Dear Weekend Jolter,
I do not wish to alarm you, but whatever national cohesion the United States of America has depends, over the next two months, on the ability of the Secret Service to detect and neutralize threats to the major-party presidential candidates. This was the case before July 13 — and at this point, the startling reality gets driven home with every just-averted political crisis in the run-up to Election Day.
Dominic Pino previously outlined some of his concerns with this state of affairs. (“One might think the Secret Service are top-line security experts who uphold the highest professional standards in their work,” he began. “They are not.”) Even with the agency’s history of problems, however, the USSS surely is keen to avoid catastrophe. Last weekend’s attempt on Donald Trump’s life, the second of the summer, should now light a fire under the agency to change the way it protects a man who is, to put it mildly, an atypical protectee.
To start with, NR’s editorial calls for treating Trump, for security purposes, as if he is the incumbent president:
Although the Secret Service seems to have performed more ably in this instance than in the Butler attempt (a very low bar), the root of the problem is the same — a failure to secure enough of the perimeter in Trump’s vicinity to make any serious attempt on his life impossible. At a press conference on Sunday, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County explained, “At this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president — if he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded.”
Whatever other problems the Secret Service has, this one can easily be addressed with more resources and by treating Trump — twice a target, now — as if he is the incumbent president for security purposes.
The combination of heightened political tensions escalating into violence, recurring threats to the Republican nominee specifically, his own preference for being in open-air settings and physically close to his supporters, and the documented missteps by the Secret Service to date makes for a fraught final stretch of the presidential campaign. Reporting since Sunday has revealed more gaps in the protection of the nominee, though some of the problems appear to require the cooperation of Trump himself to address.
The Washington Post reported that authorities tried to warn Trump after he became president about the risks of golfing at his courses, presenting him with pictures taken by news photographers of him at his club in Virginia. “They reasoned that if photographers with long-range lenses could get the president in their sights while he golfed, so, too, could potential gunmen,” the newspaper reported. The New York Post noted that its photographers also have been able to take pictures of Trump from the same Florida course where a gunman allegedly tracked him last weekend. Further, Trump reportedly gave the Secret Service detail “short notice” he’d be golfing last Sunday, causing agents to skip sweeping the perimeter.
Yet it is hardly unusual for a modern president to go out golfing on weekends. Barack Obama did it (playing more than 300 rounds as president), and George W. Bush did it until he stopped out of sensitivity to the Iraq war dead. Trump is no casual duffer, either; he’s a golf-club owner and enthusiast of the sport. Part of the Secret Service’s job is to expect the unexpected, but it’s also to expect the expected. While agents were able to spot and fire at the suspect last weekend before he could take a shot, he reportedly spent twelve hours in the area before that encounter.
Meanwhile, more disturbing details are emerging about the security failures that preceded the first assassination attempt in July. The agency’s initial summary of its internal inquiry, released Friday, said communication breakdowns impeded efforts to intercept the shooter, among other findings. Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe pointed to “complacency” by some “that led to a breach of security protocols.” James Lynch reports on a separate whistleblower report on those failures released earlier in the week by Senator Josh Hawley:
Chief among them was law enforcement’s apparent choice to leave the rooftop of the American Glass Research (AGR) building unguarded, allegedly because of heat, before gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed atop the building to carry out the attack, [Senator] Hawley’s report states.
The report is based on whistleblower allegations brought to his office in the wake of Crooks’s rampage. . . . Overseeing the Secret Service’s security operations at the rally was an unnamed lead agent who apparently has a history of incompetence and who directed the placement of certain items around the stage of the Trump rally that impaired visibility. The individual is allegedly known to be a low-quality agent and failed an examination on the way to becoming a Secret Service agent.
Secret Service intelligence units were not at the Butler rally. If they had been there, they could have prevented or mitigated the communication breakdown between federal and local law enforcement, Hawley’s report says, a major allegation that he has not previously publicized.
The whistleblower, too, said the rally wasn’t set to receive additional security because Trump is not a sitting president or VP. The event was considered a “loose” security environment, James reports.
That should no longer be the case for Trump’s outings, for obvious reasons. As one former DHS official told Time, “Trump being Trump” requires more resources, in order to protect him, than usual for a former president. Jeff Blehar, with the last words:
Give him presidential-level Secret Service coverage, now. Screw the regulations. Joe Biden loves giving unlawful executive orders to spend a ton of money — I know this because he forgave $20,000 of my student loans without me even wanting him to — so break the damn bank if you must. Change the rules on the fly, and let someone file a lawsuit if they have to.
But you don’t want a dead presidential candidate on your hands.
NAME. RANK. LINK.
EDITORIALS
The Trump-attack editorial, once more, is here: Give Trump Full Protection
Jarkesy strikes again: A Welcome Blow to the NLRB
Another crowd-tailored, spur-of-the-moment, reckless idea from Trump: Trump Should Ditch SALT Deduction, Not Bring It Back
Returning to the theme from last weekend’s newsletter: 2020 Is Over
ARTICLES
Jeffrey Blehar: Israel’s Critics Will Only Be Satisfied If It Loses
Noah Rothman: Israeli Intelligence Is Amazing
Noah Rothman: The Violence Is Not Symmetrical
Brittany Bernstein: Why Was Ryan Routh Popping Up in the News Long before Alleged Trump Assassination Attempt?
Charles C. W. Cooke: What Are the Rules?
Ryan Mills: Troubled Man Accused in Trump Assassination Plot Once Praised as ‘Super Citizen,’ Sought ‘Monumental’ Cause
Ryan Mills: Anti-Theft Initiative Aims to Restore Order in California. Gavin Newsom Tried to Kill It
Rich Lowry: Next Time Cancel Me for Something I Actually Said
Rich Lowry: The Radical Norm at Elite Colleges
Dan McLaughlin: The Supreme Court Still Has a Serious Leak Problem
John Gustavsson: The Destruction of Greta Thunberg
Audrey Fahlberg & Brittany Bernstein: Don’t Expect to Know Who Won the Presidential Race on Election Day
Audrey Fahlberg: Exclusive: Mark Robinson Refusing to Drop Out of N.C. Gov Race over CNN Bombshell on Alleged Porn-Site Comments
Christian Schneider: Politicized Science May Make Us Sicker
Neal Freeman: Reagan, Thatcher, and Qaddafi
Last, a two-parter from Jim Geraghty:
Donald Trump’s Advantages in the Home Stretch of 2024
Kamala Harris’s Advantages in the Home Stretch of 2024
CAPITAL MATTERS
Former congressman Bob Goodlatte weighs in on another case of would-be federal overreach: The Unconstitutionality of Kamala Harris’s Rent-Control Plan
LIGHTS. CAMERA. REVIEW.
Brian Allen tells the captivating story of President/General Grant’s final days, by way of the home where he spent them: Grant Cottage: A Poignant, Dramatic Tribute and a History Museum That Works
Jeffrey Blehar promos a big interview on Political Beats: The Return of Singer-Songwriter Nick Lowe
Armond White finds news media–entertainment parallels: The Enigmatic Faces of TV News
FROM THE NEW, NOVEMBER 2024 ISSUE OF NR
Dominic Pino: The Coming Budget Blowout
Jack Butler: The Big Sky Senate Brawl
Tal Fortgang: Israel’s Bad-Faith ‘Critics’
Charles C. W. Cooke & Luther Ray Abel: Charlie and Luther’s Most Excellent Whizzbang American Roller-Coaster Adventure
OUR EXCERPTS IMPROVE WITH AGE
The new issue of NR is out. There is much to read about the 2024 campaign, both presidential and Senate, and more, but let’s start with something completely different, about a road trip. Charlie, Luther — rev your engines:
Sometimes, the best ideas start out nebulous. We were in a bar in Chicago, looking idly out of the window at the L train rumbling past, when it occurred to us that, with the summer rapidly approaching, it might be time for a road trip. Beyond that faint outline, though, the details were as hazy as a San Francisco afternoon.
