Legendary heroism shined from Trump and his MAGA supporters who attended the Pennsylvania rally where a gunman shot Trump and attendees from a rooftop 400 feet away. The shooter easily evaded law enforcement but did not scare Trump or the MAGA crowd, which held their ground and chanted “USA” after Trump pumped his fist in response to the deadly gunfire.
Video captured fearless MAGA attendees who cared more about Trump’s safety than trying to flee the area to protect themselves, as customarily happens when crowds panic. Some attendees even spotted and filmed the gunman bear-crawling ominously on a nearby roof before he began shooting, and alerted law enforcement to no avail.
Earlier in the day, the assassin went to Home Depot and purchased a metal ladder, which he could have easily used to climb onto a factory roof from where he had his straight rifle shot at Trump. A local police counter-sniper team was absurdly huddled inside the same building during all this, while the Secret Service protection did not extend its security perimeter as far as a mere 400 feet from the podium.
It is the duty of Secret Service, not local police, to fully protect the leading presidential candidate, who is Trump. The Director of Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, who obtained her job through Jill Biden, has since admitted that this security breach was ultimately her responsibility.
Yet she refuses to resign. With Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as her priority, apparently a catastrophic failure to do her own job is not what really matters. Her explanation for not placing a Secret Service agent on the rooftop used by the gunman with a straight shot at the future president is reason alone to fire her.
“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” Cheatle said to ABC News on Tuesday.
The scrawny gunman with no military background or athletic prowess had no difficulty attaining the peak of the unguarded roof, a high point that every competent security expert knows should be protected, and from there shot with deadly accuracy at Trump. Many, including Elon Musk, faulted the DEI mindset for this security failure.
Burly MAGA supporters would have been thrilled to stand guard on the slightly sloped rooftops, while enjoying Trump’s presentation. Instead, the Biden administration disarmed all the MAGA attendees, and failed to protect them against the shooter who killed one heroic former fire chief, critically injured two others, and shot our future President Trump.
The biased liberal headlines immediately afterward, despite blood streaming down Trump’s face, included “Trump escorted away after loud noises at Pa. rally” in the Washington Post, and “Secret Service rushes Trump offstage after he falls at rally” by CNN. “Trump removed from stage by Secret Service after loud noises startles former president, crowd,” was the USA Today headline.
Liberals lament how outspoken billionaires like Musk have frustrated their ability to control the narrative about this shooting. Now the Biden administration (FBI and DHS) are even falsely warning of “retaliatory acts of violence” by Trump supporters!
This shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was said to be a video game enthusiast, which means he probably spent many isolated hours each week playing violent video games. A common characteristic of young men who go on shooting sprees is their addiction to violent video games, which train them to rapidly fire to score as many points as possible.
The FBI has reportedly since told local authorities, including police and even his high school, not to speak with the media, which enables the FBI to control the narrative. The FBI has his laptop, but is not disclosing to the public how Crooks spent his time on it as he lived at home.
While law enforcement made many mistakes resulting in this egregious breach of security by a neophyte, its biggest mistake of all is in treating MAGA rally attendees as adversaries rather than allies in protecting Trump. The shooter was acting suspiciously before the rally, as noticed by a police officer, and any MAGA attendee would have been happy and unafraid to keep his eye on this killer if merely asked to do so.
Biden’s cold, callous statements after the shooting on Saturday blamed everyone except himself and his own political appointee for failing to safeguard Trump against a kid with a rifle. The GOP-majority House will hold a hearing next week on what even Biden’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, admits was a security failure, and everyone on the committee should call for the Secret Service director to resign.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.