The Secret Service will be especially alert during President Trump’s 2-hour and 15-minute visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
Trump’s rationale for traveling to Kenosha is obvious. Trump will offer some comfort to those who have lost their businesses in recent riots over the shooting of Jacob Blake. His political interests are front and center. Since the nationwide protests and riots that followed the May killing of George Floyd, Trump has centered his reelection campaign on a message of law and order.
Considering the growing alarm with which people view the unrest in so many cities, Trump’s message is gaining traction. He finds added benefit here in that Joe Biden spent the last few months downplaying the violence. For the Trump campaign, this is the issue and opportunity to turn the polls around in Trump’s favor.
On the other hand, the Secret Service will view this visit through a prism of far greater risk.
For a start, Trump’s visit and schedule have been publicly announced and heavily covered by the media. The president cannot, and for aforementioned reasons of political expediency would not, want to sneak in and out of Kenosha. In turn, the Secret Service will be concerned that the nationwide attention to this visit and its heavy emotive and political symbolism will make it especially attractive to potential assailants. Assassins and attempted assassins have shown a traditional penchant for theatrical notoriety, as best exemplified in Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. And for some terrorists, the threat of death or criminal penalty is an incentive to action rather than a deterrent.
Then, there’s the protester factor. Although Trump is only visiting two locales in Kenosha (an unnamed business damaged in the riots and Bradford High School), each will be a magnet for crowds of angry protesters. The Secret Service will have secured both locations and Trump’s route between them and the airport. But the crowds of protesters will complicate the agency’s protective mission.
Agents are taught that emotive crowds offer concealment and infiltration opportunities to potential assailants. They can also create conditions for mob behavior. This is not to say that protesters will be treated unfairly — as shown by protests at political events, the Secret Service will only intercede against protesters where individuals get too close to Trump or appear to pose a threat. This reflects Secret Service training that a protester is more likely to be a diversion for an assailant rather than an actual assailant (hence why a Secret Service detail closes ranks around protectees when protesters run toward them). Indeed, the agency strives to ensure that protesters are protected alongside their protectees. This is especially important in the present political climate, where protesters of all stripes face increased threat from those with countervailing ideologies.
So, yes, Trump and the protesters are likely to revel in their respective activities on Tuesday. But the Secret Service won’t relax until 6:15 p.m. EDT and Trump arrives back at the White House.