What we wanted, we agreed, was “Whizzbang.” This would not be merely a “road trip”; it would be a “Whizzbang” road trip. It would have no obvious destination — though it would, of course, have to end. Its starting point would be home to neither of us — though it must, of course, be in America. It would be a road trip for the sake of a road trip, with the attractions we found along the way providing the purpose. It would, we decided, be Charlie and Luther’s Most Excellent Whizzbang American Road-Trip Adventure.
And yet, despite that jumble of words and ideas, it seemed to us that there was an ingredient still missing. The taco was ready, but the hot sauce was lacking. And then, like a fly landing on the end of our noses, it appeared: roller coaster.
Really, what else could it be? Is it even possible to string together such a title without injecting “roller coaster” into it? What could be more excellent? What could be more American? What could be more adventurous? “Charlie and Luther’s Most Excellent American Roller-Coaster Adventure.” Whizzbang!
And so, over the course of eight cyclonic, madcap, sun-and-rain-soaked days, the two of us drove 2,765 miles by car, flew 2,591 miles by plane, rode 34 roller coasters — which, taken together, threw us upside-down 107 times and dropped us 5,570 feet (that’s more than a mile and twice the height of the Burj Khalifa) — stayed in hotels and motels of profoundly varying repute, ate every type of roadside food we could imagine, and made our mark on 15 of these United States. We visited cities and got lost in the wilderness. We saw splendor and dilapidation. We rummaged back roads and we drove highways. We went, that is to say, to America — with all its many faces, fantasies, and foibles. Simon, Garfunkel, Kathy, and that man in the gabardine suit — eat your hearts out!
But first: what we didn’t do. What we didn’t do — by a mutual and sacred agreement — was take advantage of any modern technology or predictable convenience. Our ground rules for the journey were as follows. We would navigate by paper maps alone, book nothing in advance except our airfare, and neither eat nor lodge in any chain. We would not stare into our phones. We would stream no music; only local radio and pre-compiled mixtapes were permitted. And, to add a touch of surreality for ourselves and an unsuspecting public, we would wear Hawaiian shirts for the duration. Our one concession to comfort: We were permitted to stay with any friends or acquaintances we had along the route. But, if we did, we could not ask them to do anything on our behalf that we were forbidden to do ourselves. Our budget, door to door, was $2,000, including gas.
Are you signed up for NR’s Horse Race newsletter? If not, here’s how to remedy that. (Speaking of newsletters, you can also sign up for Jeff Blehar’s soon-to-be-sent, Tuesday-ly newsletter here.) This week, Audrey and Brittany explain why America might be waiting — possibly for days — to find out who won the election:
Most election forecasters predict that this year’s presidential election will come down to Pennsylvania. But don’t expect to know the results on Election Day, thanks to an election law that bars officials from processing mail-in ballots until the morning of November 5.
The closer the margin, the longer results could take. In 2020, Biden won Pennsylvania by roughly 80,000 votes and the state wasn’t called until Saturday morning — four days after the election. Four years later, a post–Election Day call in the Keystone State could fuel doubt in the results.
“If the mail-in ballots aren’t counted the day of the election, I don’t care who wins — the other side is not going to accept it, and it will lead to more division in our country,” Cambria County GOP chair Jackie Kulback said in an interview. “And I am scared by the level of divisiveness we’re dealing with right now.”
She’s not the only Republican who’s sounding the alarm. Sitting with National Review aboard his campaign bus here in Steelton, Pa., last Thursday, Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick expressed concern that it may take days for election officials to call the presidential election here — arguably the most competitive presidential battleground in the country, which Donald Trump won narrowly in 2016 and lost narrowly in 2020.
“I’m deeply worried about it,” the ex-Bridgewater CEO said in a wide-ranging sit-down interview with NR. He pointed to recent comments made by Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt about the possibility that mail-in ballots won’t be fully counted on Election Day.
