As another sign of his contempt for the institutions he has been elected to lead and defend, Donald Trump is keeping his private goon squad on the payroll to play bodyguard right alongside the Secret Service. This unusual reliance on private security puts the President at greater risk…
“It’s playing with fire,” said Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent who worked on President Barack Obama’s protective detail during his 2012 reelection campaign. Having a private security team working events with Secret Service “increases the Service’s liability, it creates greater confusion and it creates greater risk,” Wackrow said.
“You never want to comingle [sic] a police function with a private security function,” he said, adding, “If you talk to the guys on the detail and the guys who are running the rallies, that’s been a little bit difficult because it’s so abnormal” [Kenneth P. Vogel, “Trump Private Security Force ‘Playing with Fire’,” Politico, 2016.12.19].
…because Trump’s private security force, led by retired policeman and Navy vet Keith Schiller, isn’t as good as the Secret Service:
In March, when a 32-year-old man jumped a barricade and rushed toward the stage as Trump was speaking at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, Secret Service agents immediately descended on Trump from opposite sides of the dais, encircling him in a human shield as a handful of other agents tackled the man before he could leap onto the stage. About a second after the first two agents reached Trump, Schiller leapt onto the stage and moved to position himself between the scrum and his boss.
…in law enforcement circles, Schiller’s reaction was panned as too slow, and was the subject of disapproving conversation among agents, according to a law enforcement source briefed on the conversations. The source said one agent described Schiller as the “JV trying to keep up in a varsity game.”
Specifically, the source said that Schiller came from a position on the dais that the agents would have used to evacuate Trump if that were to have been necessary. “If that happened, they would have run right into Keith. He was about three seconds too late,” the source said [Vogel, 2016.12.19].
No patriot wants the President of the United States assassinated. To be a patriot, as in so many other areas, President-Elect Trump needs to set aside his personal preferences and listen to the experts who know best how to do the job.
So many of Trump’s bad decisions have no effect on him. This bad decision, if he persists, could have a terrible effect on his wellbeing. Although, I think the Secret Service could handle the situation as long as Trump’s people stay out of the way and don’t shoot anybody accidentally.
Even before inauguration he’s discounted the capabilities of USA’s CIA, FBI and Secret Service. Does this seem a bit paranoid?
I’m guessing Julius Caesar could have done with a few less armed companyeros around hizown dead self. But, Drumpf doesn’t heed history or much of anything else.
This is a smart move by Trump. If an innocent gets blasted or maimed, the “security person” just blends in and no one gets sued. He, Trump gets to sue the perp for whatever trumped up reason he can think of. Walking around money is important.
Trump may be worried that since he is such an ass that people will want to shoot him to save the country. Kennedy got shot on a three block part of the route that was changed the day before so it probably was an inside job. To have a few of your own for an ace up your sleeve could occasionally make a difference if only to be in on the conversation to stop insider complaining, which is probably not a big problem if we select our secret service people well. If the buffoons buffoons literally get in the way they are a huge problem. Those people are fast and need the space.