In July of 2024, while President Trump was campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania, a gunman fired at the President. As the bullet grazed his ear on live television, I, as well as most Americans, were left in a state of disbelief and shock. This attempted assassination was chilling. It was a horrific attack of democracy and was just simply un-American.

This was an event I hoped our nation would never experience again. Yet, just two months later, authorities reported another attempted assassination of the President. In September of 2024, a man was spotted hiding in the bushes with a rifle aiming at the golf course where President Donald Trump was golfing in Florida. Luckily, a Secret Service agent engaged the suspect before President Trump came into the shooter’s view. Nonetheless, it was another attempted attack on our President and, therefore, our nation.

Then, this weekend, a gunman with multiple weapons stormed the event venue of the White House Correspondents Dinner. Shots were fired, one of our brave Secret Service agents was hit, and the attacker left behind a manifesto claiming all Trump Administration officials, excluding one, were his targets. Luckily, no one was injured. However, the fact of the matter is this: this is the third time in less than two years that President Trump has faced an assassination attempt.

This should make every American, regardless of their political views, stop and reflect on the condition of our current culture and why this is happening.

My thoughts and prayers are with the President, my colleagues, and everyone who was put in danger at the White House Corespondents dinner tonight. Thank you to the Secret Service and law enforcement for their swift and brave action. Political violence is never acceptable.

— Rep. Tom Cole (@TomColeOK04) April 26, 2026

Political violence is never acceptable – and I truly do believe the majority of Americans instinctively reject political violence. Most of us know what happened on Saturday night is wrong. Yet, as we reflect on this horrific event, we ought to think about what this political violence represents. To me, it symbolizes a deeper problem within our own society, culture, and political system.

Political rhetoric in our country has gotten out of hand. I am not naïve. I know that reckless rhetoric is not a tactic used by just one political party. However, today, I am speaking about the three assassination attempts on President Trump.

When I hear politicians compare the President to Hitler or compare federal law enforcement agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo and SS, I am appalled. Anyone who has read the history books knows how false and out of touch with reality those comparisons are. Moreover, it should be obvious that such rhetoric is dangerous. In fact, this kind of rhetoric is exactly what fuels the unstable and violence prone members of our society to act.

So, while I do think there will be almost a universal rejection by elected officials of the violence that occurred at the event on Saturday, I encourage all elected officials to think more deeply. I encourage them to stop and look at their own rhetoric when speaking about the President and their other political opponents. If that language is provocative, they ought to correct it immediately. Furthermore, I urge all American citizens to condemn politicians – from either party – who use problematic language when talking about the President, federal agencies, or other politicians. Dangerous rhetoric must end immediately.

The second thing we ought to remember is that many of the law enforcement officials who bravely and swiftly acted to protect the President, Vice President, our Cabinet members, and many of my colleagues on Saturday night are currently operating under an agency that is not funded. The events at the White House Correspondents Dinner this weekend demonstrate just how unacceptable it is to fail to fund the government, particularly the Department of Homeland Security, during this time of threats from abroad and political turmoil at home.

It is a huge mistake not to fund DHS and the selfless law enforcement agents who work within that agency. We should never, ever close an agency that protects not just the President, but every American citizen. It is unacceptable and reckless.

Finally, I want to make this clear: the House, under the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson, has voted to fully fund DHS five separate times. It is the Senate that has failed to do so – and not because the majority of the Senate doesn’t favor it. In fact, the majority of both chambers have voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly. The hold up during this time of threats to our nation is all because of the misuse of a Senate rule, the filibuster. This is an issue I will delve into deeper during a later column.

So, what do we, as a nation, do now? In this moment, we should correct dangerous political rhetoric, move to immediately fund the agencies that keep us safe, and unite as a nation. We must not allow these types of horrific attacks to persist. As President Trump said in his statement after the assassination attempt in Butler, we must “show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined.”

The United States of America is the greatest country this Earth has ever known. We must not allow evil from within to undermine our traditions of peaceful dissent and respect for those who hold opposing political views. Surely that is something that all Americans, regardless of party, can accept, celebrate, and practice when engaged in political debate and discussion.

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