By Jeffrey A. Rendall
Are presidential assassination tries here to stay, or unique only to Donald J. Trump?
“Because of our free democratic system, anyone willing to trade his life to assassinate a political figure will probably have a good opportunity.” – Former Secret Service Agent Bill Gage wrote after the Butler assassination incident in July, 2024.
We’ve all heard this or similar quotes regarding assassination attempts, and our nation was given yet another occasion to contemplate such occurrences last weekend when President Donald J. Trump and a hotel ballroom full of administration officials, celebrities and establishment media luminaries was unexpectedly jolted to full attention when a would-be assassin launched a rush of his own in Washington, DC.
“What, again?” I asked as a family member interrupted our baseball game viewing by announcing there’d been shots fired at the Correspondents’ dinner Trump was set to highlight. “Trump is safe”, he added without elaboration. A few hours of perusing news coverage confirmed the latter fact. Pretty unbelievable.
The unique thing about Saturday’s escapade was the fact so many in the White House Press Corps were witnesses to the historical blip, too. The reporters who cover the president saw what happened. Fox News’s Brett Baier offered first-hand observations. It was wild.
Will this attention-jolting stuff keep happening? Or is Trump the special (in a bad way) leader who inspires the distinctive kind of hatred it takes to activate otherwise latent kooks to kill?
In an article titled, “Fourth attempt on Trump’s life raises fresh questions about ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’”, Susan Ferrechio and Seth McLaughlin reported at The Washington Times on Monday:
“After the fourth assassination attempt, the president appeared unfazed when he talked to the White House press corps in the briefing room, still wearing a tuxedo, after the dinner was canceled. ‘In light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts to resolving our differences peacefully. We have to. We have to resolve our differences,’ he said. ‘I will say you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals and progressives. Those words are interchangeable, perhaps, but maybe they’re not. But yet everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd. There was a record-setting group of people, and there was a tremendous amount of love and coming together. I watched, I watched, and I was very, very impressed by that.’ …
“Mr. Allen’s manifesto denounced the president’s destruction of alleged Venezuelan drug boats, which he said amounted to ’execution without trial,’ the detention of illegal immigrants, and the war in Iran.
“’I’ve done a lot. We’ve done a lot,’ Mr. Trump said. ‘We’ve taken this country and, we were a laughingstock for years, and now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. We’ve changed this country, and there are a lot of people that are not happy about that.’”
Sufficiently unhappy to kill, though?
At the impromptu press conference referenced above, I thought Trump’s explanation for why these attacks keep happening was a good one. Yes, the Trump presidency has done a lot, including pressing issues that no other political operation would dare move forward. Transformational presidents see their lives – and power – persistently threatened.
The former real estate developer, tabloid celebrity and reality TV star-turned first-time politician-turned two (separate) term president has been a shock to the swamp status quo, and Democrats and GOP establishmentarians who’d grown used to Republicans instinctively capitulating and rolling over when the going got rough… well, they didn’t like what they discovered.
But while digesting the wall-to-wall coverage of the latest assassination attempt and its aftermath, one wondered how things could be different because of what went down on Saturday night. Many an “expert” predicted that security at all events relating to a presidential appearance would be kicked up yet another notch to add an additional ring of confidence, an almost inconceivable construct considering federal police presence is already pervasive and practically overwhelming when the chief executive draws near.
Several familiar eyewitnesses to the chaotic ballroom environment commented that they had difficulty deciphering friend from potential foe in the situational fog, with many of the president’s protectors wearing civilian clothing and dressed innocuously from other, perhaps more “famous” celebrity invitees. It was said there were 3000 people at the dinner, and there isn’t anyone who possesses the ability to identify individuals in such a huge glob of humanity.
Naturally, confusion abounded.
But if it wasn’t clear before, the matter was certain afterwards – the left is hell-bent on stopping Trump. What can it be like being Trump himself? Or wife Melania, who has alleged many times that she fears for her husband’s safety and likely endures nightmares scenarios where a kook succeeds in getting too close and causes actual damage.
