Malice, or just massive incompetence?

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday, the 19^th day of July in the year of our Lord 2024. Like everyone else, I now offer my opinion on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. It’s tempting to say we must wait for the investigation before we speculate on what happened. But I suspect that we know as much about what really happened as we ever will. JFK, RFK, MLK, and many others around the world are evidence of that.

A tale of preposterous incompetence

This story, on the surface, is preposterous and it makes no sense at all. The full resources of the most powerful empire in world history at its disposal. And it still cannot protect one man. The United States has 17 intelligence services all of which are supposed to investigate, observe and provide information to the decision-making people in charge. Normally, that would be the president, but right now, who knows? There are literally thousands of highly trained, highly skilled people on the payroll to protect the nation’s leaders from attack. And they all failed miserably. There is an agency called the Secret Service that has a reputation for hiring and training the biggest, strongest, bravest, most intelligent, people available in this country to protect its human assets. That’s its job and at that job it failed when the nation needed it the most.

The narrative is falling apart

How could all these people with unlimited resources fail to stop a wimpy, nerdy, 20-year-old kid from getting into a position to take a shot that missed killing Donald Trump by only millimeters? If Trump had not turned his head just slightly at that exact moment, he would be dead right now. And the nation would be trying to sort it out or perhaps descending into chaos. So, a kid with a ladder he bought at a hardware store, and 50 rounds of ammo he bought that morning, foiled a billion dollars’ worth of professionals. Maybe it’s similar to the billions spent on munitions fired at the Houthis, but the Red Sea is still dangerous.

Even this early the entire Secret service/FBI created scenario of an explanation is starting to break down and fall apart. We are not supposed to look at facts and ask questions but instead just nod our heads in the affirmative and go along. Yes, we believe the story you have concocted although it makes no sense and is therefore most likely a lie. If we admit to even suspecting that you are lying then we are tin foil hat conspiracy theorists. Or at least that’s what we are programmed to think.

Malice is easier than you think

I have personally fired thousands of rounds through a rifle almost identical to the one Thomas Matthew Crooks apparently used. It was an AR-15 style rifle firing 5.56 mm rounds and mine was an M-16 but they are essentially the same. The M-16 has an automatic fire selector switch and that is the primary difference. I served in the Marine Corps more than 50 years ago but I qualified with that rifle out to 500 yards. And at that range it is really problematic with windage and ballistics affecting accuracy. At 150 yards where Crooks fired, a moderately trained shooter should be able to put his rounds in a 1-inch group most of the time. The AR is light and has almost no recoil with 5.56 ammunition. So I will wager that I could have Joan, who has never picked up a rifle in her life, firing in a one-inch pattern within a day of practice. This all means that almost anyone could be a lone nut/patsy with that rifle.

What I am trying to say with this rambling explanation is that there is something really wrong here. And we the people better insist that it is looked into honestly. If we want to keep some semblance of this country, never mind what it once was, we better not accept another JFK lone gunman, RFK only Sirhan, explanation. The FBI tells us that there was only one shooter and he acted alone which is what they always say.

How long did they give Crooks before they shot him?

Crooks was not a Marine sniper or even a competent shot before the incident. He tried and failed to make his high school rifle team and the coach said he couldn’t hit the side of a barn. But as I said with that rifle and at that distance, he didn’t have to be competent. He and his father were apparently members of a rife club where he went to shoot and practice. So this shy 20 year old who couldn’t hit the side of a barn but was extremely bright, showed up wearing hunting attire, found a line of sight shooting position, remained in public view with his rifle for up to 30 minutes, scared off local police who saw him, then firing from about 150 yards hit Donald Trump’s ear, killed another man with a head shot, and wounded at least one other person.

That all happened before two trained Secret Service snipers sitting in a firing position in overwatch above the speaker’s stand even fired at him. Once Trump was hit and down, they killed the shooter with one shot. Perhaps when they saw Trump go down bleeding, they assumed he was mortally wounded and dead men tell no tales. So they were clear to kill the shooter. I don’t claim to know the motivation of those men. But I do know that it is very bad policy to wait until your protected person is shot before you react. Crooks was allowed to fire about 7 or 8 rounds before they reacted and shot him.

Evidence for malice

There is audio evidence, now that the sounds and video have been analyzed by forensic experts, that suggests the presence of at least one other shooter besides Crooks and the Secret Service sniper. His rate of fire might also indicate the presence of another rifle in the area shooting at Trump.

The FBI hasn’t released much information about the rifle except the style and caliber. I’ve seen nothing on whether it had a scope, or was upgraded in any way. But those things would not have been necessary at that range for a shooter of moderate ability.

I personally don’t believe the second shooter theory. With the incompetence of the Secret Service detail Trump’s head was exposed for several seconds after his ear was hit. So a second gunman would have killed him then. No, it seems reasonable to think that once the Secret Service snipers saw the man they were sworn to protect go down, they assumed he was mortally wounded and they were cleared to eliminate the shooter.

