Ex-White House insider flags 'revealing' issue lurking behind Trump's new ballroom push

A long-time GOP analyst and former White House insider issued a dark warning on Monday about President Donald Trump's response to the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday.

Bill Kristol, the editor at large for The Bulwark and a former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle, argued during a new episode of "The Bulwark Podcast" with host Tim Miller that Trump's decision to push for Congress to approve construction of his signature ballroom following the shooting was "very revealing." Kristol added that it showed Trump's penchant for authoritarianism is still alive and well, even after the horrible incident.

"It's very revealing ... about Trump," Kristol said. "He assumes that any dinner he's at is about him and that he would, therefore, if he had the ballroom, leaving aside the fact that it only seats a third of what the Washington Hilton does and all this, that he would move it to his ballroom, and I guess it would be his dinner."

Founded in 1914, the White House Correspondents' Dinner is an event that celebrates the First Amendment and ensures the press has access to the President, according to the White House Correspondents' Association.

On Saturday, an alleged gunman named Cole Allen fired several rounds inside the Washington Hilton, where one Secret Service agent was hit in their bulletproof vest. Trump and several members of his cabinet were not on the same floor as the shooter when the incident occurred, and were swiftly whisked away from the scene. No one was killed, and the gunman was apprehended.

Kristol argued that Trump's response showed there is something else lurking behind Trump's ballroom push.

"It is a real authoritarianism that lurks behind the ballroom thing that I'm struck by," Kristol said. "Just in the way Trump presents it, thinking that this was something he should be running."