Resisting making a kneejerk reaction either to praise or vilify the Secret Service in the aftermath of this latest President Trump assassination attempt, I chose instead to let my thoughts marinate on the subject.
In the harsh afternoon light of the next day’s afternoon, I conclude that arguments can be made for both sentiments.
Yes, the Secret Service agents on the ground did well once the assault had begun. But, it strikes me that once again the Secret Service dropped the ball prior to these events by failing to anticipate adequately the threat.
From leaving the nearby rooftop unsecured in Butler, to allowing a would-be shooter to camp out in the bushes alongside Trump’s golf course, and now to the numerous flaws that facilitated this Washington, D.C., attempt, planning has not been a Secret Service long suit.
Admittedly, I’m not an expert on such things. But, just as a literary critic needn’t be a celebrated author, or, as I once told a Major League baseball player, you don’t need to be dead to write an obit, I believe it’s fair to apply common sense to the situation and draw conclusions.
It’s been noted how fast the alleged shooter ran on surveillance videos. Well, even if he’s a human roadrunner, he couldn’t have made it that close to the ballroom had the perimeter been set out farther, say outside the building.
Also, considering the video of multiple agents drawing weapons and presumably shooting them, I fail to understand how the suspect was not shot, even once. He reportedly plunked at least one agent, who was spared only because he was wearing a bulletproof vest. But, we have been told the suspect, although hospitalized, had not been shot. You mean they all missed? Did one of these agents accidentally shoot the agent in his vest while firing at the suspect?
Like in Butler, the agents surrounding Trump after the fact and attempting to get him away from the stage, included at least one short, stocky apparent female. It had been noted in the wake of the Butler shooting that perhaps the agents closest to the President should at least be as tall as the person they are trying to surround with a human wall.
Are there no female Amazon Secret Service agents, standing at least as tall as Trump, whose height is listed at 6-foot-2?
As one security expert pointed out, having the event at a hotel, with guests free to come and go and do God knows what in their rooms, is a major oversight.
Suppose this nerd, would-be assassin had put together a massive bomb in his room?
If Trump were a cat, he’d still have six lives remaining. He is not and, by the rules of baseball, he should be out having suffered three strikes.
The same could be said for the Secret Service, which certainly needs to do much better in future at-bats.
Sam Ross Jr's site 