It Keeps Getting Worse
The more information comes out about what happened on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, the worse the Secret Service looks. Among other things, it appears that the Secret Service was viewing the rally as a "loose" event, and as such provided a much more relaxed vigilance than would be the norm when guarding a former President's public appearance, or a campaign appearance by a Presidential candidate -- and Donald Trump fits both categories. K9 units were not used to check for potential threats, and a great deal of the security that would normally be handled by USSS officers were handed over to local law enforcement -- and even they were in short supply, such that a significant number of points of vulnerability were left unguarded.
The Secret Service protective detail is supposed to be apolitical -- Richard M. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace in the wake of the Watergate scandal, was guarded with the same diligence as Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George HW Bush. If the lapses and failures that allowed a disturbed young man to get so close to former President Trump are the result of the USSS being used for political ends, to deliberately create a situation where he could be "removed from the chessboard," we have an agency that has sold its soul for a mess of pottage.
The Secret Service protective detail is supposed to be apolitical -- Richard M. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace in the wake of the Watergate scandal, was guarded with the same diligence as Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George HW Bush. If the lapses and failures that allowed a disturbed young man to get so close to former President Trump are the result of the USSS being used for political ends, to deliberately create a situation where he could be "removed from the chessboard," we have an agency that has sold its soul for a mess of pottage.