‘I’m an excellent driver.’
And being directed to the Limo that he was supposed to ride in. I suppose it’s the one with the flags on it.
After I drive, I drive right up on the green to putt.
As I understand it, once you’ve been president, you never drive again unless you reject Secret Service protection.
One thing I used to love about my NY driver’s license is that once you get photographed they let you keep using the same photo every time you renew. My NY license has a great photo of me that was taken about thirty years ago.
You may drive, but you won’t have to.
I’m not sure that what @BlankSlate wrote was in error. If you are under Secret Service protection, perhaps they won’t let you drive.
Was very cool that Seinfeld brought that Corvette to the White House and Obama drove it. Only around the grounds though.
A President, or an ex-President, may disregard Secret Service advice if he wishes to: Is the Secret Service responsible for keeping the president from getting drunk? - The Straight Dope
Does that mean Biden may never again drive his 'bitchin Camaro?
And yes, I know that isn’t a Camaro.
Of course, and the caveat “unless you reject Secret Service protection” was given. The question is, are the Secret Service prepared to accept any behavior from an ex-President and just continue to protect them as best they can? Or do they stipulate that the ex-President must follow their direction as a condition of protection. For the President, the former would obviously apply, but in the case of an ex-President, it’s not obvious to me that the SS should necessarily be willing to place their own agents in unnecessary danger to accommodate the whims of the protectee.
The SS wouldn’t let Trump go up to the capitol building on Jan 6. I’m sure they thought it was too dangerous for him (or themselves!) even though he said “they’re my people.”
There’s also the fact that former presidents aren’t allowed to drive on public roads.
There is official testimony on the record that they stopped him because they were concerned that it was too dangerous.
I decided to do some searching about whether or not the Secret Service officially has the power to override the POTUS if it’s a safety issue, and I found this interesting article:
Note that the article is from October 2020, months before the January 6 insurrection.
There is one quote in the article that I think is relevant:
The retired agent who spoke to ABC News also pushed back on reports that the agents were taking their cues directly from the president.
“The Secret Service has established protocols and procedures that are followed through a chain of command,” he said. “No agent should ever take it upon themselves to violate a protective procedure unless cleared by a supervisor, or if there was immediate danger of injury or death.”
To me that’s saying that the Secret Service will not obey the POTUS (or anyone else under their protection) if they are told to do something that compromises safety. Only orders through the proper chain of command are obeyed, and that doesn’t include orders coming directly from the top itself. Which makes sense. If the Secret Service couldn’t protect a person from themselves, they wouldn’t be nearly as effective.
It made me think of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady. “Hmmm, could it be… SATAN?”
Sometimes I wish they had just said “sure”. Driven him there, and let him head on into the building to participate directly in the insurrection. It would have been ugly, but it would have been all over that day. And we would not have him to worry about now.
In other words, Trump has not one fucking clue who his running mate will be.
What would the other insurrectionists do? Carry him crowd surfing style, and throw him through a window? Hmmm…
I’d hate to have to card people with those.