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A dissenting view
As my avatar will show, I am no TDS victim. But I have a dissenting view on the September 15 assassination attempt. This is based on my synthesis of reporting on Drudge and NRO, and the fact that, although a physician, I am not a golfer.
I think the USSS functioned admirably.
Here’s why. Mr Trump was on the 5th hole. Two holes in front, thus a distance of hundreds of yards away from the former POTUS, a USSS agent performing routine surveillance noted a gun barrel stuck between the links of a fence like a prop in a Warner Brothers cartoon. He took responsibility and shot at the gun bearer, who fled. The getaway car was identified and captured in an hour, 40 miles away.
Mr Trump was never in danger, was unaware of the situation until notified.
Sweeping the grounds, confronting a potential attacker with lethal force, chasing and arresting him–isn’t that the USSS job?
Published in General
It seems the Secret Service performed much better yesterday than they did in Butler.
I agree Doc. I am only disappointed that the SS “sharp shooter” spent 4 rounds and none hit the target. I can only assume that the ss sprayed cover fire at the observed muzzle, and that Routh was not behind the gun at the moment.
Otherwise, pretty good security. They shot first. Massive difference from Butler PA.
i understand what you’re saying. the agents who were present appear to have done their jobs. BUT
First, Trump was definitely in danger. While we don’t know where Trump was on the course at the time Routh was discovered, he definitely was or would have been within range. A scoped AK would be accurate & lethal to at least 500 to 800 meters, further depending on the shooter’s skill.
There’s no excuse for not having at least one dog & handler working that fence line. Failing that, they could have spent a couple hundred bucks for an IR drone surveying the scene, especially the obvious vulnerability of the fence line.
There’s no excuse for not having somebody – SS, local LE, somebody sitting along the highway, outside the fence.
These things are so basic that there is absolutely no excuse for such blatant “failures.”
This.
They are leaving holes and it is hard not to think it is on purpose.
So what is an individual agent of the SS did OK? The system of the SS is out to let him die.
We need to know the layout of the course to know the distance from “2 holes ahead” to Trump’s position. The course has a website for taking a virtual tour.
What was the synthesis? “Darn, we missed again!”
The reports I saw agree with your analysis. The USSS did a good job, especially the agent who saw the weapon and immediately fired at it, causing the would-be assassin to abandon his position and hightail away, only to be caught in short order. BTW, the apprehension was enabled by the vigilant actions of a regular citizen who saw the assailant and snapped a picture of him and his car with the license plate.
Yes, I agree that we were lucky this time and the Secret Service stopped a threat but one of Trump’s sons had it right when he angrily asked how many lives do they think his father has. The Democrat rhetoric sets these crazies off as intended. Think about it. They late him enough to kill him repeating Democrat rhetoric. Other reasons they hate him? They want to kill their babies and send taxpayer dollars to Ukraine. The shooters are just the ones crazy enough to grab a gun but they represent many in their party who wish they had succeeded.
If they hate Trump had enough to wish him dead, they surely hold the same contempt for us. Even those who don’t wish him dead consider these attempts to be no big deal.
The hatred of Russia on the left is a recent obsession. I guess the Democrats are angry that the Russians overthrew communism. Many of them loved the Russians back then.
They had to start hating Russia to embrace Hillary’s line of attack to put blame on her loss elsewhere rather than accepting she was a crappy candidate. She thought she was entitled to the office.
The biggest thing we need to know, and we need to know it quickly, is how the attempted assassin knew President Trump would be at the golf course yesterday. The longer that question hangs out there unanswered, the more people will assume someone on the inside tipped him off.
According to some reports Trump plays golf on what you could call his home golf course on a regular basis on Sundays. So, it appears that is not a secret. The Secret Service agent did the right thing by firing towards the location of the of the possible shooter.
I’m not averse to open carry I saw it in rural Arizona from time to time although I never saw someone doing that while laying prone outside a golf course with the barrel pointing towards the course.
I don’t know if we have enough information to be casting any blame, but those parts that were present functioned as intended. The threat was countered and the perpetrator apprehended.
Early days – I have no opinion on the SS but will listen to Dan Bongino today with interest.
My understanding is that DJT playing golf was a last minute schedule change. If so … it’s way too early to give the SS any grace.
And with whom are you dissenting? Has the media been condemning the SS?
I’ve never worked personal security, so won’t comment on that aspect, but I do know firearms and distance shooting (just spent a weekend at a 400 yd event with my AR), so I’ll chip in on this point:
From the published pix, the weapon was an SKS, not an AK. There is no such thing as an automatic SKS, it’s a semi-auto. It’s also not a rifle renowned for accuracy. You can tune up an SKS for some degree of precision if you get a good one, but the shooter doesn’t seem like that kind of guy.
From what I could see, there was an optic mounted to the rifle – a stock SKS has iron sights only. It appeared to be some sort of tactical optic, not the kind of thing you want for a 500-800 meter shot. (At the event I attended this weekend, one shooter had a similar optic and gave up in frustration after trying to engage man sized targets at 400 yards).
