Editorial: Up the game in protecting presidential contenders

It shouldn’t take another attempt on Donald Trump’s life to convince the Secret Service its strategy for protecting the former president is inadequate.

A second apparent try at assassinating the former president came Sunday, when a man with a high-powered rifle and scope set up on the perimeter of the Florida course where Trump was playing golf and remained in place for 12 hours waiting for his apparent target.

An agent working a few holes ahead of Trump’s golfing group spotted a gun barrel jutting from the shrubbery and fired into the gunman’s hiding place. After a short chase, suspect Ryan Routh, who has a disturbing anti-Trump social media profile, was arrested.

Luck and good police work led to a better outcome than the first assassination attempt on July 13 at an outdoor Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where shooter Thomas Crooks was able to climb onto a roof with a rifle and fire off several shots before he was killed by the security detail. The president was struck in the ear and a firefighter attending the rally was killed.

The Biden administration responded with a promise of beefed-up security for Trump, as it did again after Sunday’s attempt. Obviously, whatever steps were taken did not close the gap in the protective shield around Trump. It is essential that happens now.

While the Secret Service says Trump is getting maximum protection, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County said in a briefing after the arrest the level of security for Trump as a candidate was less than it was while he was president.

The competing claims aside, the fact is Routh was able to get into shooting position near where he expected to encounter the president and stay there for hours. Questions must be answered about how the area was swept and how Routh knew where Trump would be on a day the former president’s schedule was not made public. Frankly, Trump could aid his own security by foregoing outdoor rallies in harder-to-secure venues, and perhaps take a break from the golf course until after the election.

He shouldn’t have to do that, but the reality is there are people out there who want to kill him. He could make it much more difficult for them by making himself a smaller target.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, warned during a Tuesday appearance in Michigan a successful assassination of a presidential candidate this fall would “destroy the social fabric of this country.” Sadly, he’s right. Federal authorities have known for months of a credible plot by Iran to assassinate American officials. That alone should have toughened the protective shield around Trump.

Full protection should also now be extended to Vance, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. All should be assumed to be at high risk. Preventing an assassin’s bullet from altering the course of this presidential campaign, and thus, American history is a must-not-fail mission for the Secret Service and other security agencies. This is one time when the marching order should be spend whatever it takes to get the job done.

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