The Secret Service Makes Me Nervous
In 1962, composer Irving Berlin debuted his final musical, “Mr. President.” The show has a silly little song that contains the lyric “the Secret Service makes me nervous.”
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I thought of that song after the real Secret Service failed to protect former President Donald Trump at a rally three weeks ago in Butler, Pennsylvania. The bureaucracy seems to be putting more effort into protecting agency management than it did Trump.
We’ve heard the reports of how the shooter, Thomas Crooks, was spotted by some rallygoers as much as 90 minutes before he fired eight rounds, wounding Trump and two others and killing retired fire chief Corey Comperatore. A Secret Service sniper, the first to be deployed at these rallies, shot and killed Crooks. The familiar blame game started soon after.
Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after a poor performance before the House Oversight Committee during which she revealed little to nothing about the incident. Acting director Ronald Rowe Jr. acknowledged the agency failed in its mission to fully protect Trump, but blamed local law enforcement while revealing no information about the progress of the investigation. Local police pushed back at allegations they were at fault for the security breakdown.
Rowe and
