By Kelly Sloan | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
Sometimes history, like it is said of American football, is a game of inches. An inch or so to the right, and the bullet that grazed former President Doanld Trump’s ear on Saturday would have most likely killed him.
As stunned and horrified as Americans were upon hearing of the attempted assassination, it would be a much graver situation for the country had the assassin’s bullet killed the former President, and current candidate for the same office, instead of a volunteer firefighter who died shielding his family while attending a political rally in support of the candidate he preferred.
It is somewhat naturally incumbent upon the polemicist to comment on historical events of such magnitude, as analysis is hungrily sought for. But a certain responsibility attaches to the endeavor. There is simply much we do not know. And it is distantly frustrating, but nevertheless true, that many of the answers will never been entirely revealed to our full satisfaction.
We must then constrain ourselves to commenting on what we do know. We know an attempt was made on the former President’s life, that he survived, and did so with a remarkable sense of performative self-awareness and a sign of defiance that has already become iconic. Trump is still alive, in no small part to the professionalism, training and courage of the Secret Service personnel who rushed to shield him even as bullets still flew, and those who quickly dispatched the would-be assassin. The service is going to face some intense scrutiny in the coming days and months, both internally and externally, and rightly so; any time a protectee is injured by an assailant, something, by definition, went wrong. Protocols will be reexamined, the security arrangements dissected, and a lot of very pointed questions asked.
But it is not quite that simple. Security for a prominent political figure, especially one in a democracy who is vying for votes, is a complicated undertaking. If the physical security of the protectee were the only consideration, then all of those under Secret Service protection would be locked safely away in a bunker, and appearances made only by video or by proxies. But that is not how campaigning in a democracy works. A candidate for President needs to be seen among the people. Campaign staffers, whose greatest concern is optics, tend to interfere rather intensely with security arrangements. No campaign manager wants their candidate to appear inaccessible. Accessibility is a prerequisite for being seen as a “man (or woman) of the people”. It is also a prerequisite for being assassinated. All this aside, and notwithstanding the tremendous and heroic work of law enforcement on the ground that day, a critical failure happened, warranting both the resignation of USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle and the exhaustive investigation that must now ensue. Perhaps the Secret Service and Congress can take the opportunity to examine whether ideologically driven adherence to “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” is entirely in the interests of the service, its protectees and the nation. In any case, that investigation must be serious, bipartisan, and not allowed to devolve into the political sideshow that typifies most Congressional investigations these days.
Because that will simply feed the advent of the conspiracy theories that are already springing up. From the left, there are suggestions out there that the shooting was staged to give Trump an advantage. From a few in the Trump MAGA camp, there are accusations that this was an administration black op, or something, and that Biden “ordered the hit” on his opponent. This is nonsense. We do not know with any certainly yet whether the assailant had any help or acted alone, but I think we can be quite certain that it was neither staged by the Trump campaign, nor a CIA operation. Nevertheless, the attempt has, among whatever other fallout it may bring forth, unleashed another generation or two of JFK-style conspiracy theories.
Such foolishness does nothing to advance the sense of order, calm, and stability that both the country and the rest of world need in the aftermath of this infamy. It certainly does nothing to reduce the rancor and vitriol that has become so endemic in politics. The calls to “reduce the temperature” are indeed welcome, but even that risks becoming a polarizing concept; for the admonitions to carry any weight, they need to be applied universally. One cannot implore Americans to tone down the political rhetoric and in the next breath call Trump a threat to democracy, apple pie and the American way. That goes for us on the right too.
Trump has an opportunity now to demonstrate for the country – not merely his MAGA base, but the entire country – that he deserves the presidency again. He has hinted that he will at least try to do so this week at the RNC. I hope, deeply, that he does, and can convey to the nation and the world that no, he is not a threat to democracy, and no, Biden will not destroy the country, because America is, by design, about so much more than the President.