Trump shows how it is done

President Donald J. Trump, having recently survived an attempt on his life, now will return to his near-death scene. In apparent defiance of the Secret Service – or contradiction to anonymous reports that he would accede to their wishes – Trump plans to hold another outdoor rally in Butler, Pa. He will use the occasion to pay tribute to Corey Comperatore, the retired fire chief who died that day. This comes as the legacy media are already teeing up the next hoax – only to see it quickly debunked. In fact, the coalition against Trump now suffers dissension in the ranks. These and other signs point to a Trump victory – if he and his fellow Republicans can claim it.

Trump shall return

People of the Philippines, I shall return! Gen. Douglas MacArthur

As everyone surely remembers, a twenty-year-old loner took an active but controversial part in an attempt on Donald Trump’s life. This happened at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pa. Sadly, one person, retired fire chief Corey Comperatore, took a fatal shot while shielding his family. Two other attendees, David Dutch (a Marine veteran) and James Copenhaver, received more serious wounds. Per the New York Post, Dutch is out of hospital, having taken one bullet each to his chest and liver. Copenhaver remains in hospital, suffering injuries of a type his family would rather not reveal.

Comperatore received a true fireman’s funeral last Friday, taking his final ride aboard a fire pumper.

Hundreds of fire trucks followed in a long procession.

Trump has already paid tribute to Comperatore at least twice. The first time was during his record-long acceptance speech at the Republican national Convention. He had the uniform brought onto the stage – and kissed the uniform during his speech.

For the second time, he said he wished the Secret Service had told him to delay walking onto the stage. If they had, “Corey would still be alive,” he said.

Trump announced his plan to return to Butler, to remember Comperatore at a special rally, yesterday, per The Western Journal.

I WILL BE GOING BACK TO BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, FOR A BIG AND BEAUTIFUL RALLY, HONORING THE SOUL OF OUR BELOVED FIREFIGHTING HERO, COREY, AND THOSE BRAVE PATRIOTS INJURED TWO WEEKS AGO. WHAT A DAY IT WILL BE — FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS.

Later that day, he reported on the condition of Dutch and Copenhaver – and invited them and their families to attend.

Both James Copenhaver and David Dutch, two Great Patriots who were seriously injured at the big Rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, are making wonderful progress — We will be seeing them and their Families at our soon to be scheduled next Butler Rally!

Defiance of the Secret Service?

This rally plan would appear to be an open defiance of the Secret Service, which has asked Trump to cancel his signature outdoor rallies. Logically he would have it at the same open-air venue as before – a venue with which people would be familiar. The one remaining question was whether Trump trusts – or can trust – the Secret Service to protect him better than they did. Was, because this morning he gave a definitive word on his platform:

I WILL CONTINUE TO DO OUTDOOR RALLIES, AND SECRET SERVICE HAS AGREED TO SUBSTANTIALLY STEP UP THEIR OPERATION. THEY ARE VERY CAPABLE OF DOING SO. NO ONE CAN EVER BE ALLOWED TO STOP OR IMPEDE FREE SPEECH OR GATHERING!!!

“They are very capable” could mean they should be capable, if they value their reputation. Or it could be a challenge to them: don’t even think of letting something happen twice!

In CNAV’s judgment, he would be better off “firing” them and creating his own security force, for which – to repeat – he would have no shortage of applicants and volunteers. Trump has already thumped the Secret Service – and the Biden administration – on this point:

The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!

No doubt Trump holds that rank-and-file Secret Service agents are “great people” whose only misdemeanor – make that misfortune – is working for corrupt leaders. The question remains: how deep does the corruption run? Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) has for years decried a “cultural problem” at the Secret Service. (Why, then, he would praise its current Interim Director, who was once Kimberly Cheatle’s deputy, remains unclear.)

Dissension in the media ranks

Concerning the legacy media and their attitude toward Trump, dissension is clearly growing in the ranks. This example might or might not be conclusive. ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas speaks of:

the first frantic moments after the gunmen tried to kill former President Trump.

