Trump Is Lucky, but The Secret Service Blew It
When Napoleon was picking his top generals, he is reputed to always ask the person recommending the general to him, “I know he’s a good general, but is he lucky?” Donald Trump is a very lucky man and we should...
The post Trump Is Lucky, but The Secret Service Blew It appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.
When Napoleon was picking his top generals, he is reputed to always ask the person recommending the general to him, “I know he’s a good general, but is he lucky?”
Donald Trump is a very lucky man and we should all be thankful for it.
By now most of us have seen the video of the attempted assassination of former president Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. He had his face pointed at a chart he was speaking from when about five shots were fired, one hitting him in the right ear before Secret Service agents leaned over him. Trump clutched his right ear without having moved his head suddenly before the shot as some reports contend.
There were several other shots fired a second or three later which were probably fired at the would-be assassin and by Secret Service counter-snipers.
The man who attempted to kill Trump was killed before he could fire more shots at the former president.
From the speed at which the first shots were fired, it is obvious that a semi-automatic rifle was used by the would-be assassin, possibly an AR-15 style weapon. The attempted assassin placed himself on a rooftop about 130 yards from where Trump was speaking. He did kill a man standing behind Trump who was reportedly shielding his wife and daughter from the gunfire.
Two points are immediately compelling.
Hold Secret Service Accountable
First, how the hell could the Secret Service not have cleared that roof or had an agent on it? Every rooftop within five hundred yards of the podium from which Trump spoke should have been cleared or had an agent stationed on it before Trump began his speech.
Second, a 130-yard shot is easy for any competent rifleman. I’m too old to be an excellent shot, but with my .243 deer rifle, with its very good telescopic sight, I can — from a rest — easily hit a paper plate at 300 yards. It’s not hard to do.
A well-trained sniper could kill a man from about a mile away.
The alleged shooter, even with old-fashioned iron sights, could have hit Trump easily from 130 yards. Thank heaven he was a lousy shot, or he could have killed Trump with relative ease.
The Secret Service — from its boss on down to the agent in charge of the former president’s detail and the detail’s members — should be answering some pointy-type questions right now.
The Secret Service has had problems for years, and its leadership is apparently not up to its job. We don’t know much about Kimberly Cheatle other than that her previous job was global chief of security for PepsiCo. When she was appointed in 2022, she had prior experience as an assistant director of the Secret Service. Thus, there is absolutely no excuse for her and her agents for not clearing the rooftops before Trump’s speech.
Cheatle should be fired and so should the chief of Trump’s Secret Service detail.
President Biden, only a couple of days before the attempt on Trump’s life, told potential campaign donors that, “I have one job and that’s to beat Donald Trump … I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that…. So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”
The Pennsylvania shooter did just that.
Protecting Trump and Biden at the Conventions
Security around this week’s Republican Convention in Milwaukee and the Democratic Convention next month in Chicago will have to be tightened. People who are to access the arena where the conventions are to be held — including the media — must be screened thoroughly and then pass through a metal detector at least as sensitive as the ones the TSA uses at airports. That’s the least that should be done.
There’s no point in saying that both sides should cool their campaign rhetoric. Neither campaign should talk about putting the other “in the bullseye” but short of that, everything is on the table in American politics and it should be.
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The post Trump Is Lucky, but The Secret Service Blew It appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.