The purpose of today’s post is not to make light of the second attempt to assassinate former president Donald Trump.  Political violence, under any circumstances, is not acceptable in a democracy where their vote is the only weapon citizens should wield.  Nor do I have the definitive answer how the Secret Service can guarantee the safety and security of any public figure.  My goal, as always, is to ask questions that no one else seems to proffer.  But first, two important facts.

#1: The following picture taken by Palm Beach Post photographer Thomas Cordy shows the section of the perimeter where Ryan Routh camped out for close to 12 hours on Sunday morning.

This photograph also appeared in an article by BBC News correspondent Madeline Halpert in which she describes the situation Sunday morning as follows.

The gunman – who investigators say did not fire any shots – was concealed by the well-manicured shrubbery and tall palm trees that line the perimeter of the 27-hole course.

He had been lurking there on the public side of a fence since 01:59 local time on Sunday morning, according to mobile phone records, cited by federal officials.

#2: Unobstructed line-of-sight photographs of a golfing Trump taken from outside the course’s perimeter set off alarm bells among those tasked with the president’s security.  On Monday, Washington Post investigative reporters Carol Leonig, Josh Dawsey and Isaac Stanley-Becker reminded readers these concerns existed from day one of the Trump presidency.

Soon after Donald Trump became president, authorities tried to warn him about the risks posed by golfing at his own courses because of their proximity to public roads. 

These two facts raise the question, “If security was such an issue when Trump was playing golf, no infrequent situation, why would HE permit those responsible for the perimeter of HIS golf course, to configure the barrier between public roads and his private property in such a way that they literally created a shooting blind for a wannabe assassin?”  If only the “well-manicured shrubbery and tall palm trees” had been INSIDE the fence, there is no way anyone on the public side of the fence could go unnoticed, especially if he camped out for 12 hours.

What’s more, putting the bushes and trees INSIDE the fence would add an additional level of difficulty for anyone targeting Trump.   The gunman would have to aim and shoot through the shrubbery, not from it.

One answer, of course, is vanity.  It is easy to imagine the conversation between Trump and course designer Jim Fazio back in 1999 when Fazio was commissioned to lay out what became Trump’s first golf property.

Jim, you know, it’s not enough for the course to be beautiful.  I want all those people who cannot get in, but pass by, to see how magnificent it is.  We need to surround the course with the most perfect, beautiful landscaping in the world.  It can’t look like a prison.

That may have been acceptable when the owner was a bankrupt real estate developer turned reality show host.  But not as president or now former president/MAGA party nominee.

There is one other option.  The next time Trump hosts a rally at Mar-a-Lago, he can reach deep down into his bag of greatest hits and revive the chant, “Build that wall.  Build that wall.”  To save money, he could replicate the winning design from the border wall competition, 30-feet high, black paint with spikes on the posts.  And he could sell official DJT golf apparel and equipment to pay for it.  Maybe even auction the polo shirt he was wearing at the time of the intended assault.

Of course, the fence might serve a future and quite different purpose.  Trump International could become his personal minimum security prison, if Judge Merchan and others sentence him to house arrest.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP