July 16, 2024 - 9:15pm
The failed assassination attempt on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will lead to significant changes to the former president’s security arrangements. Some of these changes are already visible.
Last night, Trump was closely surrounded by an unusually large number of Secret Service agents as he appeared at the Republican convention in Milwaukee. Elsewhere, other highly specialised Secret Service units, including a weapons of mass destruction/tactical medical response team, have also been added to Trump’s protective detail. More such developments are to be expected.
CNN reports that some of the additions made to Trump’s security detail were provided in response to Iranian assassination plots against him. As I first reported in April 2022, these plots against Trump and other former administration officials come in response to the January 2020 killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. Iran’s now deceased president Ebrahim Raisi vowed last September that Iran would continue pursuing assassination-based revenge for Soleimani’s killing.
This heightened security presence could create some tension between the Secret Service and the US Government. If there were any further lapses in security, faith in America’s security forces would likely crater. For now, the immediate focus will be on deterring and defeating possible “copycat” attackers. The risk is that previously aspirational assassins may believe that Saturday’s events show they can get close to Trump and finish what would-be assassin Thomas Crooks started. This concern also underlines why, after months of demanding and failing to be granted a Secret Service detail, Robert F. Kennedy Jr has now been granted protection.
Yet more security isn’t necessarily a neat, perfect solution. The Secret Service does not have enough counter-sniper and counter-assault team squads to maximally protect Trump and Biden, let alone RFK. That shortfall is likely to require the Secret Service to request additional specialist tactical support from the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team and other specialised units from the US Marshals Service and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. It is possible that special operations units from the US military may also be asked to provide capability in certain areas.
Trump might also grate at the additional protections he receives. A higher number of stringent metal-detector checks and more Secret Service uniformed division officers on the perimeter of events are one thing. If, however, Trump’s supporters are forced into long lines to enter a venue, there is a risk that some events may start without capacity crowds. Given that Trump has long prided himself on the visibility of large crowds at his events, this could present a problem.
The Secret Service will undoubtedly put added protective measures in place at overflow areas, likely disrupting the more relaxed carnival atmosphere that Trump supporters embrace in these areas. Trump will also come under Secret Service pressure to wear bulletproof vests more often, even though these vests are uncomfortable and cumbersome. Lastly, the Secret Service will pressure Trump’s campaign to reduce so-called off-record stops, in which the former president turns up at a restaurant or bodega to greet supporters who have not been screened for weapons.
These are not dynamics of which Trump is likely to approve. But if he wants to return to the Oval Office in one piece, he will have to make do with the new requirements.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeI think the author underestimates Trump the showman. If there’s much more visible security at his events, Trump will somehow turn the optics to his advantage.
He certainly does seem to understand ‘image’.
The problem in Butler, PA wasn’t insufficient resources, it was gross incompetence. A weld read 12 y.o. could tell you to occupy the highest rooftop in the area, directly overlooking the stage. One of the sniper teams should have been up there, but even two regular cops prepositioned there would have stopped the shooter.
Exactly. Was it deliberate or was it stupidity?
Deliberate
I also believe it was deliberate.
Indeed. The failures at this event were either deliberate (was there a Democrat on staff who left a hole in the security with malice aforethought?), or showed the grossest kind of incompetence by DEI hire, Kimberly Cheatle.
A 5′ woman guarding a 6′ man? Really? When I saw three big men and one little woman linking hands to form a barrier around Trump, I was aghast. The three men blocked all sight lines to Trump, but the little woman didn’t come up to his shoulders, leaving the sight lines completely clear.
Watching the women Secret Service agents asking, “What are we doing? What are we doing?” repeatedly, running around nervously like headless chickens, I was similarly aghast. DEI has brought us to this place of death and horror. A good man, Corey Comperatore, was killed by a pimple-faced piece of filth, because the Secret Service was led by a woke woman and DEI hire.
May that we take some invaluable lessons away from all this …..
I wondered why these young men and that short woman is shielding an old narcissist bigot. What a sick country!
Contrast the security given to Trump with the 15,000 soldiers Biden ordered to be posted in Washington for his inauguration in 2021.
Look, he will win anyway now and should forget the lively rallies and his style of before. Biden won’t do them and a lot of folk will expect differently of DJT this time around. All he has to do is react to the awful Democrats who will continue to dig their own hole.
Watch Chris Williamson’s (Modern Wisdom) recent discussion and analysis with Tim Kennedy (Special Forces Sniper).
Some fascinating insights…
https://youtu.be/G9boJpqiZTQ?si=5CuxA5T_A3rDlJMB
If you look carefully, you can see that there is a slight slope on the roof used by the shooter. This slope was judged to make it too dangerous for Secret Service agents to climb on to it, as explained by the Secret Service Chief Kimberly Cheatle. The agents were inside the building, where they were least at risk of falling.
This sounds like a bad, sad joke. This Kimberly Cheatle, DEI hire, is either a rabid Democrat or a gross incompetent, appointed to her job because she is a woman.
I suspect both are true.