Noah Rothman punctures media narratives about political violence:
Unlike Trump’s assailant in Pennsylvania . . . the would-be assailant in Florida left a paper trail suggesting that he was a highly impressionable figure radicalized in the support of progressive causes.
That might shock the press, but finding a single Trump supporter who is surprised by Sunday’s news would be a struggle. The political media are constantly on the lookout for right-wing violence; but much of the “sustained spate of political violence” to which Americans have been treated over the course of this election cycle has come not from Trump’s supporters but from his opponents.
In July, the town of Hancock, Mich., was terrorized by a lone all-terrain vehicle driver who vandalized two cars adorned with Trump campaign paraphernalia before he descended on an 80-year-old man putting up pro-Trump yard signs on his property. The 22-year-old assailant proceeded to run that person over, putting him in critical condition, before eventually calling the police to confess his involvement in the attack and, subsequently, committing suicide.
The return of students to American campuses amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas has put an end to the summer respite provided weary observers of the anti-Israel mobs and the chaos that accompanies them. Two Jewish students were reportedly attacked late last month by a keffiyeh-clad assailant wielding a glass bottle. Last week, a pro-Israel demonstration in a Boston suburb turned violent when a man charged at the gathering, accusing its participants of supporting genocide against civilians. The attacker reportedly “tackled” one of the demonstrators, who shot his alleged assailant with the handgun he happened to be carrying.
The press most certainly should be on the lookout for conditions that can trigger our unstable neighbors to acts of violence — particularly when the stuff that might trigger them isn’t true. And yet, the political violence to which the public has been privy since this summer cannot be attributed to the American Right. Given their prohibitive focus on the potential for Trump supporters to once again lash out violently, it’s reasonable to conclude that this summer’s sequence of events would send political reporters into fits of catastrophism if it could be linked to the GOP. But because the gunmen, the vandals, and the assailants are of the Left, no tenuous connections are drawn or dots connected to impugn the political movement to which they are inclined.
ICYMI in the assassination-attempt madness, Ryan Mills had a story earlier this week on an attempt at common sense in California:
With rising shoplifting rates and several high-profile smash-and-grab cases in recent years, Superior Grocers is among the California retail outlets that have taken to locking up everyday products to deter thieves. It also has instituted other security measures and invested more in security guards, which leads to higher costs for customers, Wardwell said.
Wardwell pins much of the blame on Proposition 47, a 2014 ballot initiative that reclassified six felony drug and theft crimes under $950 as misdemeanors, which he and others believe emboldened criminals by removing the threat of real penalties.
That is why [CEO Richard] Wardwell is backing Proposition 36, a new ballot initiative aimed at rolling back the worst parts of Prop 47. The ballot proposition would reinstitute the possibility of increased penalties for repeat drug and theft offenses, while also offering a pathway to treatment for offenders suffering from addiction and other mental-health struggles.
Governor Gavin Newsom and his far-left allies have gone to great lengths in their failed efforts to keep Prop 36 off the November ballot, claiming that the initiative is part of a racist war on the poor and a right-wing attempt to return the blue state to an era of mass incarceration. Wardwell disagrees with that assessment.
“We don’t want to put more people in prison,” he said. “We want them to stop stealing.”
Jeff Reisig, the district attorney in deep-blue Yolo County, near Sacramento, and one of the leaders behind Prop 36, told National Review that Prop 47 “took away the sticks” that prosecutors like him previously used to get drug and theft offenders to accept the carrots — treatment — they need to become functioning members of society. He said Prop 36 is a “carefully crafted” corrective “to address the flaws of 47.”
Recent polling shows that a majority of California voters support Prop 36, which has divided Democrats in the state — embattled San Francisco mayor London Breed and the Democratic mayors of San Jose and Santa Monica back the measure. But the initiative also has led to some rifts in the state’s business community.
CODA
In the category of covers that (IMO, of course) are better than the original, I’d nominate Johnny Cash’s take on “One.” With apologies to U2 evangelists.