*FPOTUS
XPOTUS
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AMOGUS
SCROTUS
Don’t give Elon Musk any ideas.
phteven
Officially, the title does not change.
Officially it absolutely does and the individual is supposed to bear the honorific of their most senior former office — Mister Trump, Senator Obama, Governors Bush and Clinton. Media uses “Former President” because it’s easier and people understand it. However the protocol is strict and would be observed at formal events and state receptions.
Wasn’t shocked until I saw the map. Holy shit! How was that roof/building outside the hard security zone?!
I am, at best, a mediocre shot and I’m no tactician nor a physical security expert. So I’d be looking at the area with a prejudice towards my own abilities. That shot would be tough for me, but doable even with irons.
The Secret Service has much to answer for.
Maybe it’s simply because he’s not the sitting president and his detail is much smaller? I’m not at all familiar with the way FPOTUS security is run but I do believe I remember they don’t get anywhere near the resources POTUS gets. They’re also not often running for reelection so this seems like an increased risk, reduced resources situation.
During Obama’s first campaign Bill Clinton came and spoke at a local college (maybe for Hillary? I’m not sure tbh, I was like 12), and I climbed up a statue plinth outside the speech zone to better see. Some guy in a black suit came and told me to get down immediately
Clinton spoke at my college commencement. He was still in office, I suppose. There were snipers on about every building in the city. 1000s of feet away. 100s of ft? A team of at least 2.
During Obama’s first campaign Bill Clinton came and spoke at a local college (maybe for Hillary? I’m not sure tbh, I was like 12)
Fuck that makes me feel old.
Doesn’t matter if its the sitting president or former you clear the roof secure the entrances then have people check it periodically even if it’s visual from a distance.
Or have one dude with an Amazon tier drone.
Normal practice is as follows for dignitaries let alone former presidents.
Secret Service man’s the venue itself. Local police man’s the perimeter. Every roof is not only secured but actually occupied. There’s an officer on every roof that is a concern.
Again, every roof physically has an officer on it. That’s how it’s handled for ambassadors, senators, and obviously leaders of a country.
Maybe it’s simply because he’s not the sitting president and his detail is much smaller?
USSS details are heavily supplemented by locals for events like this. Even if the USSS team was relatively small, somebody – whether it was USSS, local, or state police – should have had a location that blindingly obvious secured. That building was literally the only real elevated position with clear line of sight in the vicinity of the stage. The fact that somebody could get up there without immediate security response is really almost unfathomable if it weren’t for the fact that it happened.
Even still, the dude was on a roof only 400 yards away with minimal tree obstruction. How no one saw the dude climbing up there with a damn rifle and then set up in a prone position is beyond me. They’re claiming some people made comments that some weirdo was wandering around, but it’s baffling how counter snipers weren’t scanning everything and anything that allowed him to get as far as popping off as many rounds as he did.
Brace yourself…450 feet, not yards. It’s a reasonable distance for anyone with a good rifle, scope and experience.
Apparently the shooter was rejected from his school rifle club and asked not to come back.
Jesus, that’s unreal. That’s a pot shot even with a 22.
And yeah, I’ve been hearing that those investigating are having a heck of a time coming up with anything on this guy, apparently he was a real loner type.
All the more reason we really need more kindness in this world.
It is a bit surprising that there is no manifesto or any other indication of his motives.
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school rifle club
wtf is wrong with this country
Not having the club. The gun fetishization is a different problem entirely than teaching kids to use a tool safely and effectively.
His mistake was going for a headshot
“Aim small, miss small.”
I remember the last attempted assassination - that of Reagan by John Hinkley back in the 80’s. In my opinion those Secret Service agents reacted much quicker & better than Trumps detail did.
I was shocked that their initial reaction seemed to be to just stand there like human shields, letting him try to mug around them. They should have physically held him down and immediately start pushing him off the stage. Trump was largely a motionless target for a prolonged period of time, which the Secret Service should have not allowed.
Tbh it says if you’re going to assassinate Trump, use a Barret and aim for the cuddle puddle if you miss the first shot.
I don’t have the sources, but if I remember right, almost all recent presidents have had assassination attempts.
This is the only one that’s gotten as close as Reagan’s
Wasn’t there a story that Trump had corrupted the Secret Service to the point that Pence did not believe they were there to protect him? Perhaps this is what you get if you prefer loyalty over competence.
