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Did Trump almost DIE thanks to DEI?
At the end of a dizzying week of news headlines, here’s the latest: Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned.
It was difficult to see this ending any other way.
Almost daily a new, scandalous revelation about the Trump hit job had emerged.
A prime sniper’s nest was left exposed a stone’s throw from the former president.
Rally attendees urged police to intervene minutes before the first shots were fired.
Police spotted the would-be assassin toting a rangefinder hours before the event began.
Officers were not stationed on the shooter’s roof due to its slope.
The fact pattern emerging from last weekend is a conspiracy theorist’s paradise. But there is another major failure for us to interrogate in relation to Trump’s near-death experience: DEI.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has been corroding American culture for years on end. Happily, last year’s Harvard scandal seems to have marked the advent of peak woke. Even so, it will take time to purge this ideological toxin from America’s institutions.
As a case in point, look no further than the Secret Service.
It is clear to even a casual observer that the female agents assigned to Trump’s detail were, despite their evident bravery, too short to provide cover for their asset’s neck and head, and were at key moments apparently frightened and confused, fumbling firearms and sunglasses.
Judging by those scenes, one cannot help but wonder whether the Secret Service, like so many other American institutions, has been sacrificing excellence to appease the god of wokeness.
Operating with absolute distinction is central to the Secret Service’s mission. Its agents have one of the most important jobs in the country as guardians of the president and other high-profile political figures.
However, under Kimberly Cheatle, the standards slipped, and she effectively conceded as much, as recently highlighted at City Journal by Christopher Rufo.
Since Cheatle’s appointment in 2022, the Secret Service made “diversity” a key prerogative, boasted that it “prioritizes recruiting women candidates,” and published an “affirmative action” plan aimed at ramping up the number of women, LGBT employees and Native Americans, among other select identity groups.
“I’m very conscious, as I sit in this chair now, of making sure that we need to attract diverse candidates and ensure that we are developing and giving opportunities to everybody in our workforce, and particularly women,” Cheatle told CBS News last year. Her target was 30 per cent female recruits by 2030.
CBS News Report reveals what Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has been focused on: diversity hires pic.twitter.com/IoKnY4uj6M
— Matt Batzel (@MattBatzel) July 14, 2024
Such goals do not come without a cost. On the agency’s website are two separate sets of fitness standards — one for men and a less arduous one for women.
There in writing is Cheatle’s confession that the excellence of the Secret Service was been made subservient to the goals of DEI.
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As Rufo elaborates in his brilliant piece:
To say it plainly: there is no need for women in a president’s security detail. The Secret Service is an elite institution that can funnel down a large number of candidates to select the few who will protect the president. The best candidates—the strongest and fastest, the best marksmen—will be men. That’s just reality.
Rufo adds that Cheatle “understands how to pursue success in the current environment: tell the story of ‘diversity’ to advance in a career, degrade the quality of personnel by hiring ideologically, and hope that the remaining capable men who still represent the core of the service can make up the difference.”
That is what we saw in evidence last Saturday — and as a result, in the words of Rufo, it was “luck, not competence” that allowed Trump to escape the shooter’s crosshairs with just a graze on his ear.
The female officers were courageous, but courage is not enough. Biology doesn’t bend to our personal preferences. As another commentator, Will Spencer, put it, “Men think in single focus. Women think in diffuse awareness.” That’s a good thing — but it means that men and women are built for different tasks.
To be sure, correlation does not equal causation. Once the appropriate investigations are complete, it is likely that a whole host of mistakes contributed to a catastrophic moment that might have forever altered the history of America.
There can be no question, however, that DEI has a corrupting influence that leads directly to incompetence, corruption, discrimination, and fraud.
With the Oversight Committee launching its own investigation into the Secret Service’s failures, maybe we will find out the extent of DEI compromise within the agency, and the degree to which it impacted events in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Either way, here’s hoping DEI will finally go die in a hole. No doubt a second Trump presidency would help with that, too.
Were you surprised by how badly the Secret Service fumbled the ball? Tell us in the comments.
Kurt Mahlburg is a husband, father, freelance writer, and a familiar Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He is the Senior Editor at Australia’s largest Christian news site, The Daily Declaration, and a Contributing Editor at Mercator. His writings can also be found at Intellectual Takeout, The American Spectator and the Spectator Australia. He has authored or co-authored five books, including his breakout title Cross and Culture: Can Jesus Save the West?
Image credit: ABC News (Australia)
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mrscracker commented 2024-07-27 06:05:20 +1000I don’t know if it was an intentional nod to DEI or just a random pick, but a BBC article about the shooting today featured a photo taken from an angle that made it less obvious the female Secret Service agent was significantly shorter than Mr. Trump.
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Peter commented 2024-07-27 02:00:19 +1000I have read many of your articles over the years, Kurt, and have enjoyed them immensely, but lately your articles have taken on a style that is typically that of right-wing conservatives.
I haven’t the time to debate the importance or otherwise of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, in society today. But, I do want to make one comment you made in your opening paragraphs, which I found unfortunate and factually incorrect.
The Secret Service Agents attempt “to provide cover for their asset’s neck and head” was made extremely difficult because their “asset’s head and neck” wouldn’t stay down and under cover. Mr D. Trump wouldn’t follow the orders of his protection team and, instead, kept trying to milk the event for all it was worth by throwing his fist into the air and inciting his followers to violence by yelling a number of times for them to “fight”!
