I took every history class available in my high school, including both AP classes (American History and European History, thank you), and I admit that I’m a bit of a history geek. I don’t have a PhD in history or anything of the sort. I just enjoy the subject.
And with that little bit of knowledge, I can’t remember a single other president who has had as many attempts on his life while in office (or out of office, for that matter) as Donald Trump has had.
Love Trump or hate Trump, the number of people trying to do terrible things to him and his family is just insane.
And just a few days ago (yes, a few weeks after the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner), yet another person was confronted by the Secret Service due to what may have been an another attempt to shoot President Trump. Jana Winter with Reuters writes,
A gunman who fired at a White House checkpoint was shot by officers and died after being taken to the hospital on Saturday evening, the Secret Service said.
The man approached the checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House, pulled a gun out of his bag and started shooting at officers, according to a Secret Service statement sent to Reuters. Officers returned fire and shot the suspect, the agency said.
Now, while this may have been another attempt on Trump’s life, in this case, it may not have been politically motivated. It may have been non-political actions on the part of a person who was described as “emotionally disturbed.”
But this wasn’t the first time that the Secret Service had to deal with this individual, and “a ‘stay-away order’ had been issued to him previously.”
So, maybe it was an assassination attempt.
Either way, it is a disturbing reminder of how many people in our society now think that it is acceptable to commit acts of violence against another person simply over political disagreements.
And it’s a reminder that we should train to reach and maintain proficiency and that we should always be carrying.