‘We’re Better Than This’: Flood Calls for Political Temperature Turndown Following Gala Shooting
by John Gage
(Screenshot Mike Flood video conference)
Congressman Mike Flood said he would like to see the political temperature in the country turned down following another attempted assassination of President Donald Trump over the weekend.
“I think that’s unfortunately part of American political life today. And it’s never acceptable,” Flood said Sunday regarding the shooting. “And the fact that this hateful stuff is being said, you know, I don’t like to talk about some of the calls we get, but some of the calls members of our families get, or texts or DMs or Snapchats or whatever it is. But this is unlike anything I ever experienced when I was in the Legislature for 10 years.”
Flood called the rising political violence and extremism in the country “totally unacceptable,” saying there was a growing number of people “at the fringes of our political culture on all sides that say and do terrible things.”
During his remarks Sunday, Flood recounted his experience on Saturday night at the White House Correspondence Dinner, where the shooting took place. The congressman described a chaotic scene with Secret Service agents swarming to protect the president and cabinet members while attendees attempted to hide under tables.
“I almost just shed a tear just watching this scene,” Flood said. “It’s like, we’re better than this. We don’t want to live this way. I mean, here, everybody is doing the right thing. Republicans, Democrats, members of the media, celebrating the First Amendment, what makes America strong and great, an example for the rest of the world. And your President is on the ground. Your Vice President has been shuttled out. All of these senior leaders of our government are being whisked away. And I just looked around, and I thought, this is terrible.”
On Saturday, Cole Tomas Allen, the suspected shooter, was charged with three felony counts, including a count of attempted murder of the president. In a message he sent friends before the shooting, Allen said he was a “friendly federal assassin” and said his goal was to kill as many members of the Trump administration’s cabinet as possible.
John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.