Much has been written about the young California man who breached the Secret Service checkpoint at last weekend’s White House Correspondents Association dinner at the Washington Hilton. We’ve heard everything there is to know about his nutty “manifesto,” the number of weapons on him when he bolted near the ballroom, and how he formerly was a “teacher” (no doubt one inspired by teachers’ union blowhard Randy Weingarten to consider Donald J. Trump as the Devil incarnate).
Monica Hesse in The Washington Post could not be more sympathetic to this miscreant who turned official Washington upside down, noting that “he was shirtless, with his lower half covered by a reflective blanket. His face was ground down into the ugly, well-trod carpet containing God knows what: bacteria, shoe dirt, ground-in crumbs from hotel-conference breakfast eggs.
He had not come even remotely close to harming Cabinet-level officials. But there he was on the floor, not a martyr but just a half-naked man kissing a low-pile rug.”
That, in a nutshell, is how the liberal media always covers serious, alarming news that could have plunged America into national chaos. “He had not come even remotely close to harming Cabinet-level officials”…so the WHCA shooting was, essentially, reduced to poor Wolf Blitzer of CNN being hailed for valiant reporting despite having lost one shoe after being tackled by security guards, and the poor shooter having his face mashed into bacteria-laden carpeting.” Are. You. Kidding. Me??
Here’s a different scenario to consider: what if this California kook HAD reached the ballroom and DID open fire on an audience that included our President, Vice President and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson? At that point, instead of whining about “ground in crumbs from hotel conference breakfast eggs,” America would be coming to grips with 92-year-old President Charles Grassley.
Recommended
Grassley, the longtime U.S. Senator from Iowa, is President Pro Tem of the Senate and—under our Constitution—that makes him third in line to succeed the Presidency. He’s a veteran lawmaker, having served in Congress since 1974…first in the U.S. House and, in 1980, advancing to the U.S. Senate where he’s currently Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. So I have no issue with Senator Charles Grassley as a solid Washington fixture.
Back in the fall of 1988, a 22-year-old radio reporter named Greg Clugston—then in his first radio news job—interviewed then-Congressman Chuck Grassley about farm and agriculture issues during a stop in Waterloo, Iowa:
Fast forward to this week in 2026, as Clugston—who has served for the past three decades as White House correspondent for SRN News—headed to Capitol Hill to once again record a radio interview with Grassley, as the oldest sitting member of the Senate discussed his near-brush with the Presidency.
“I was in Iowa at the time of the shooting,” Grassley says. He noted that as Senate President Pro Tem, he has U.S. Capitol Police “who are detailed to protect me at all times, similar to the protection afforded the President, our Vice President and the Speaker of the House." He learned of the chaos at the Washington Hilton from newscasts Saturday evening, but shortly thereafter, Grassley received a full briefing from the U.S. Secret Service.
“It is too early to say if any protocols will be changed at future D.C. events, but we’re very thankful that the Secret Service was successful in protecting the President and his Cabinet.”
Choosing not to dwell on the possibility that if disaster struck last weekend, he might today be America’s 48th President, Senator Grassley did reveal that sources tell him the White House is thinking it was wrong to have both the President and Vice President at the same event. “I think it would be wise to change that in the future,” he added.
Excerpts from interview—being featured on Salem’s twin 24/7 radio news services SRN News and TOWNHALL News—closed the loop on a relationship between a newsmaker and a reporter which began 38 years ago. It is also a fitting climax to Greg’s radio news career: on May 6th he is retiring as White House correspondent for SRN News and will be embarking on a new chapter of his life, as part of the Communications faculty at Indiana Wesleyan University.
As his solid work scoring this week’s exclusive one-on-one interview with Senator Charles Grassley demonstrates, Greg Clugston is the consummate radio news professional whose solid coverage will be sorely missed by our Washington Bureau and by our listeners nationwide.
As for Charles Grassley, he was characteristically cagey when asked if he might seek yet another term in the Senate. “That decision will be made a year and a half from now,” the almost-President said with a smile.
Tom Tradup is V.P./News & Talk Programming for Dallas-based Salem Radio Network; he can be reached at ttradup@srnradio.com
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member