numbers Game: White House Correspondents Dinner Chaos: Security Failures, Trump Fallout & Political Violence

4/26/20269 mincomplete

0:00This is an iHeart Podcast.

0:02Guaranteed human. Welcome back to A Numbers Game with Ryan Gruduski.

0:07This is an emergency episode, one that's audio only for those who usually watch me

0:12on the podcast on YouTube.

0:14A gunman broke out into the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

0:18His name is being reported as Cole Tomas Allen.

0:21He is a 31 -year -old teacher from California.

0:25Based on a quick search, he's a registered independent.

0:28He did donate $25 to Kamala Harris' campaign in 2024.

0:32I know that's not a lot of money.

0:34Given that he's a teacher, he probably doesn't make a lot of money, and, you

0:38know, it's a very expensive state to live in.

0:40Also, in December of 2024, he was picked as the Teacher of the Month in

0:45Los Angeles County. He got into the venue, it was the same venue, mind you,

0:50that the White House Correspondents' Dinner was being held at.

0:52It was the same venue where President Reagan was shot over 40 years ago.

0:56Now, there's going to be a lot of logistical questions.

0:59How did he get so close to the president?

1:02He was in the lobby of the hotel at the time of the shooting.

1:07The president's official Twitter account shared a video where the shooter was basically able to

1:11rush past the guards and get as close as he did.

1:15I mean, he wasn't in eyesight of the president, but he was in the building

1:19with a weapon. Now, my friend Madison Campbell, who I just spoke to a few

1:24days ago, she asked me if I was going, I said no, and she said

1:26she was excited to go.

1:28She posted on Twitter that she left the event early because she said things felt

1:31off. She says that my best friend and I went to the White House Correspondents'

1:35Dinner and ended up leaving early because something felt off.

1:38It started the second we got there.

1:39Every event we've ever been to, especially at this level, there were layers of security,

1:44bag checks, IDs checked, actual process.

1:46This time, nothing. We were just asked if we had tickets, and they said yes,

1:50and we got waved through.

1:51No bag check, no real screening, no line.

1:54Just thousands of people packed together, being pushed through the doors as fast as possible.

1:58It felt wrong immediately, like viscerally wrong.

2:01My best friend literally turned to me and said, I think something's going to happen,

2:04and then it did. And she goes on to say that it shouldn't happen again.

2:08Another person in attendance said they were shocked that the security allowed them to keep

2:12their vape. That's basically, vapes are confiscated almost everywhere at this point.

2:16I am truly shocked that that was allowed to happen.

2:20That it was almost looser than what you can bring into an airport.

2:25It was just, I mean, this is awful.

2:27And a lot of bad things obviously could have happened that didn't happen.

2:31Secret Service swept in and cleared a number of people from the stage immediately, including

2:36the president and the vice president.

2:38Hermie Dillon said she actually received a small injury while everything was being cleared.

2:43I have two very important hot takes.

2:46One, this is why the president needs to build the White House ballroom.

2:50This would have never happened if this was in the White House.

2:54Legitimately impossible. Never would have happened.

2:57All the left -wing nonsense arguments that were always nonsense arguments about the ballroom, that

3:03it shouldn't be built, and where's all this money coming from?

3:06They're all stupid. No one cares about this.

3:09It's not about the legacy of the building, which has been changed a number of

3:11times throughout history. It's not about anything.

3:14It's Trump derangement syndrome. It's just Trump derangement syndrome.

3:18That's all the arguments against the ballroom are at this point.

3:21They need to build a ballroom, and just these judges have to get through and

3:26let it go through and let the construction happen.

3:28For the future of every president, Democrat president, Republican president, they have to build a

3:32ballroom. It's ridiculous that the White House doesn't actually even have a ballroom.

3:37It's a large piece of property.

3:39Secondly, there was an interesting post on Twitter just yesterday that I found fascinating.

3:46I actually responded to it.

3:47It was from this unhinged liberal, like the kind that probably believes that long COVID

3:50exists. He wrote, That is only hard to grapple with if you have not believed

4:13that for the last decade, this has all been fake.

4:17Most of the criticism and the outrage and the screaming from elected Democrats has all

4:23been fake. Anyone with a level of discernment into how people react when they are

4:31truly facing a major threat shows you that.

4:35Remember when President Obama sat next to President Trump at President Carter's funeral, they were

4:40laughing, they were smiling, or Joe Biden warmly greeting the president at the White House

4:44when he was sworn in, or Hillary Clinton showing up at the 2016, swearing in

4:49after she had just lost the presidential election.

4:52You don't do that if you're actually believing that someone is a fascist and democracy

4:58is under threat. You don't believe it.

5:00They never believed it. No elected Democrat from Chuck Schumer to Nancy Pelosi ever truly

5:08believed the nonsense that they were saying.

5:11Now, they thought that Trump was dangerous to their neoliberal project, to the Obama legacy,

5:15to some liberal policies. That's all true.

5:17They did. They were very threatened by the policies.