He clearly said “gunmen,” plural, in the embedded segment. If he intended to say that, then this is the first admission that a second or “Grassy Knoll” shooter existed.

Yesterday morning, The New York Times spoke directly to the suggestion, by FBI Director Christopher Wray, that shrapnel or flying glass, not necessarily a bullet, struck President Trump.

[A] detailed analysis of bullet trajectories, footage, photos and audio by The New York Times strongly suggests Mr. Trump was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by the gunman, Thomas Crooks. Subsequent bullets wounded two rally goers and killed a third.

Before the day ended, Wray retracted his earlier suggestion. The agency, in an unsigned statement, acknowledged that a bullet, whole or fragmented, hit Trump.

Trump responded within minutes:

I assume that’s the best apology that we’ll get from Director Wray, but it is fully accepted!

On Tuesday, James Piereson, in The New Criterion, openly compared Kamala Harris, Trump’s likely opponent, to an earlier Democratic nominee. Like Harris, Gov. Michael Dukakis (D-Mass.) enjoyed a post-Convention bounce. Also like Harris, Dukakis had the image of an out-of-touch liberal, soft on crime and enamored of taxes. Once Trump and Vance expose Harris’ record – as Piereson expects them to – Trump will have a commanding lead. By October, Democrats will concentrate on their down-ticket races. Nevertheless:

Trump will win the election by six points—forty-nine to forty-three percent—winning 339 electoral votes, including all of the so-called swing states, plus the Democratic-leaning states of Virginia, Minnesota, and New Hampshire. Republicans will pick up three or four seats in the Senate and perhaps twenty seats in the House, giving them safe majorities in both chambers. This will give Trump the margins he needs to implement a good piece of his agenda in 2025 and 2026.

But Piereson has clearly given Republicans a warning they would do well to heed: don’t neglect your down-ticket campaigns. Regardless, The Western Journal reported that Rasmussen already has Trump in a commanding lead – seven percent, up from three percent a week ago.

Other Trump v. Harris news

Michael Schwarz of The Western Journal also reported on an attempt to hurt the Trump campaign with reference to a three-year-old quote by Sen. J. D. Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate. Vance had told Tucker Carlson:

We’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.

Ron Filipkowski of Meidas Touch tried to spin that quote differently:

Note that Vance hadn’t said who the “childless cat ladies” were; Ron Filipkowski merely gave his conjecture on that. In any case, the Trump campaign’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, quoted Vance from remarks to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute shortly after the Carlson interview.

A lot of people are unable to have kids for very complicated and important reasons. The target of these remarks is not them. It’s important to point that out. There have always been people like that, who even though they would like to have kids [are] unable to have them. Let’s set them to the side.

Nor would it include those who made the childless choice and are truly comfortable with it. But this should remind people of the left’s insistence on abortion on demand, for any reason or no reason.

Finally, Cullen Linebarger at The Gateway Pundit shared this insight into why the Democrats have Kamala Harris as their standard-bearer. Barack Obama did want an open convention, and might have wanted to see Sen. Mike Kelly (D-Ariz.) get the nomination. But according to the New York Post, Biden endorsed Harris quickly – just to spite Obama. Not that Kelly would have been that much more moderate than Harris. He has as little regard for the Second Amendment as she has.

Summary

Trump seems to be preparing to campaign as vigorously as he did in 2016. Then, pundits gave him little chance of winning, so he sought to prove them wrong. He also seems to have pushed back on the Secret Service’ suggestion that he curtail his rallies. That’s a good thing – and should serve to warn other correspondents not to be so quick to believe “people familiar with the matter.” Sometimes such “people” are not as “familiar” as they, or the publishers, would have you believe.

What CNAV said yesterday about the dangers of complacency, still goes. But recent news suggests this race is winnable, up- and down-ticket. If Trump and his allies campaign as if the country depends upon it, they’ll win. That must be their watchword.