Amid all the finger-pointing, recriminations, and conspiracy theories surrounding the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump there is one thing upon which everybody should be able to agree, regardless of political persuasion. There was, at Trump's Pennsylvania rally, a massive security failure. And for this, the United States Secret Service and local law enforcement must shoulder the blame.
When a Secret Service protectee, or “principal,” is traveling to any location, agents arrive ahead of time to carry out an advanced security survey. It has three main purposes: To determine whether that specific location is safe for the principal, identify and mitigate any potential risks or dangers, and establish the fastest and safest routes for exfiltration, if needed – along with the location of the nearest Level III trauma unit. Much of this is done in coordination with local law enforcement.
The easily accessible rooftop from which Donald Trump and other rally-goers were shot should certainly have been flagged by Secret Service agents as a potential danger. There simply is no explanation for why no agent or law enforcement officer was posted up on that rooftop prior to the commencement of the rally and up until Trump left the stage when it was over.
Even more astounding are media reports that a police officer allegedly confronted the 20-year-old would-be assassin moments before he opened fire. The officer backed off when the shooter pointed a rifle at him.
Failure of Leadership at the Secret Service.
Chatter among Trump supporters reveals a fairly widely held belief that this attempted assassination was, effectively, allowed to happen. That is a monumental accusation, and it is, of course, entirely unproven. Given the way the whole tragic episode unfolded, however, one can hardly blame the 45th president's supporters for harboring these suspicions. Again, the shooter should never have had access to that rooftop in the first place. But once he was there and members of the crowd pointed him out to police and Secret Service agents, there seemed to be no immediate reaction from any of them.
Not since the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy has the Secret Service suffered – at its own hands – such a colossal failure to protect a president or presidential candidate. For Joe Biden's reelection campaign, this is a disaster, the scale of which can hardly be put into words, though perhaps there may be some level of macabre relief at the White House because the spotlight has now shifted away, at least for now, from Biden's physical and cognitive deterioration.
While no rational person is seriously suggesting the White House incumbent’s people had any connection to this tragedy, a great many left-wingers have been fantasizing about violence towards Donald Trump since 2016. Worse, they have publicly demonized Trump so extremely that it is really not that surprising at all that somebody has finally tried to kill him. Such rhetoric will leave a haunting legacy. Meanwhile, accountability is essential, and should go all the way to the top of the Department of Homeland Security, the department into which the Secret Service was integrated.
Put simply, there is a very long list of people who should lose their jobs within the next few days.
* The author of this article was trained in executive protection by former Secret Service agents.
