The same Secret Service that fumbled to protect Trump from a bullet now wants him to cancel his outdoor rallies. Yeah, because nothing screams “we care about your safety,” like trying to shut down your most successful campaign strategy. This reeks of election interference and sounds like a thinly veiled threat.
According to The Washington Post, the Secret Service is “encouraging” Trump’s team to stop the large outdoor rallies his supporters love. They claim this is about safety, but we know better. After the shooting incident, Secret Service agents expressed their worries to Trump’s advisors. It’s funny how they seem more concerned about logistics now than they were about actually preventing the attack.
The Trump campaign is supposedly looking at bigger indoor venues as if that’s going to stop his massive crowds. The Post says Trump isn’t planning any significant outdoor events right now, but let’s see how long that lasts. Neither the Secret Service nor Trump’s team responded to The Federalist’s request for comments. And you can bet the biased Post didn’t bother asking if similar requests were made to Kamala Harris. Typical.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) told Fox News it would be a shame if the rallies were shut down. He’s right. Trump’s rallies are a spectacle, a phenomenon that draws enormous crowds. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) mocked the Secret Service on social media, calling the idea embarrassing. And Trump supporters are fuming, calling this a direct threat.
The Post, of course, blames Trump for his near-assassination. They whine about the burden his rallies place on the Secret Service, conveniently forgetting that Trump is the GOP’s presidential candidate. His rallies aren’t just events but how he connects with his base. Former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews told the Post how important crowd size is to Trump. It’s his way of showing he’s still in the fight.
Shutting down these rallies would be blatant election interference. It’s a way to cripple an essential element of his campaign. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris started her campaign in a high school in suburban Milwaukee. The Associated Press bragged about the crowd but didn’t give numbers. I wonder why.
Trump rallies are harder for the Secret Service because they’ve denied requests for tighter security. That’s how a 20-year-old gunman managed to get close enough to shoot at Trump and the crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after admitting agents knew about the shooter multiple times before he opened fire. They knew the roof was a risk, but they did nothing.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released footage showing law enforcement on the roof with the dead gunman. Reports say some snipers spotted the shooter before the attack. However, the Secret Service and other agencies have been tight-lipped about their failures.
Questions have been mounting for the past ten days about this security disaster. Federal agencies, especially the Secret Service, need to come clean.