Military personnel describe the scared-all-the-time phenomenon as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, where the slightest noise or movement – or feeling – can cause a nervous system reaction. There’s no escaping from the condition, either.
The Trump family has been the target of numerous assassination attempts as well as the subject of limitless morbid “get him” speculation from late-night comedians, celebrities, pundits (James Carville, anyone?), Democrats and political opponents referring to, in different degrees, “fighting back” against Trump and his MAGA agenda.
Fight back? What exactly does this concept entail, Democrats?
This year’s “No Kings!” leftist protests featured lots of celebrities and pols angrily speaking about how they’re working to “resist” the tide of current administration policy, not plainly elaborating on what it meant to agitate and battle back against the Trump administration in a peaceful sense. A number of commenters have argued that such language triggers and incites violence due to the delicate psyches of would-be assassins.
“But both sides do it.” I can just hear the words now, echoing the e-arguments I’ve had with liberals over the years, the soothing excuse providing balm to their open, festering cognitive wounds inflicted by Donald Trump since he entered politics over a decade ago. It’s as if they’ve completely forgotten how vindictive and nasty it was during the Bush presidents’ tenures as well as Reagan and Nixon before that.
These aren’t political rejoinders as much as nonverbal expressions of personal hatred for Republicans themselves. For example, social media is littered with criticism of Speaker Mike Johnson, the mild-mannered, bespectacled House Republican leader seeming as though we’d more likely find his character type reading in a public library cubicle as riding on a horse in front of massed troops leading a charge like in “Braveheart” or “Gladiator”.
Evidence suggests most of today’s political violence stems from the left side of the spectrum no matter how earnestly liberals swear to the contrary. The recent revelations involving the Southern Poverty Law Center seeding racist groups to create trouble (and therefore make themselves relevant) only confirms casual observation from years of contemporary news reporting.
One thing — Saturday evening’s shocking close call would also serve to bolster President Trump’s notion that the White House needs a ballroom of its own, one of adequate dimension to host these types of mass events and can be secured like no other place not habitually staffed by legions of Secret Service agents and other law enforcement bodies.
Democrats have griped and moaned about the potentially corrupt and tasteless nature of the privately-funded ballroom addition to the Executive Mansion, but what is political about the need to protect the President and the who’s who of Capital movers-n-shakers from the threats from the ever-emboldened and noxious left?
The naysayers’ arguments about “tradition” and leaving the White House alone are much less persuasive now.
Further, Trump sounded a much calmer tone in his remarks, calling on American leaders to come together to reach consensus on today’s most divisive issues. Here’s thinking the “persuadable” voters, if there are any left, could be inclined to listen to the president preaching unity in a trying moment. Trump also indicated he wasn’t about to change his values because assassins keep coming at him.
Why should he?
It probably won’t be long before the competing political factions are at it again, their individual memories lasting about as long as an antibiotics cycle. Conservatives heard similar overtures in the earlier failed assassination attacks, including the first one that actually wounded Trump the candidate and killed a rally attendee bystander in Butler, PA.
Democrats don’t require much reason to do what they do and say what they say. Security procedures may be increased in the wake of the latest near-tragic happening. Real, lasting improvement will take longer. Though Trump was handed a good chance to try and “turn down the temperature”. Let’s see if he maintains focus headed into a long, difficult political summer.
Jeff Rendall is editor and publisher of GolfintheUSA.com and has written about golf and politics for over a quarter of a century. A non-practicing attorney from California, he moved to the east coast three decades ago to pursue and combine his interests in all things American history and culture. Jeff has worked as an intern on Capitol Hill and in various capacities in grassroots organizing and conservative organizations and publications, including a nearly two-decade stint at ConservativeHQ.com. Column republishing or other inquiries: Rendall@msn.com .