And, then, the Republican Party had the temerity to place the blame of this event on the Democratic Party, when it was a member of the Republican Party who did the shooting! It is the rhetoric of the Republican Party that calls for violence – “Fight. Fight. Fight”. -
Steven Meyer commented 2024-07-25 10:11:20 +1000LoL, I should have guessed ol’ Kurt would come up with something like this.
Reality check: The Secret Service, like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is not the elite corps depicted in movies and novels.
They fumble. In fact they have a history of blunders They make mistakes. Many of their members are time servers.
Nothing to do with DEI and everything to do with what happens in any bureaucracy. It decays over time.
See examples here:
Prostitutes, Grenades and Drunk Driving: 20 Years of Secret Service Scandals
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/slideshows/prostitutes-grenades-and-drunk-driving-20-years-of-secret-service-scandals
Note that most of the scandals involve white men. Not surprising since, for most of it’s history, it was largely a corps of white men.
But a story about DeI nearly causing the death of Trump plays to some people’s preconceived idea so they’ll believe it.
B tW I don’t think Kamala Harris will win in the Electoral College. She’s energised the Dem base but she’s also energised the Trumpies who really, and I mean really, hate her. So she won’t win the swing states.
That’s politics twenty-first century style. Energise your base with hatred.
It’s all about the hate. -
Kurt Mahlburg commented 2024-07-25 02:26:23 +1000Anon, it was Trump’s choice to risk danger by standing up, but that does not change the fact that it is the Secret Service’s responsibility to provide appropriate agents for the roles they fulfil, which includes their height, among the gamut of other issues I discussed.
Once again, I am tapping out of this thread.
Thank you for your encouraging words Mrs Cracker :) -
Anon Emouse commented 2024-07-25 02:20:35 +1000Kurt,
You can’t praise Trump for courage for standing tall and raising his fist (again, in an active shooter situation) while secret service is trying to usher him away, and in the same breath lambaste the secret service for not being physically tall enough to do that. It’s extraordinarily disingenuous of you -
mrscracker commented 2024-07-25 00:12:37 +1000And thank you Kenneth for sharing that about Gaddafi’s female body guards. I had no idea. That’s really interesting.
I’ve heard that some of the fiercest fighters in WWII were Russian women. Just to mention, maternal instincts may be nurturing but they’re also deeply protective. You don’t mess about with mama bears.
:) -
mrscracker commented 2024-07-25 00:07:45 +1000You are welcome Mr. Kurt. I always look forward to your articles. And I agree. Mr. Trump’s attitude after being shot was just amazing. How many young people would have that sort of recovery following a trauma, much less someone approaching 80? It was remarkable.
I used to have a dog who reminded me of Donald Trump. He was completely fearless & never, ever backed down. Absolutely nothing intimidated him, even when for safety’s sake it probably should have. In spite of that he lived to be 20. I hope Pres. Trump is blessed with the same sort of longevity. -
Kurt Mahlburg commented 2024-07-24 23:58:14 +1000Great observations Mrs Cracker, thanks.
Anon, what you read as stupidity, many people saw as courage on the part of Trump, and I tend to agree with them. It was a moment of American history that will long outlive Trump. There are moments when safety is not the highest virtue (I think we learned this during Covid). Trump’s fist pump was one such moment. -
mrscracker commented 2024-07-24 23:37:55 +1000Thank you so much for sharing this article.
One of my children’s friends is a beautiful mother of several children who works in military intelligence. Women are absolutely as capable in intelligence & security operations as men are but in physical, bodyguard roles men have the advantage.
If a woman possesses the height & physical attributes required for a bodyguard position, then why not?
There were multiple security failures at the Trump rally and the former Secret Service head really should have stepped down immediately. Not only was a former president nearly assassinated but an innocent bystander was killed & 2 others seriously wounded. Just a massive & tragic security failure . -
Anon Emouse commented 2024-07-24 23:25:52 +1000Kurt,
He’s a 6’-3”, 215 lb (allegedly) man who, while secret service was trying to usher him away, fought against them to try and stand up and raise his fist in the presence of an active shooter. Your implication earlier of them being “too short” misses the mark in your analysis, because you want to connect everything to “DEI” for some bizarre reason. Are you suggesting the secret service exclusively hire 6’-4”, 230 lb men to be able to strong arm their protectee everywhere? -
Kurt Mahlburg commented 2024-07-24 21:59:40 +1000Anon, I fear your TDS is running away from you!
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Kurt Mahlburg commented 2024-07-24 21:55:37 +1000Hi Kenneth, thanks for sharing. Fascinating about Gaddafi’s bodyguard — I wasn’t aware of that.
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Anon Emouse commented 2024-07-24 21:28:11 +1000I don’t know, Kurt, I think Trump was too stupid to be protected by secret service regardless of your “DEI” boogeyman. What kind of moron stands up and tries to raise his fist triumphantly when he hears gunshots?
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Kenneth Ndehi commented 2024-07-24 19:55:29 +1000Hi Kurt. I almost completely agree with you on DEI. However, female protectees still need the protection of a woman when in private spaces. It is still possible to get qualified female agents without DEI. Muammar Gaddafi had an all-female bodyguard and they looked really mean. Interestingly they had to take an oath of chastity. They were not allowed to bring out their naturing maternal side.
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