Donald Trump, for the second time in two months, has been the target of an assassination attempt. And the world shrugs.
So do the police. After the Secret Service discovered a scoped AK assault rifle protruding from a chain-link fence at Trump’s Palm Beach golf course — the former president on the fifth hole, the would-be assassin perched and ready to fire just 500 yards away on the sixth — Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw shirked responsibility.
“He’s not the sitting president,” Bradshaw said at a news conference Sunday. “If he was, we would have surrounded the entire golf course.”
Let’s get this straight: it is From Trump Blame? Even President Biden, in the wake of this latest attempt, says the Secret Service “needs more help.”
By sheer luck, the former president survived that bullet in July. He has been the target of two ricin poisoning attempts, one in 2018 and the other in 2020. Iran has put an $80 million bounty on Trump since the 2020 killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike.
Donald Trump, for the second time in two months, has been the target of an assassination attempt. And the world shrugs. (Above: Assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh)
By sheer luck, the former president survived that bullet in July. (Above: Trump survives an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024)
What else needs to happen for Trump to receive adequate protection?
Imagine if Kamala Harris had survived not one, but two assassination attempts in the same period. It would be headline news everywhere, not for days, but for the entire election cycle.
Television networks would trot out left-leaning historians to harp on America’s intractable racism and sexism. Pundits would speculate about systemic failures of the Secret Service and whether there was a conspiracy at play.
MSNBC, the New York Times and NPR would be on fire with one message: to atone for our sins and reject such political violence would be to vote for Kamala Harris.
As things stand, the first attempt against Trump, repeated over and over again on the eve of the Republican National Convention, has been largely forgotten. This is the craziest presidential election cycle in modern history.
The iconic images of Trump, blood streaming down his face, fist in the air, shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” were quickly discarded when Biden was dramatically ousted, when Harris, a long-troubled person, rose rapidly, and when the colluding media refused to require Harris to answer tough questions or sit for more than two glossy, perfunctory interviews.
How could Trump and his campaign fail to turn that first attempt into a substantial rebound?
Why has Trump not adopted the sober, serious and slightly vulnerable character that we saw in the days afterward, at the Republican National Convention?
Here’s why: A friend of Trump’s who talks to him every week told me that his campaign assumed they would have a long-term halo effect and would still be competing against Sleepy Joe.
“His team was comfortable, maybe even lazy, because of how well they were doing against Biden,” this person told me a few weeks ago. “They weren’t attacking key states hard enough.”
On top of that, Trump’s top advisers are mostly concerned about their own reputations: They fear a colleague will stab them when they’re not in the room.
“He’s not the sitting president,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference Sunday. “If he was, we would have surrounded the entire golf course.”
“Everyone is on his plane with him because they’re scared of being left out, worried that decisions will be made without them,” this same source told me when we spoke again last week. “The truth is, no one is in charge. He doesn’t take good advice because there isn’t any. In 2016, he had Ivanka and Kellyanne Conway on his plane. Now he has Laura Loomer.”
Ah, yes. This is where we left off on Friday: the cliffhanger involving a 31-year-old woman with a Kardashian twist, a photo of Trump with his arm around her waist, another of Loomer pressing her breasts against his chest, gazing adoringly at him — just the latest distraction in an already chaotic campaign.
That Trump brought Loomer, an outspoken proponent of the controversial 9/11 theory, to not one but two of last week’s memorial services — keeping in close proximity to someone who has said a Harris president would mean “the White House will smell like curry” and “speeches will be facilitated through a call center” — is not just bad politics, it’s vile.
Especially considering that his running mate, JD Vance, is married to a woman of Indian descent, it lends credence to the left’s constant criticism: that Trump is, if not openly racist, certainly tolerant of such views.
Why is this woman still hanging around? Presidential candidates have thrown their closest advisers to the wolves for far less. Loomer is a deep, self-inflicted wound to the campaign, but Trump appears to be the last to acknowledge it.
In fact, on Friday he doubled down and refused to deny his statements.
“I don’t control Laura,” he said. Really? Does anyone think Trump couldn’t control this if he wanted to?
“Laura has to say what she wants,” Trump continued. “She’s a free spirit.”
On Saturday, Trump could only issue brief condemnations.
“I don’t agree with the statements she made,” Trump said.
I hope so!
That’s where we left off on Friday: the cliffhanger involving a 31-year-old woman with a Kardashian twist, complete with a photo of Trump with his arm around Loomer’s waist.
Loomer is a deep, self-inflicted wound on the campaign, but Trump seems the last to acknowledge it.
All of this raises an existential question I posed after last Tuesday’s debate: Does Donald Trump want to keep winning?
The moment he ranted that Haitian immigrants are “eating Ohioans’ pets” and Harris leered at him, Trump lost that debate.
Frankly, he seemed unhinged. Even Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, and Springfield’s Republican mayor, Rob Rue, have criticized Trump’s remarks, blaming his rhetoric for the multiple bomb threats.
Unifiers or dividers? Right now, Harris, a candidate who is otherwise clearly beatable, appears to be the former.
“Any political leader who takes center stage on the national stage needs to understand the gravity of the words they have for cities like ours,” Rue told Politico. “Springfield, Ohio, is caught in a political vortex and it’s a little bit out of control.”
Rue said he was “very frustrated with the former president’s comments” and declined to answer when asked if Trump had his vote.
Springfield is in a county where Trump won by more than 60 percent in 2020.
Against Harris, he has allowed himself to spiral out of control and become Biden 2.0: old, disconnected, aggrieved, a passive actor in his own presidential race.
Why is he tweeting juvenile phrases like “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT”? Why did he reject a second presidential debate instead of accepting and reversing this downward trend? Does he no longer have the strength to attack Harris on data, the economy, the border, crime and foreign policy?
Why is he playing golf while his campaign is losing steam? I hear that is the question his entourage is asking.
A surprise poll out of Iowa on Monday shows Harris closing in on Trump, within 4 percentage points of him, a state where she led by 18 points in the spring.
Worse yet, Iowa women are now firmly on Kamala’s side, 53 percent to 36 percent. Abortion is certainly a factor, but so is Trump’s treatment of women.
Aside from the spectre of the E. Jean Carrol affair and the ‘grabbing them by the pussy’, Melania is nowhere to be seen, while Loomer, as of last week, stood by Trump’s side and boasted of flying with him to the presidential debate.
Meanwhile, Don Jr. is flaunting his rumored romance with a Palm Beach socialite while engaged to Kimberly Guilfoyle, further reinforcing the idea that the Trump men do not treat their wives and girlfriends with respect.
Meanwhile, Harris will have a third interview on Thursday with none other than Oprah Winfrey, who played a major role in Obama’s election.
It’s all very sloppy. The Trump campaign is a complete mess. No one is in charge, least of all this erratic candidate, who seems intent on giving the undecided every reason to vote against him.
It may be true that, having narrowly survived two assassination attempts, Trump would prefer not to win. That is certainly understandable, especially since the first attempt has not left him any less vulnerable.
Had Harris been the target of a near-successful assassination, she would be protected by a Roman Praetorian Guard, now and forever. How could Trump not wonder if it was all worth it?
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