Don’t blame the ready availability of battlefield weapons for this past Saturday’s morally reprehensible attack on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Maybe it’s a mental health problem, but don’t blame Republicans cutting funding for mental health either.
The real problem, according to right wing nutjobs: diversity.
If only the Secret Service detail had been all men, maybe Trump wouldn’t been injured in the ear, and he would have been deprived of an opportunity to paint himself as a hero who has endured serious harm.
Although I have to wonder if Trump himself likes having women in his Secret Service detail. How else is he going to experience a woman’s touch these days, with porn stars in his past and dictator concubines in his future? Melania probably won’t give him more than the contractually obligated hand holding at events negotiated in advance.
Seriously though, there are plenty of women who are far more qualified to be Secret Service agents than a lot of men. Petula Dvorak offers this perspective to The Washington Post:
Women, y’all should know, have been protecting America’s presidents since 1861.
Yes, the guns, the earpieces, the stealth, the shades, even the mad, heroic drive to the hospital that helped save President Ronald Reagan’s life in 1981 and a middle-of-the-night ploy to save President Abraham Lincoln in 1861 have all been done by women.
Dvorak goes on to give an overview of Melanie Burkholder’s career as a Secret Service agent, having been on details to protect President Jimmy Carter (D, 1977 — 1981) and President George W. Bush (R, 2001 — 2009). Burkholder has won awards for her shooting, and she’d probably have very little trouble chasing a suspect down.
But, but… Trump is a large, overweight man, how can a small woman protect him? Supposed genius and so-called “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk actually posited that silly argument. I think I’ve given that stupid notion more space than it deserved.
Women have to pass all the same physical tests as the men — strength, endurance, marksmanship.
Cheryl Tyler, the first Black female agent to land a presidential detail, was so good at her job guarding President George H.W. Bush that she went on to become a trainer for other agents during her 15 years with the Secret Service.
“The women train the same way the men do,” said Tyler, who worked for the Secret Service for 15 years after joining in 1984. She was a little girl in the Midwest, told by her career counselor to go into a trade, not college, when she decided she wanted to become a Secret Service agent.
“They become proficient in all the weapons that we need to know how to handle. They can take them apart, put them back together in a timely manner,” said Tyler, who now runs her own security firm and wrote a book about her experience as a trail blazer in one of America’s most storied police agencies. “They know the rounds. They know their guns, they know what they’re supposed to do.”
The edited videos getting the most vitriolic comments online home in on a female agent who missed her holster for a split second.
I did notice that, not sure what to make of it. But it doesn’t actually matter: she did her part to get Trump into the secure vehicle. And Trump is not the most cooperative person for anyone to deal with.
But what about the part where the blond agent with her hair in a chignon is helping carry Trump down the stairs, when she put her body over him and he popped up over her for his photo op, Tyler pointed out.
In that moment, Trump cared more about building up his mythology than his own safety, and he didn’t care at all about the safety of his Secret Service detail. To his credit, Trump has not criticized any of the Secret Service agents.
The current director of the Secret Service is also a woman. Kimberly Cheatle has experience both in the private sector and as a member of a protective detail. Julia Reinstein for ABC News:
Much of the criticism has been aimed at the agency's director, Kimberly Cheatle. Cheatle, who was appointed to the role by President Joe Biden in 2022, had previously been the senior director in global security at PepsiCo.
Prior to her time at PepsiCo, she had served with the Secret Service for more than 25 years, including on [now-President] Biden's security detail while he was vice president.
In a statement announcing her appointment, Biden said he had "complete trust" in Cheatle, to whom in 2021 he bestowed a Presidential Rank Award, which honors "exceptional performance" as a high-ranking federal civil servant.
"When Kim served on my security detail when I was Vice President, we came to trust her judgement and counsel," Biden said. "She is a distinguished law enforcement professional with exceptional leadership skills, and was easily the best choice to lead the agency at a critical moment for the Secret Service."
Cheatle is one of only two women to ever serve as director of the Secret Service. Previously, she had been the first woman to serve as the agency's assistant director of protective operations.
In a 2022 interview with the trade publication Security Magazine, Cheatle reflected on being a woman in the Secret Service.
"That achievement in a male-dominated industry was not lost on me," Cheatle said. "I kept a photo on my desk of the first five women sworn into the service, and I used that to remind me that these women created opportunities for me and I can help others grow and lead as well."
So of course Republican dumbasses are saying Cheatle should resign, including Elon Musk. Supposedly Cheatle was “a DEI hire,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion, maligned almost as much as critical race theory.
The attack at Trump’s rally should have never been allowed to happen. There was definitely a lapse in security. But we don’t expect Republicans in Congress to get to the truth of the matter.
Republicans don’t think a woman can or should be president, and now they’re showing us that they don’t think a woman can or should be director of the Secret Service, no matter how distinguished her track record might be.