in 2024 Election, Donald Trump, Secret Service
Robert F. Kennedy’s endorsement of Donald Trump gave a boost to the former president but entailed some sacrifice for Kennedy. His fellow Democrats had denied him Secret Service protection, which he gained only after the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13. After ending his candidacy, RFK Jr. now loses Secret Service protection and that recalls his father’s run for the presidency.
On June 4, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, only 42, had just won the California primary and gave a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. As he left, Sirhan Sirhan shot him and Kennedy died the next day. In the wake of the assassination, President Johnson authorized the Secret Service to extend protection to all presidential candidates. Democrats denied that protection to RFK Jr. a sure sign of tectonic shifts in the party. Like New Deal Democrat Ronald Reagan, RFK Jr. didn’t leave the party but the party sure left him.
In 2024, Kennedy had to wonder if SS protection would have done him any good. Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old with no tactical experience, was able to case Trump’s rally, fly drones over the site, and access a rooftop for a clear line of sight. Crooks got off eight shots, wounding Donald Trump, killing Corey Comperatore and seriously wounding David Dutch and James Copenhaver. And it was all captured on television.
Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned and some six weeks after the attempted assassination the SS placed at least five agents on leave, including the head of the Pittsburgh field office. The five are still employed and getting paid, which will surely fix the problem. Picture the scene: “Let this be lesson to you, Donnie. You stay at home, perform no work, and continue to receive all your pay and benefits. That will ensure that such a failure never happens again!”
According to coincidence theorists it was all happenstance. Over at Frontpage, Mark Tapson was one of the few to wonder “Whodunnit? Who green-lit the Trump shooting?” The people won’t find out from the Secret Service’s own investigation, nor from the FBI, still withholding evidence in the murders of Seth Rich and Philip Haney. With Janet Napolitano aboard, the investigation announced by Biden is sure to be a bust. Despite deep state stonewalling, the congressional probe could come up with something, but in the meantime the people might ponder this scene from Network.
The Union Broadcasting System (UBS) is losing money over the Howard Beale show, but network owner Arthur Jensen (Ned Beatty) wants to keep it on the air. Embattled UBS bosses make a plan.
“So what do we do about this Beale son of a bitch?” wonders network president Nelson Chaney (Wesley Addy)
“I suppose we’ll have to kill him,” says Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall). “I don’t suppose you have any ideas on that, Diana?”
“Well, what would you fellas say to an assassination?” says Diana (Faye Dunaway). “I think I can get the Mao Tse-tung people to kill Beale for us as one of their shows. In fact, it’ll make a hell of a kick-off show for the season.”
The Mao-Tse Tung people are the Ecumenical Liberation Army, headed by the Great Ahmed Khan (Arthur Burghardt). The Ecumenicals succeed in gunning down Howard Beale (Peter Finch) but the real-life attempt on Donald Trump failed. With Trump still campaigning and RFK Jr. stripped of Secret Service protection, we’ll have to see what happens.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/09/secret-service-roulette.php
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