I think so too. Actual POTUS security is insane. They can’t do that for all former presidents. People may see “secret service” and think it’s all the same, but it’s not. Still pretty bad though for SS though, they could have done a better job.
It’s not just former POTUS though, it’s presidential candidate also. It honestly looks like a gargantuan fuck up.
Still not nearly as much as actual POTUS which is insane.
He is the presumptive candidate rather than the actual candidate. Of course that shouldn’t make a difference, but it could be a bureaucratic thing.
About 0 evidence to back this (only hearsay that this is what he does), but I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump surrounded himself with only yes men agents and was running with a C tier team.
I mean, we know that he choked one of his own secret service agents when he was presidient because he wasn’t getting his way. I doubt those guys have a very high opinion of him.
Simply put the secret service is not the infallible killing machines they’d like people to think they are.
Idk man they returned fire pretty much immediately. How’d he have time to line up a shot? A not bad shot for an amateur at that.
Are we to believe they were just a second too late?
The SS snipers were looking at the guy before he fired, they waited until he fired to shoot. My point being, they absolutely had the capability
Yeah but you need a hard ID that the guy has a gun. The second worst thing to letting a former president get shot is killing a random person at a rally because you thought they might have a gun.
Yeah. I wonder how many false alarms they face per rally.
Damn, that morning coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. Even despite the context it took me a few seconds to realise you meant Secret Service, not Schutzstaffel. Although the latter feels awfully appropriate when we’re talking about Trump.
yet one would think they would better secure one of the few roofs that is so close to the stage? it is not like this was a city square with one hundred rooftops and they let one slip. This was more like someone sticking a finger right in their eyes.
They need to give 12 year olds versions of high profile areas to crush out on fortnight so we can see where the real danger areas are.
With all the intelligence we’ve seen in Ukraine, one would think a cheap ass drone would have been helpful.
Got a link to the map?
Shockingly close, isn’t it? I kinda suck, but I could easily do that with a scope. Maybe with iron sights.
What indicates what on that map? There are two white and one black marker
Here’s a version with the labels still in it:
Holy crap that’s so close. Like not much past 150 meters.
For my fellow Americans, 150 meters would be 492 feet and 1 1/2 inches.
or roughly 82 bald eagles spread tip to glorious tip
Dude was a 6 iron away.
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Ah, that helps answer a question I’ve been having, which is whether we’re sure the bystander was killed by the assassin or if it’s possible he was hit by return fire from the Secret Service. Being between Trump and the assassin means yes, the latter is possible.
(Maybe a definitive determination of which possibility happened has come out already, but if it has I don’t know about it.)
150 - 200 m should not be a big problem for an average soldier with an AR and iron sights. Surely they would not aim for the head - which makes it easier too.
Wowwwww
nitpick: he’s not potus
Dunno, I’d address Barack Obama as “Mr President” if I saw him on the street.
Barack Obama isn’t a convicted felon, insurrectionist and traitor.
Well. Hasn’t been tried for the war crimes at least.
I’d call him “Basketball Barry” and fist bump him.
Barry O
Barmy B
He’d probably smile at that too
A terrorist fist jab, you mean?
Trump is a far fucking cry from Obama.
Donald Trump and Barack Obama are both United States Presidents and will both hold the title forever.
It’s not a matter of opinion.
I wouldn’t, but that’s because I think retaining the title after leaving office is ridiculous.
As a non-American, I will never not read POTUS as “piece of the utmost shit”
I am an American. I think you read it right…
As an America, that’s how I will read it from now on.
I only figured out what it meant recently. I always thought it was a new slang term inspired by Harry Potter.
Correct.
*convicted felon
The media continues to treat him with all of the respect that he doesn’t deserve.
Knowing nothing of circumstances, I am willing to bet this happened because his Secret Service detail is staffed with loyalists instead of professionals.
I’m sure he treats them like shit too and any secret service member worth their salt would rather be doing security for Taylor Swift lol
Imagine dedicating your life to law enforcement, then having to give your life to an orange clown
He choked one of them when he was president.
If only there was ONE MORE GUN at the Event someone could have Killed the Gunman before he got any Shots off!
