SAN DIEGO — You may wonder: Why does this keep happening? For the answer, we should take a look at who it keeps happening to.

In the wake of another attempted assassination of President Donald Trump — this time, at White House Correspondents' Dinner at the Washington Hilton — it's difficult to know which national conversation Americans are supposed to have right about now.

Should we talk about the fact that political violence continues to course through the bloodstream of the U.S. population like a raging fever, and what — if anything — we can do about it?

We definitely should confront the fact that liberals and conservatives alike only seem concerned about political violence when it is aimed at members of their team.

Should we discuss how our reactions to events like this one remind us that the American people haven't been this divided since the 1960's — or before that, the 1860's?

Or what a massive security failure it was for nearly the entire line of presidential succession to gather in the same spot in a hotel, a place where people come and go?

Or why the Secret Service didn't foresee a scenario where an alleged gunman like 31-year-old teacher and CalTech graduate Cole Tomas Allen would get past security by checking into the hotel prior to the event?

Maybe we could also discuss how ironic it is that the GOP — a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of the National Rifle Association that loosens gun laws — now worries about the safety of a Republican president who is in the crosshairs.

The mainstream media could also use some introspection. Like many of their fellow Americans, many journalists appear desensitized to school shootings. And yet, nothing focuses the minds of editors and producers like a threat to hundreds of their colleagues who were decked out in tuxedos and evening gowns in order to hobnob with Trump administration officials. The media may have tuned out for a while on the topic of mass acts of violence. Now they've tuned back in.

Even so, let's not forget the question we started with.

In Monday's edition of the Washington Post's newsletter, "The 5-Minute Fix," the headline blared: "Why Is Trump So Targeted?"

Of course, Trump himself has thoughts. He believes the reason he has survived three assassination attempts in less than two years is that his presidency matters.

"Really, if you're a consequential president, you're in much more danger than if you're not a consequential president," he said in a Fox News interview after the incident.

Trump even compared himself to former President Abraham Lincoln.

Really? The 16th U.S. President was assassinated in 1865 by an actor who considered Lincoln a tyrant because of his efforts to repair the union. The 45th and 47th U.S. President thinks he's an actor, performs like a tyrant and devotes much of his efforts to dividing the union.

Comparisons are useless. We keep coming back to this spot because Trump is a president like no other. He's a bully, a narcissist and a racist. He never admits mistakes, can't take criticism and operates a foreign policy where the operating principle is "fire, aim, ready." In an interview, he attacks CBS's Norah O'Donnell with more ferocity than he has shown toward Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping — both of whom are aiding and abetting Iran, which he is at war with.

Yet Trump is right about one thing. He has been enormously consequential — in the worst way. He moves fast and breaks things. Like the East Wing of the White House, which Trump demolished to make room for a ballroom that is projected to cost as much as $400 million. The president is now pitching the project as essential to the security of future presidents because it could host events that currently take place in hotels.

Unlike some of his predecessors, Trump isn't just content to merely be president. He wants to do something as president — in fact, a lot of "somethings" it turns out.

The shame of it is that, along the way, the president has also racked up 34 felony convictions and pursued policies that violate due process and other parts of the U.S. Constitution as well as tenets of international law, including respect for human rights.

And so while it's obvious that Trump is not merely logging time, it's also true that the con-man-in-chief probably ought to be doing time.

These repeated assassination attempts are a uniquely Trumpian phenomenon. The president thinks everything is about him. Guess what? This time, he might be right.

To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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