Too many senior law enforcement officials have a talent for both contradicting and congratulating themselves.
For instance, during a confusing press conference on Sunday afternoon, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in Florida mixed honesty with platitudes as he explained how a deranged would-be assassin got perilously close to former President Donald Trump for the second time in little more than two months.
“He’s not the sitting president,” Bradshaw flatly stated.
In other words, the sheriff admitted that U.S. Secret Service officials still have not committed the same protective resources to Trump that they would under similar circumstances for President Joe Biden.
On July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks got within several hundred yards of Trump. From an infamously “sloped” roof, Crooks fired eight rounds, which wounded Trump in the ear and killed firefighter Corey Comperatore.
Then, on Sunday, police arrested 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh on suspicion of attempting to assassinate the former president.
At the press conference, Bradshaw effectively admitted that the Secret Service has learned very little since the first assassination attempt. Keep in mind, Bradshaw wasn’t speaking on behalf of the Secret Service — making the eventual USSS contradiction even more eyebrow-raising.
“Probably between three and five hundred yards,” the sheriff said in response to a question about how close the alleged assassin managed to get to the former president at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach on Sunday.
“But with a rifle and a scope like that, that’s not a long distance,” Bradshaw added.
Should Secret Service deploy maximum security around Trump wherever he goes?
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Thus, the sheriff conceded that the alleged assassin did indeed get within potentially lethal distance of Trump.
Nonetheless, the sheriff would not blame the Secret Service’s security perimeter.
“Well, you gotta understand, the golf course is surrounded by shrubbery. So, when somebody gets into the shrubbery they’re pretty much out of sight,” Bradshaw said in response to a reporter who asked how something like this could happen and whether the golf course would see enhanced security in the future.
As one might expect, social media users instantly recognized “shrubbery” as the new “sloped roof“-style lame excuse from law enforcement.
“Secret Service thwarted by… shrubbery,” entrepreneur David Sacks wrote on the social media platform X. For mockery purposes, Sacks included a popular meme of cartoon character Homer Simpson disappearing into bushes.
Secret Service thwarted by… shrubbery. pic.twitter.com/pTRgdL3QF7
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) September 15, 2024
In other words, by now many Trump supporters have a healthy skepticism of most government officials.
Bradshaw then explained that even now the former president simply does not merit Biden-like protection.
“At this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president,” the sheriff said of Trump.
“If he was, we would have had the entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, the security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,” Bradshaw added.
Apparently, that did not include shrubbery located within a few hundred yards of the former president.
“So, I would imagine the next time he comes to the golf course there’ll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter,” the sheriff predicted.
Incredibly, in the very next breath, Bradshaw praised the USSS for doing everything right.
“But, the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done. They provided exactly what the protection should have been. And their agent did a fantastic job,” the sheriff said.
First, Bradshaw predicted more security around the perimeter next time.
Then, he praised the Secret Service for providing “exactly” the right protection this time.
Perhaps the reader can reconcile those two statements, for I cannot.
In any event, moments later another reporter asked a Secret Service representative if the agency had made changes to its protection of Trump since the first assassination attempt.
“Yes, the threat level is high,” the representative replied. “We have increased the amount of assets that we’ve supported. So we are — we live in danger times. So, yes.”
He did not elaborate the seemingly contradictory statement.
Bradshaw then concluded the press conference on a self-congratulatory note.
“Be proud of your law enforcement,” the sheriff said.
Readers may view the entire press conference in the YouTube video below:
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Perhaps Bradshaw admitted more than USSS officials would have liked. And perhaps the sheriff did it on purpose. If so, then his performance was heroic.
Otherwise, the press conference merely confirmed what many Trump supporters already believe. Namely, the Biden regime — most likely a handful of people at or near the top of multiple agencies — do not want the former president to receive the protection he clearly needs.
And they’ll use whatever bureaucratic jargon they want to make sure Trump doesn’t get it.
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