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The fact that a former president has so much security points to the real problem - the position of President in the US has been king-lite for a while now and Trump didn’t even start it.
Making everything in your country depend so much on one person is not healthy.
It would be a really bad look to spend almost a trillion dollars a year on defense and still get politicians merked.
Well. None of the money is spent on defense as you claim. It spends on weapons to attack. Not defend.
I’m not claiming anything, that’s what the line item is called, as in the department of defense:
Defense is offense. War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
Haha fair enough!
The War Department existed from August 7, 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it split into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. The Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force later joined the Department of the Navy under the United States Department of Defense in 1949.
You are aware that a fighting force can both defend and attack as they see fit. Yes?
The War Department existed from August 7, 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it split into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. The Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force later joined the Department of the Navy under the United States Department of Defense in 1949.
Completely agree. It’s not about one person. It’s about confidence. Assurance.
Not only that, but having the entire executive branch come down to a single elected ticket is a clumsy and low-resolution choice for voters. Especially when you consider that there are only two tickets (blue and red) to vote for.
The position of the president is superfluous and should be eliminated. A president hires people to run the executive branch. That’s how senile Biden can be so effective. He hires well. The American people should be hiring (directly electing) the cabinet, the judicial branch, the top generals, the top ambassadors, etc. Those people could vote to approve/veto bills, or do other jobs currently reserved for the president. This would mean that our whole executive branch isn’t getting replaced every 4-8 years. I bet that if people were voting for each cabinet position independently, we would see a lot more specialized candidates running, and room for third-party break-ins to smaller positions. Each cabinet position is focused on specific issues that relate to that position. This gives voters more granular control over the executive branch. Have each position up for election on a staggered timeline so not everyone is up for election at once. Force the races to be focused on specific issues by making the election be about a specific department. Maybe AOC could win Labor Secretary, but that race shouldn’t have a foreign policy discussion. Maybe Bernie could run for Secretary of State as a referendum on pulling out of the Middle East. If we are electing people to specific jobs, we can focus on those jobs instead of all the other bullshit that the election cycle focuses on. Replace the presidency with a document/constitution that outlines the checks and balances, roles and responsibilities of each of these positions.
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“The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger.”
Supreme ChancellorTrump on next speechPeople who have been saying it was ‘staged’ are right, but not in the way they intend to be. I don’t think it was a conspiracy but when you look at the footage all the security people look so self-conscious. Trump himself was so self-conscious that he immediately started asking about his shoes and performing, turning it into a profile-building exercise, despite being in the middle of a firefight. What planet are all these people on? It was the same as the ‘insurrection’. It all looks so cheesy and amateur and dedicated to an audience.
Frankly, people act really weird in a crisis. Like totally unexpected behaviors and fixations on stuff you’d think you wouldn’t think about. Basically people tend to kind of short circuit when faced with an unfamiliar, panic situation. If people were acting particularly weird before the first shot, that would be suspicious. But once shots are fired, all bets are off for “weird” reactions. Haven’t been in a shooting event, but have seen people react to other traumatic stuff and it’s all over the place.
Yup. Saw a guy obsess over his headphones after flipping an ATV and puncturing a lung. Trauma does weird shit to people.
I know a guy who cased his dirtbike, ruptured his spleen, then walked back to the campground, sat down at the fire with a bunch of other people, and started drinking beer. They didn’t even know he had been in a crash until they noticed he was bone white, sweating profusely, and they asked him WTF was going on with him. Everyone there insisted he go to the hospital. Instead, he drove 2.5 hours home and sat on his couch, where his girlfriend had the same “WTF is going on with you” reaction. She ended up forcing him to let her take him to the emergency room. They admitted him immediately because his blood pressure was critically low. After surgery the doctor said he was like half an hour away from death. He acted like he was totally fine the entire time and he was literally dying.
Yep, like the stories from 9-11 where people were going back up the stairs because they forgot to turn their computer off.
People do, the Secret Service protection detail shouldnt. The fact that he got shot at AT ALL from an elevated position inside of a mile is a huge fuckup.
You’d think at minimum they’d have a quadrotor drone keeping a camera on building roofs nearby.
While I agree that can absolutely explain Trump’s behavior, it’s the Secret Service’s job NOT to short circuit in a panic situation. They’re trained to specifically handle moments exactly like this.
