Secret Service Director Cheatle bravely fell on the sword for her fellow agents and not a few incompetent local police. A wacko who most likely just wanted fame as a mass murderer tried to kill that “f%$#ing moron,” whose protection by the Devil saved him instead. Some proof to my claim can be found in the shooter’s googling of the distance of Oswald from Kennedy and researching the site of the DNC in nearby Chicago. He opted for that open-air rally in Pennsylvania where he used a range-finder…to see if he could beat Oswald’s record? I don’t think he had any political proclivities. Or maybe he just didn’t like old politicians? (Biden was also still in the race, hence the consideration of Chicago?) Obviously, a lot of people don’t (now it’s Narcissus le Grand’s turn). (Hopefully people like old authors better.)
Trying to protect a political candidate isn’t easy, especially when they’re old and clumsy targets who aren’t too bright like Trump. Most politicians like to go out to meet and greet the voters, glad-handing them, giving speeches to them, eating fast-food crap with them, etc. It’s not any different from other public personalities—actors, musicians, popes, etc. In the case of that “f%$#ing moron,” he’ll even try to fight off Secret Service agents, as he did on January 6, 2021, when he tried to stage an insurrection by taking over the Capitol. (He’ll try to deny that, but Donald, we have an eyewitness! She swears you tried to strangle an agent! I believe her, Donald, because you’re a violent but cowardly SOB.) It’s amazing we haven’t had more assassination attempts…and assassinations, for that matter.
Kennedy’s shooter Oswald was a good shot; Trump’s shooter Crooks, not so much (close, but no cigar…and it might have just been bullet shrapnel). Whether hit or miss, and whatever the distance or means used, an assassination attempt is dreaded by any securtity detail. We tend to think of it occurring more in what America’s wannabe Il Duce calls “shithole countries,” but most countries in the world do better than the US in preventing assassinations because they have fewer guns and much better gun controls. And many assassins, especially terrorists, prefer a bigger bang for their buck, not just one well-aimed bullet: Bombs (conventional and dirty), gasses (Sarin or Novichok are preferred), poisons, etc. (You might call these attempts using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut.) 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing had more impact, although a candidate wasn’t the target.
Autocrats love to create a public show when they smite their opponents. Putin is the best showman in that sense. Remember that scene with Navalny screaming in pain in the plane’s aisle? I bet Vladimir has watched that many times! He probably filmed Navalny’s death as well, and the FSB has probably probably provided him with footage of that foe’s ultimate devise so he can gloat. He probably has film he relishes of that mercenary’s plane blowing up as well. (Biden was wrong: Putin has a soul, but it belongs to the Devil.) So-called democratic leaders relish the assassinations they order as well, as Donald Jackass Trump probably did when he took out that Iranian leader. (Was the attack on the US presidential candidate Iranian payback?) His “retribution term” (if he’s elected in 2024) might provide him several more opportunities where he can target Americans…perhaps even someone walking down Fifth Avenue?
In any case, I’ll repeat: Preventing the assassination of a public figure isn’t easy. It’s a difficult task. Director Cheatle and her agents did the best they could protecting an arrogant SOB. It wasn’t good enough. The buck stopped with her, and she had the courage to take the blame for the security detail’s failures. I hope they appreciate that. I also hope they feel sorry for her, as we all should. (And that the shooter missed?)
There are so many questions left unanswered, number one for me being: Why did that father have a military-style weapon? Number two: Why did that father let his son borrow that weapon? And: What was the purpose of the remote-controlled bombs in the car? Figuring all that out won’t be easy. (Proof: It’s still going on!) Dealing with serious mental illness never is, as we know from dealing with Trump himself! That Secret Service Director could have run that investigation in her sleep. I’m not sure her replacement will be able to, especially with the fascist MAGA maniacs breathing down his or her neck. But it has to be done.