Secret Service
Trump’s Motte-and-Bailey Presidency Prime Badge
04.28.26 | 10:44 am

It’s difficult to imagine anything more perverse, authoritarian, diseased or corrupt than the immediate push to back President Trump’s “ballroom” as a response to security failures revealed in the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents Dinner. It involves so many overlapping bad ideas, bad motives and even bad people that it requires a some organization and staging to cover them all.

Let’s dive in.

First, despite the chorus of claims, this was not in any sense a security failure. It was a success. A man rushed a security perimeter inside the Washington Hilton — far from the actual festivities and protectees — and he was stopped. Initial reports suggested the gunman was stopped just before or even while entering the ballroom. Neither is true. He was on a different floor. The point of Secret Service security is not to prevent every violent incident but any that endanger the President or other protectees.

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Top Hill Republicans Are Demanding Secret Service Director Resign After Trump Shooting
Some Republicans even aggressively confronted Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle at the RNC Wednesday evening.
07.18.24 | 10:31 am
Joe Biden in aviator sunglasses Joe Biden in aviator sunglasses
Where Things Stand: Another Sign That Jack Smith Jan. 6 Probe Remains Active
This is your TPM evening briefing.
06.26.23 | 6:42 pm

As my colleague David Kurtz unpacked in today’s Morning Memo, there’ve been reports in the last few days that suggest that special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the 2020 election and Jan. 6 is very much alive and well post-Mar-a-Lago indictment — including reports of some key immunity deals.

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