Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
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.
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?
BAD TAKES ARE A SHANNON WATTS SPECIALTY: With Her Tone-Deaf Tweet, It’s Clear That Shannon Watts Just Can’t Help Herself Anymore. Nice photoshop on her portrait though.
METAPHOR ALERT: The man who scooped the American press corps is blind and from Britain.
Appears US media is also blind. They got the stuffing kicked out of them by the BBC and Twitter.
— Holly Doan (@hollyanndoan) July 14, 2024
THE FACES OF HATE:
NEVER FORGET: these are the nine U.S. Congress members that sponsored HR 8081, the bill aimed to revoke President Donald Trump's Secret Service protection if Joe Biden’s lawfare campaign was successful in obtaining a felony conviction by Soros D.A. Alvin Bragg. pic.twitter.com/CO9bbYcFXL
— Dapper Detective (@Dapper_Det) July 14, 2024
WELL, IT’S PROBABLY THEIR BIGGEST WORRY:
.@CBSNews said the biggest threat right now is 'retaliatory violence.'
You cannot hate these people enough. You can only try.
— John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte (@NolteNC) July 14, 2024
FLASHBACK: The Secret Service has had problems for a long time.
Double flashback: Senior Secret Service agent suggests she wouldn’t take ‘a bullet’ for Trump.
Happily, the agents around him showed no such reluctance.
PJ MEDIA’S ASSASSINATION-ATTEMPT LIVEBLOG CONTINUES.
TODAY, CROCODILE TEARS. YESTERDAY, CALLS FOR VIOLENCE:
Here’s 2 and a half minutes straight of Democrats explicitly calling for political violence.
Has Biden ever denounced this?
They have blood on their hands. pic.twitter.com/mbGYXTWAN7
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2024
“We deplore any thought of violence against Literally Hitler.”
YES.
Exactly https://t.co/9dxmQbHFQb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 14, 2024
NOT THE BABYLON BEE: Media Rushes to Blame Trump For Assassination Attempt.
And not just the media:
For everyone saying this might be too soon… pic.twitter.com/dAjAuzXsGX
— Howard Johnson Is Right (@LittleGuido716) July 14, 2024
HARSH, BUT FAIR:
Your daughter Christine tweeted that the lunatic who assaulted my husband and broke six of his ribs was “right” to attack him — on the same day Rand was literally gasping to breathe from his injuries. https://t.co/tbPEVKscsM
— Kelley Paul (@KelleyAshbyPaul) July 14, 2024
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON:
Assassination Porn and the Sickness on the Left
If we were leftists and we were to use leftist tropes to editorialize the recent attempt on Trump’s life, then we would frame the assassination attempt in the following way:
We have witnessed for years blatant exceptions to the…
— Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) July 14, 2024
OUCH:
Trump Safe, Leaving Only One Dead Candidate https://t.co/jraYMmSPUX pic.twitter.com/terl88iJ1t
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 14, 2024
Plus:
Trump Indicted For Inciting Assassination Attempt https://t.co/sBlGGV8QvE pic.twitter.com/bRttmRnQhN
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 14, 2024
And:
CNN: 'Clumsy Trump Hits Head On Bullet' https://t.co/7KSqs5OIIi pic.twitter.com/3HS18Kll7n
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 13, 2024
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.
FEARMONGERING 101:
Democrats Warn That Democracy Will Cease If One Of The Two Major Political Parties That Have Existed For 170 Years Wins In November https://t.co/VMu9T2wmhu pic.twitter.com/C4pZ9nE3gk
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 12, 2024
PRETTY SURE JOY BEHAR ISN’T AN EXPERT ON GOOD SEX:
Joy Behar claims everyone who has an issue with Kamala Harris's inappropriate laughing fits are just "sexist" and "don't like a funny woman" and have a "fear" of them. She adds that it's also because they're bad in bed. pic.twitter.com/IH4YxpOreY
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 10, 2024
THEY’VE ONLY GOT ONE PLAY: “The Biden crew is hectoring journalists to leave the president alone and explain how awful Donald Trump is.”
And that play’s gotten boring. Besides, after running in 2020 on a platform of returning things to normal post-Trump, the Biden Administration has been so crazy that it’s made Trump look like the return-to-normality candidate.
SHOCKING, YES:
Party That Called Trump 'Hitler' For 8 Years Shocked As Someone Tries To Assassinate Him https://t.co/9zTv1SsnMc pic.twitter.com/Wr5BNapizb
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 13, 2024
WELL, IT CERTAINLY DIDN’T THE LAST TIME HE WON: Will the Left Respect Democracy If Trump Wins? And, if they don’t, what next?
I dunno, purges?