The Lesson Republicans Refuse

There was fear at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Real fear.

A moment where people dropped whatever they were holding and asked themselves a question no one should have to ask at a dinner in the United States of America: Is this how it ends?

And yes—thankfully, no one died.Yes, the United States Secret Service did their job.Yes, we are supposed to feel relief.

But relief is not the point.

Because what Republicans still do not understand—what they refuse to understand—is this:

This is the country they helped build.

Not overnight. Not by accident.Brick by brick. Law by law. Silence by silence.

They will say:“He was disturbed.”“He was unstable.”“This is a mental health issue.”

Fine. Let’s talk about mental health.

Let’s talk about what the Republican Party has done to fund it.Or rather—what they have not done.

Cuts. Resistance. Indifference.A system already fraying, pushed closer to collapse.

You cannot starve mental health care for decades and then act surprised when instability shows up with a weapon.

And that brings us to the weapon.

Because this is the part they truly do not get.

Guns everywhere is not a coincidence. It is policy.

It is the direct result of allegiance to the National Rifle Association.It is the predictable outcome of opposing—even blocking—every serious attempt to reduce access, increase accountability, or acknowledge reality.

They have normalized this.

Not just the laws.The culture.

The quiet acceptance that any public space—a school,a grocery store,a church,a dinner—can become a crime scene without warning.

And then, in the aftermath, they pivot.

“We need to come together.”“We need civility.”“We need to be kinder.”

It would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.

Because let’s be honest about something else they have normalized.

They have normalized a president—Donald Trump—whose behavior would have ended any political career in this country not long ago.

They have normalized chaos.They have normalized cruelty.They have normalized dishonesty as a governing strategy.

And not one of them—not one—with real power in Congress has been willing to draw a line and hold it.

Not when it mattered.Not when it counted.Not even now.

So no, they don’t get it.

They don’t get that fear like what people felt at that dinner is not an anomaly anymore.

It is a reflection.

A reflection of a country where access to weapons is easier than access to care.Where political courage is rarer than political theater.Where responsibility is endlessly deferred.

And where the people who helped create these conditions still act as though they are bystanders.

They are not bystanders.

They are participants.

And until that truth is faced—clearly, honestly, and without deflection—this will not change.

Not the fear.Not the violence.Not the erosion of something we once thought was stable.

We can be grateful no one died.

But gratitude is not accountability.

And it is long past time to demand it.

Julie Bolejack, MBA

P.S. As I watched it on tv and then listened to interviews afterwards I thought..seeking safety by crouching down and getting under tables is an experience of America’s children every damn day! Either through drills or experienced live. 🤬

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Let’s keep thinking clearly in a world that would very much prefer we didn’t.

(btw, I had a different journal planned to publish today - this wasn’t it)