Which is why you go in already having a script for that kind of response to a question that potentially exposes things you do not want an adversary to know. No need to throw anyone under the bus for show, just make it clear that there are things you cannot just share in the open for the public record. If they are serious about what they are doing, they will accept to go into a closed-door briefing for those things.
Great, now I need to change my pants and get a mop…
Not to mention the spouse of a former President (and a former Secretary of State herself) who was also a candidate.
The bullet that zinged Trump’s ear might not have hurt him physically all that much but it looks like the emotional damage has set in. Trump, rather than being his usual defiant self, has decided to change the course of his campaign in response to the shooting:
Yes Donald, it’s impossible to be assassinated while indoors.
Your Friend,
Abe
Might be related to Secret Service having previously said outdoor rallies were a problem.
It may be that this finally drove home how he can’t realistically expect unlimitedly ramped up resources just “anywhere”. I bet the campaign and Secret Service had been pulling their hair for some months about places like that PA event but there was always that whole thing of, hey, you have to find a way to make it work. The article does mention that open-air but contained venues like stadiums will still be in consideration.
I imagine it’s much easier to secure the entry in an indoor rally - the entry points are easy to secure and you don’t really have to worry about anything outside the building. Or rather, it would be very difficult to get a gun inside the building, and a gun outside the building is not much of a concern.
I also imagine it’s much cheaper have outdoor rally’s in a “field” so to speak, and a gun outside the perimeter is still very much a concern. Obviously.
This depends on how resourceful your opponents are:
Counter-sniper teams, sure. Counter-artillery? Although I am sure the Secret Service is well familiar with this attack, it seems an order of magnitude harder to prepare for.
Given Trump’s record of stiffing venues he’s campaigned at for the expenses, one would hope any future locations will insist on the money up front before providing their facilities.
So if he’s not allowed to hold rallies outdoor because of security issues, and indoor rallies require payment in advance, does that mean, no more rallies?
He’ll find someone with a rally venue that he’ll be able to talk into letting him host the rally in exchange for payment later. He always finds idiots who are willing to put up with him.
Nah, it just means that cities in addition to those already owed money by Trump, will now be owed money by Trump.
Of all the things that his fans give him a pass for—and there are too many to list—this is the one that always surprises me most. The number of merchants and craftspeople and municipalities and others stiffed by Trump is huge. How do his fans talk themselves into believing that this is what a Good and Noble and Godly person does?
I’m not sure they think he is good, noble or godly. They just love his attitude. “Fuck the world, only I can fix things, I’m here for you.”
I agree that a large proportion of his cult members are there for the resentment and vicarious “retribution.” But another large proportion are there for the Biblical Prophecy aspect–they genuinely believe he is God’s Chosen. Those are the ones I’d think would have a bit of a problem if they ever allowed themselves to think about his habit of stiffing contractors, etc.
Of course the answer likely is that they do NOT allow themselves to think about it. And with our siloed media, they are able to avoid the awkwardness of being confronted with the topic.
A lot of them don’t, but they feel the Democratic candidate (whoever the D is) is even less so. It’s not about the candidate’s behavior, but about the results that he or she will deliver for them.
My Trump cultist friend (the female one) thinks believes he is.
EDIT: Posted before I saw this:
True enough, probably for the majority of the MAGAs. They don’t care anything about Trump being a deadbeat, any more than they care about him being an assaulter of women (and serial cheater), because he’s going to stick it to all the people they resent and hate.
Even so, it must require a certain amount of doublethink effort, to ignore the clear signs that Trump is someone you would never want to be associated with in their personal lives.
I often wonder how long they can keep up that mental effort.
No doubt there’s some overlap between the pure ‘he’ll stick it to the people who’ve disrespected me’ position and the ‘He is Our Lord’ position.
In either case, no sane person would want to inhabit any of those brains. Cray-cray city.
Back to Trump Bloody, though: in the Secret Service-head hearings, someone asked if the bullet that had—we are assuming—hit Trump had been recovered. No answer, of course (she answered basically NO questions).
As far as I know we have NOT had it confirmed that whatever it was that impacted Trump’s ear was a bullet, much less one from Crooks’s weapon.
It would be nice to know, one way or the other.
I posted this in The BBQ Pit:
Ah, thanks. Yeah, my impression was that the facts had not yet been nailed down.