Archive for 2024

July 14, 2024

TRUMP SHOOTING IS SECRET SERVICE NIGHTMARE but here’s the key bit:

Typically, the Secret Service has an advance team assess a location ahead of a campaign event to make a security plan, Mihalek said. Agents will take physical measures of the area, determine the necessary personnel and work with counter snipers to examine nearby buildings and their distances to where the president or the presidential candidate will be. . . .

Cheatle returned to the Secret Service after working as a senior director at PepsiCo North America overseeing facilities, personnel and business continuity.

In her previous stint at the Secret Service, she was the first woman to serve as assistant director of protective operations. Her appointment to lead the Secret Service made her the agency’s second female director. When he appointed her director, Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden got to know Cheatle while she served on his security detail during his vice presidency.

“She has my complete trust,” said the president in 2022.

Related:

Trump’s Secret Service detail was given additional assets that is part of the protocol for the presumptive nominee due to his heavy campaigning, which includes additional manpower, counter-sniper, drones and robotic dogs, the law enforcement official said. On Saturday, there were four counter-sniper teams on site, the official said.

Additionally, Trump’s teleprompter is protective and the flag and podium banners are made of steel, the law enforcement official said.

A man who was at the rally said that soon after Trump started speaking, he saw a man “bear crawling” up the building.

“We’re pointing at the guy,” said the witness, named Greg, adding, “he had a rifle — you could literally see him with a rifle.” He told the BBC that he and others told the police and were pointing him out to U.S. Secret Service agents, and he estimated that the man was on the roof for “three or four minutes” before shots were heard.

Other witnesses told CBS Pittsburgh station KDKA that they also saw the gunman and tried to alert officers before the shooting.

I don’t understand why buildings with a clear sight line weren’t either secured, or at least held under constant observation.

Plus: “Federal investigators said the gunman was not carrying identification, so they analyzed his DNA to provide a biometric confirmation of his identity.” I’m surprised they had a DNA sample to compare it to so fast. I wonder where that came from?

Posted at 12:11 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 834

METAPHOR ALERT: The man who scooped the American press corps is blind and from Britain.

Posted at 11:57 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 57

THE FACES OF HATE:

Posted at 11:53 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 147

WELL, IT’S PROBABLY THEIR BIGGEST WORRY:

Posted at 10:05 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 381

PJ MEDIA’S ASSASSINATION-ATTEMPT LIVEBLOG CONTINUES.

Posted at 9:49 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 69

TODAY, CROCODILE TEARS. YESTERDAY, CALLS FOR VIOLENCE:

“We deplore any thought of violence against Literally Hitler.”

Posted at 9:39 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 120

HARSH, BUT FAIR:

Posted at 9:26 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 36

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON:

Posted at 9:22 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 40

OUCH:

Plus:

And:

Posted at 9:22 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 17

ROUNDUP: Assassination Attempt Aftermath. “As for the Bad Orange Man himself, he further swelled his own legend when the potentially deadly moment arrived. Rather than cowering on the floor under a pile of Secret Service agents, he rose up and thrust his fist in air, imploring his supporters to ‘Fight!’ An American flag waved in the background, creating what will doubtless be one of the most iconic images of the campaign that will live on in perpetuity. Now we march on toward November with Trump firmly at the helm. Don’t expect him to back down or be cowed in any way. It’s simply not in the man’s character.”

I think it was Stephen King’s The Dead Zone where the bad-guy presidential candidate wrecks himself with his cowardly response to an assassination attempt. This was the opposite of that.

And my intuition is that J.D. Vance, as the most pugnaciously MAGA of Trump’s short list, moved up for the VP pick.

Posted at 8:59 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 14th, 2024 254

JIM TREACHER: Donald Trump Just Won.

Regular readers of this newsletter, and people who hate my guts, don’t need to be told my opinion of Donald Trump. And speaking as someone who has managed to stay off the Trump Train for the past eight years:

This kicks ass.

* * * * * * * *

Remarkable. My non-MAGA hat is off to him.

I’m glad the assassin missed his target, I’m angry that he killed a bystander, and I look forward to finding out how the hell the Secret Service allowed it to happen.

The shooter wasn’t just evil, but stupid. He just handed the election to the guy he wanted to kill.

How does Trump lose after this?

Similarly, Tony Diver of the London Telegraph writes: The attempt on Trump’s life changes everything.

The polls already suggest that Trump is likely to win back the presidency in November, after a torrid few months for his opponent and a criminal conviction that has had little impact on his popularity.

If history tells us anything, the events of Saturday will only increase his support. In the months after Mr Reagan was shot, the newly-elected Republican president saw a poll boost of eight points.

Ed Morrissey adds, “Fight!” “No one, not even Trump’s worst critics, can possibly deny his physical and mental courage in that moment just after he barely missed having his head blown off. That will also have a veeeery big political impact on the electoral cycle, but we can cover that as it unfolds. It will have a galvanizing effect on Americans who have seen Trump as their champion, of course, but it may well have just as much of a galvanizing effect on millions more Americans who haven’t seen anything inspirational in politics for years. It might remind them that our country and our culture is worth fighting for.”

UPDATE: Jeff Blehar of NRO: An Iconic Image. “If you can’t understand why that is exactly what every normal American was hoping to see in that moment, then you probably couldn’t grasp why George W. Bush electrified a nation by standing on a pile of rubble with a bullhorn and promising that the United States would come calling — and soon. I make no secret of my opinion of Trump. It doesn’t matter. This was — in a way that even skeptics must concede reflects upon something in his core character, because you can’t plan getting your ear shot off — arguably the finest moment of his entire life to date. He probably won the election tonight.”

Posted at 8:44 am by Ed Driscoll on Jul 14th, 2024 343

IF TRUE, THIS IS DAMNING: Putting aside the blame game about violent rhetoric and so on, we know (a) that a Republican Congressman was shot and nearly killed a few years ago; (b) police arrested a man near Justice Kavanaugh’s house who came to kill him; (c) partisan bitterness is the highest its been in living memory; (d) many people really hate Donald Trump; (e) we have had a series of mass shooters who mostly sought fame and attention; and (f) there are 400 million or so guns in the US. Put them all together, and based on any reasonable risk assessment Trump should have been given the highest level of secret service protection.

Posted at 8:19 am by David Bernstein on Jul 14th, 2024 121
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