So you’re saying Indiana Jones reaching back for his hat before the stone door slammed shut on his arm was a panic response? Lol
No. Indiana did that because he’s a cool cat who has his shit together.
You… are aware that Indiana Jones is a fictional character, right?
WHAT?
That’s how life looks, man. I noticed this same thing many years ago after the Reagan assassination attempt. There’s that photo in black and white of secret service agent Robert Wanko holding an Uzi, bodies on the floor. It’s so chaotic and normal, the president is just a regular person, same as everyone around him, just trying to keep it together.
Reminds me of the true meaning of that line from the Constitution, “we the people.”
People misread it. It’s about the people coming together to form a government, as commonly understood, but it also states affirmatively that no diety or higher power is going to come and govern for us, it’s just us; fragile, emotional, stupid, us.
That is exactly how I would expect Trump to act in a panic though. That gives it more credibility as a real attempt quite honestly.
They let his ass stand back up and fist pump.
For an absolutely perfect photo op too. They couldn’t have planned it better if they tried.
Which leads to the question of…? Staged event?
Other than some conspiratorial ponderings, it makes me wonder if it’s a result of Trump’s SS team being primarily loyalist stooges rather than the best agents he could get. A preview of how the US will run in a second Trump term.
You really shouldn’t use that acronym, I definitely think of another organisation when I see SS.
When Trump’s running them, SS is the most accurate.
The secret service is probably not the elite agency people think it is. I bet once you get that job to protect a FPOTUS complacency creeps in. Since there hasn’t been an attack on former presidents on US soils since a long while before this incident. And it’s the other agencies that do most of the intel work. Also weren’t agents caught fucking prostitutes and beating up locals while being completely wasted when they were escorting the POTUS on a state visit a couple of years ago. Very professional wow.
He did choke one of his agents when he was president because he wasn’t getting what he wanted. I doubt they have a very high opinion of him. Not that they would let that affect their professionalism while on duty, but I doubt the best of the best are volunteering to help him.
Not just that, the link below (BBC interview) has a man saying he literally told police/SS about the shooter:
I suspect dudes with guns are common at his rallies so they didn’t think anything of it. Trump on Jan. 6th said something like “they’re not here to hurt me.”
“There’s an armed man on the roof!”
“Sir, those are our snipers they’re for your safety.”
“No look, over there!”
“Sir I need to focus please go away.”
They really did screw the pooch
something tells me there’s a bunch of secret service folks getting their asses royally chewed.
pretty rare to see a comprehensive failure from site security, countersniper physical security prep and countersniper active overwatch, a shitshow from the initial response, a shitshow trying to evac, and a shitshow once they got him into the suburban which then sat stationary for minutes instead of pulling out - when the standard is something like 45s from first shot to POTUS is on the move.
And the majority of the last bit is trump making it harder for them to do their jobs (he made them stop to get his fucking shoes), then tried to turn the exfiltration into a photo op while the ss is desperately trying to stuff him into the vehicle…
I think I’d call it a quantum clusterfuck in it’s manifold fuckosity, attaining an entirely new level of fucked up.
Look, I have no love for Trump, but I agree. Also wtf is with these reports that people in the crowd were alerting cops to someone climbing on the roof and they seemed slow to process? Do they not have protocols and a radio channel to the secret service - even if they’re confused could they not have alerted someone more professional?
This shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. It’s a disgrace.
Ahyep. It’s something to behold.
I have one theory, er, perhaps just brain fumes: former presidents often pick their post-presidential personal protection from the ranks of their presidential detail. Trump hires for loyalty and obedience - and probably silence. Something tells me he might not be fielding the best people suited for the demands of the job, but more likely the best people to cover up whatever heinous shit he gets up to.
See: Walt Nauta.
then tried to turn the exfiltration into a photo op
He very much succeeded at that.
Honestly it’s almost comical at this point. It’s the US secret service. Did they not have enough people to watch that area? Were they being lazy? Over comfortable and over confident?
It all just seems silly. Our taxes pay their salaries lol. Trump cheats on taxes. Universal karma?
Maybe they were just quiet quitting.
No one wants to protect the president anymore
“ok, we give them 3 free shots then we intervene.”
You know that fat old orange fart isn’t the president right?