My best guess as to the engagement: The shooter was ranging a party in advance of Trump’s to set up his shot on the President when he arrived at that hole. The advance party turned out to be either be SS agents or being used as a cover by them. The shooter was spotted, and probably engaged with a short barrel machine pistol that are known to be carried by SS. That’s also not a weapon suited for a distance engagement, so it amounted to suppressive fire, which succeeded in forcing the shooter to retreat.
I won’t give them any grace. They should have secured the outside of the golf club. He was shot once already. They should devote more resources to protecting him and not say “Aw, well, he is not a sitting President, just a former one”.
He is the GOP Nominee. Why on Earth not protect him as you would a sitting President? It cannot be they don’t have the money or resources. Give me a break.
I think the accurate take, rather, is that …
It was only the Tactical Reaction bits of the USSS, both in Butler and in West Palm Beach, that performed admirably and thus managed, with a bit of luck, to make up for the utterly abysmal performance of the Strategic Preparation bits thereof on both occasions.
You don’t know that he was never in danger. The perp was able to get well within range of his high-powered rifle and then escape on I-95 until he was apprehended by the Martin County Sherrif in a felony car stop.
I prefer the analysis of Dan Bongino, who surely knows more about the USSS than Drudge or NRO. He described the recent incidents as a series of “uneventful failures.” The middle perimeter of was infiltrated by a subject who secreted himself in a woodline in broad daylight apparently without any camouflage. I am also looking forward to the report referenced by Senator Blumenthal.
According to Dan Bongino, this was an OTR (off the record) event; at most, there were 10 people who knew that DJT would be where he was. Bongino is seriously considering there may be a mole.
Watch the whole thing here.
Bongino’s background is such that he is uniquely qualified to opine: cop, secret service agent, candidate, now media.
As in Butler, the closer-in rings of protection seem to work well. My problem is the design of the overall security envelope. If the overall security plan is working well, that inner layer should never have to do anything dramatic. Threats should be dealt with earlier and farther out. In Butler, a perfectly adequate shooting location was left uncovered. Here too. My understanding is that the tree line where the potential shooter was concealed is directly adjacent to a major road. And from what I’m reading, the suspect was holed up in there since the wee hours of the morning … lying in wait for Trump to stroll by. So anybody could just drive up, pull over, ant take a pot-shot at the former President!?!?!? But more importantly, one assumes his car was sitting on the roadside…static … for 12 hours. A perfectly adequate shooting location was again left uncovered.
One hates to get conspiratorial … but if this was a Tom Clancy novel there would me someone in the USSS trying to arrange for the assassination of a Presidential candidate while leaving plausible deniability for the Service and themselves. In a high-threat environment, all you need are created opportunities and time.
I can’t agree with calling it a success. If the guy hadn’t been so foolish, I think it is, as to stick his gun through the wall pretty well in advance, he may very well have not been stopped.
Maybe, but since it is now known he was there for maybe 11 hours, he was probably looking for opportunity.
The last 2 assassination attempts have made clear to me just how impossible it is to provide protection against all threats for someone with any kind of public life. At best the US Secret Service can hope to foil a high percentage of attempts by amateurs who would only have limited resources. Even stopping a high percentage of amateurs means it is only a matter of numbers, time and luck before one succeeds. I suppose that is the point of those who think the USSS is deliberately screwing up.
Now consider a state with intelligence resources, trained teams and a variety of weapons to choose from could do the job pretty easily. The main thing stopping them is the repercussions of being caught including the inevitable reprisals. Makes me wonder about fanatical Islamists and others that have some of the resources of a state and an adequate supply of suicidal members who would not be so deterred.
My fear is they are now emboldened because they see now is a good time to try it, before problems are fixed.
Even for the fanatical Islamist state of Iran, would it be at all difficult to assassinate a US President or candidate for that office? (Implying that it is ONLY the threat of the diplomatic and military repercussions that prevents the regime from ordering an assassination?)
This!
The SKS has always had the reputation of being what you buy when you can’t afford an AK, which is itself a cheap, stamped sheet metal commie bullet hose. Precision rifles, they ain’t.
I had an NHM-91, significantly better than either, I’d say.
It wasn’t cheap then, and they’re even less cheap now, if you can find one.
From what I understand, Mara Lago does not have a golf course. There’s two courses near by : Trump National and another in Jupiter FL.
Recent news is that the shooter’s phone was at the location from 2:00 am to the time of the attempt. So lying in wait – at the correct location. Who knew where Trump was going to golf?
Now that you say it, I believe you’re entirely correct that Mara Lago doesn’t have a golf course.
Mar-A-Lago does not have a golf course. The property spans from Ocean Blvd. to the Intercoastal Waterway/Lake Worth; Wikipedia says 17 acres. Trump’s golf course is about 3 miles away pretty much across the road from Palm Beach Airport and probably a minute or two from I-95. (I have spent time in the area for horse shows in Wellington and vacations.)