5:20But they didn't actually... believed the man was going to end democracy the way they

5:25said it. It is a monster that they helped create, that they fed, that they

5:30glamorized, that they marinated in, that the left marinated in, and the aftermath of a

5:37decade of screaming about fascism and the end of democracy and your rights being taken

5:42away and those women with those dumb red hoods marching everywhere with the bonnets.

5:48The violence that has been sowed comes from that.

5:53It is an offspring from that.

5:54And that is what is responsible of the last decade.

5:59It's all just to win political power.

6:02None of it was real.

6:04It was none of it was ever real to the average elected Democrat who could

6:10guarantee that they would get, you know, wine moms nervous and excited to cash out

6:17their social security check, to cash out their 401k plan, or look for extra money

6:21in the bank account and give it to their Democratic nominee, Democratic candidate for president.

6:25There was always though, while that was happening, there was always some unhinged lunatic leftists

6:31waiting to create violence from it, who believed it, who believed the nonsense that these

6:38people were spouting. And when you think about Luigi Mangione, what he did, what the

6:44left did in reaction to the murder that he had, in fact, that he murdered

6:51somebody and they glamorized it.

6:55They celebrated him. They said how handsome he was.

6:58They created the permission structure for violent street action.

7:02Think about the first attempt at assassination of Donald Trump.

7:06When so many people were receiving thousands upon tens of thousands of retweet and attention

7:11and dopamine hits, when they were saying you shouldn't have missed.

7:14It's sick. It's so, so sick.

7:19And that's what's happened from the last decade of the Democrats feeding a beast they

7:25couldn't control, feeding a fire, all for political power.

7:33Political power, by the way, for warning sense that they never believed in, for things

7:37they never truly believed in.

7:40And the thing is, there's no culpability.

7:42There's no come to Jesus moment.

7:44There's no, we need to turn it down.

7:47They'll say that for like, you know, a second and a half, but that, um,

7:51that will literally be a second and a half and they'll just go back to

7:53normal. Because at the end of the day, all they care about is power.

7:56And it's all it is.

7:57We live in a very Nietzsche moment.

7:59It's just power for the sake of power.

8:01They're not going to turn down the spigot.

8:02They can't. It's too hot.

8:04It's too lucrative. The midterms are around the corner.

8:07They have to keep their base angry and mentally ill.

8:10They're just going to pretend like it never happened and continue to amp up everything

8:16and pretend like they are the moral crusaders just trying to do the right thing

8:20to stop fascism. I am so thankful everyone is safe, especially Erica Kirk.

8:26I saw the video of her crying leaving.

8:27I can't imagine what she's going through.

8:29I'm so glad everything happened and people were safe at the end of the day.

8:35We are ironically at a very safe age when it comes to street violence.

8:42We're a very safe age when it comes to crime in the street.

8:47But we are an incredibly dangerous age when it comes to violence in our politics.

8:52And that is a dichotomy I think I should explore more.

8:56That's all for me. Be kind.

8:57Be safe, everyone. I will speak to you guys on Monday.

9:00This is an iHeart Podcast.

9:03Guaranteed human.

Security Failures at the WHCD

Ryan Gruduski opens the episode discussing the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, identifying the shooter as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old teacher from California. Gruduski highlights significant security lapses, noting that attendees were merely waved through without bag checks or ID verification, and that vapes were allowed despite standard airport restrictions. He cites a friend who left early because the atmosphere felt "viscerally wrong."

Advocacy for a White House Ballroom

Gruduski argues that the incident proves the necessity of building a White House ballroom. He dismisses opposition to the project as "Trump derangement syndrome" and asserts that having the event on White House grounds would have made the shooting impossible.

Critique of Political Rhetoric

The host delivers a strong critique of Democratic politicians, claiming they do not actually believe the "fascism" rhetoric they use but employ it to maintain political power. He argues this rhetoric has created a "beast" of violence that they cannot control, referencing the reaction to Luigi Mangione and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Gruduski concludes by noting the dangerous dichotomy between street safety and the increasing volatility of political violence.

confrontational

politicswhite house correspondents dinnersecuritypolitical rhetoricviolencetrump derangement syndromedemocratic partyassassination attemptpolitical polarizationcurrent eventsmedia

Security Failures

Discussion of the lax security protocols at the WHCD, including the lack of bag checks, ID verification, and the allowance of vapes, which allowed a shooter to enter the venue.

Political Rhetoric

The host's argument that Democratic politicians use hyperbolic language about fascism and the end of democracy for political gain, inadvertently fueling real-world violence.

Infrastructure and Safety

Advocacy for the construction of a White House ballroom to ensure the safety of future presidents, contrasting it with the security risks of holding events at hotels.

Political Polarization

The observation that while street crime is low, political violence is at an all-time high, driven by the rhetoric and actions of political figures.

“This is why the president needs to build the White House ballroom. This would have never happened if this was in the White House.”

“They're not going to turn down the spigot. It's too hot. It's too lucrative.”

“We are ironically at a very safe age when it comes to street violence. We're a very safe age when it comes to crime in the street. But we are an incredibly dangerous age when it comes to violence in our politics.”

“Most of the criticism and the outrage and the screaming from elected Democrats has all been fake.”