LARRY KUDLOW: Trump still has no clear, absolute presidential-level protection

Donald Trump still has no clear, absolute presidential-level protection and that’s the subject of the riff.  Will someone please explain to me, in plain English, whether or not Donald Trump, after two assassination attempts, now has presidential level protection on the campaign trail? 

No bureaucrat-ese. Does he have it? Or does he not? Following the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt, the Secret Service apparently told some House members that Mr. Trump had presidential type protection, but then came the attempted assassination at the Trump Florida golf course, where there was clearly no outside perimeter protection and insufficient resources on the golf course itself. Here’s what the Palm Beach County sheriff said. Take a listen… 

RIC BRADSHAW: “He’s not the sitting President. If he was, we would’ve had this entire golf course surrounded, but because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.” 

I’ll just say — and I’m no security expert — but there just wasn’t any sweep of the outside perimeter. So, clearly, the Secret Service was telling an untruth to House members. At that point last Sunday, there was no presidential-level protection. Now, on Tuesday evening, at a Politico event, DHS Secretary Mayorkas issued an incredible word salad that seems to dodge any clarity. 

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The Secret Service “has indeed enhanced the former president’s security posture so that he is receiving a level of security commensurate with the fact that he’s a former president and on the campaign trail and so his alignment with the security posture of our president is, in fact, quite approximate.” I don’t see any clarity here. What is he talking about? 

Why hasn’t he made any official appearances? The guy is nowhere to be found, whether it’s Secret Service protection, or the catastrophe at the U.S. southern border. For clarity, we have to look to a bipartisan House bill that passed today 405 to 0, and “imposes uniform standards for the security of presidents, vice presidents and major White House candidates.” 

OK, there you have it. There’s no “commensurate”, there’s no “approximate” — it’s very clear. Undoubtedly, this House bill will pass the Senate, and that will mandate presidential protection for Mr. Trump. Former DHS Secretary Chad Wolf in an interview a couple of days ago talked about “threat-based” resource model. Here, take a listen… 

CHAD WOLF: “This needs to be threat based. President Trump definitely has a different threat picture than Vice President Harris so, the resources needed to be allocated as such.” 

So far, neither President Biden nor DHS Secretary Mayorkas has seemingly given any clear orders. Mr. Trump himself has been very gracious about the Secret Service and local law enforcement after the golf course assassination attempt. Take a listen to what he said Wednesday in Long Island. 

DONALD TRUMP: “This evil would-be assassin got within a few hundred yards of where I stood, but thankfully, our outstanding Secret Service agent, and they are outstanding. // I want to express my thanks to the U.S. Secret Service who was there that day and to all of the sheriffs and law enforcement down in Florida, the heroes who helped to apprehend the attacker.” 

All this begs the question of whether even blanket presidential-level Secret Service protection has the high value that we all hope it does. At a press conference today, Acting Director Ronald Rowe talked about communication deficiencies at Butler, PA between the Secret Service and local law enforcement. He said the Service was to blame, because their preparation for that rally was a failure, they had not given adequate guidance for the local authorities, and then some word salad about how the agency is now moving into “the accountability phase.” 

I don’t know what that means. Rowe’s entire presser, in fact, seemed like yet more word salad, with words like “paradigm shift” or “needed shift in operations” or “principles of Secret Service methodologies,” but, from recent experience, we’ve had very poor principles and failed methodology. 

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He talked about disciplining certain agents and various internal review processes, but, as I have suggested many times before, neither the Secret Service nor the FBI can be counted on for anything remotely like a true review of what has been going wrong with the service, and for that matter, the FBI, and, for that matter, the intelligence agencies, including the CIA. 

The left-wing bias in all these agencies, including DEI hiring policies, has created a rats nest that needs to be completely cleared out and this shouldn’t be partisan. Democratic presidential candidates should be grateful for significant changes in their protection, as much as Republican candidates, but meanwhile, as Washington dithers, there are 46 days left in the current presidential campaign. Heaven help us if those days aren’t completely safe. 

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the Sept. 20, 2024, edition of “Kudlow.”