He had help

Crooks must have had help, if not in shooting, then in logistics, scouting, etc. He scouted the area including the building for several minutes as the crowd was gathering in the arena. He seemed to know the roof was unguarded although there was a counter sniper team from local law enforcement inside the building where he was located. When the director of the Secret Service was asked why they were not on the roof, she said it was a sloped roof so she thought it might be dangerous.

That is obviously an absurd statement but that’s what she said. It was not too dangerous for the assassin but just for law enforcement. Snipers in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan occupied and fired from the most difficult and dangerous positions imaginable. But these Secret Service shooters could not fire from a sloped roof. The two snipers who finally killed Crooks fired from a sloped roof behind the podium from which Trump was speaking. The assassin wandered the area for 30 minutes, retrieved a ladder and a rifle from his car, was seen by several bystanders climbing to the roof, and bear crawling across the roof – but still nothing was done to stop him. A local law enforcement officer climbed up to the roof and looked at him. But Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer who then retreated just before Crooks began firing.

They allowed him to take the shots – and assumed Trump was mortally wounded

The most difficult question for me is that the two Secret Service snipers had him in their scopes for perhaps three minutes before he fired. But they waited until he, or perhaps more shooters than just him, fired, and Trump was hit, before they engaged him. They allowed him to fire 7 or 8 shots before he was engaged by gunfire and killed. None of that makes any sense and none of it speaks highly of the Secret Service.

The vaunted service, consisting of many agents who do all kinds of things besides protecting high value individuals, comes across as nothing but a bunch of keystone kops. They are supposed to take their best people, literally the best of the best and assign them to presidential protection. To be assigned to that detail is a reward because it is a way of saying you are the best we have. Each of those agents knows that he or she is expected to take the bullet instead of the one they are protecting.

Everyone will attribute his motives to nuttiness

This was the first assassination attempt on an American politician since Ronald Reagan in 1981. Forty-three years is a long time but when it comes to explanations not much has changed. Can there be any doubt that the shooting will be attributed to a lone nut? It’s never for political reasons or someone’s political agenda, but always just a lone nut. Despite eyewitness reports of 8 shots coming from different directions there was only one shooter and he was a lone nut. In this case it looks like the shooter was a lone nut but lone only when he shot. Another word for lone nut is patsy.

In an article in the UK Guardian, we are told that multiple people who were listening to the speech outside the rally said they spotted Crooks as he approached the area with an AR style rifle and climbed to the roof. Law enforcement agents and officers did not react to their warning. He was allowed to climb to the roof and assume a perfect firing position. Because even though they were warned by several witnesses, they refused or neglected to confront him. The other thing they neglected was to cover Trump or remove him from the podium in light of the threat.

Waiting for permission?

Mr. Trump, along with most of the government-controlled media and its politicians, all lauded the Secret Service for their quick reactions to the danger. I understand their words at the moment of the shooting were clouded by emotion. But now it seems the Service could and should be criticized for not noticing a man with a rifle climbing to a roof with a direct line of fire some 150 yards away.

They could also be criticized for letting Trump get to his feet, with wounded ear clearly visible. exposing him to another shot for 3 or 4 seconds. That is a dangerous act indeed if there is a second shooter just aiming. But it’s perfectly OK if you know the lone nut or patsy is already dead. They could be criticized for having the lone nut in their rifle scope but not firing while he fired 7 or 8 rounds. When asked why they didn’t fire as soon as they saw him with the rifle the director of the Secret Service said they were waiting for permission.

Malice married to incompetence?

When the director of the Secret Service is as grossly incompetent as Kimberly Cheatle, I suppose all this impossible, unbelievable, series of events is a little easier to believe. The lone nut killed former fire chief Corey Comperatore, who had more sense and more guts than all those highly trained agents combined. His daughter reported that as his last living act he covered her with his body thus shielding her from gunfire. When the Secret Service finally noticed the lone nut/patsy on the roof, they opened fire and killed him. So there will be no testimony from and no trial of the lone nut/patsy for an attempted assassination.

Applying that theory means that all the gross incompetence and failure of this once vaunted Service was simply a cover-up for a planned assassination of Donald Trump. If so, it further means that those who want to retain power at any cost are so incompetent they can’t possibly pull it off. No wonder every agency from the White House to the military to the FBI, to the CIA, appears to be broken, corrupt, and unsalvageable.

What will happen, what should happen

So, what happens now that Trump survived assassination? He has survived so many attempts on his life, his career, his politics, and his money I would say it puts him in a unique position in American history. He has more money than he can use, buildings with his name on them, golf courses, a beautiful wife and family. So what amounts to the American dream realized so why does he persist in the face of such hostile forces. Perhaps he really does see his country in peril and believes he is in a unique position to help.

He is more popular than ever because with each attack by his enemies he grows stronger. However, his calls for unity are nothing but a pipedream. There can be no joining on an equal basis with evil, only resistance or surrender.

Finally, folks, the directors of the Secret Service, FBI, and Homeland Security, should be suspended pending investigation with the least of their punishment being firing. Their demonstrated incompetence justifies firing in disgrace. But my guess is that Kimberly Cheatle will receive the presidential medal of freedom. But only if Jill Biden stays in office long enough.

At least that’s the way I see it.

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle.

From CastleReport.us; appears by arrangement – Ed.