First, they tried to jail him, now they’ve tried to…

Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pa., has been identified as the man who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his Butler County, Pennsylvania rally, reported the New York Post.

In the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump it is worth noting that Democrats tried to strip President Trump of his Secret Service protection a few weeks ago. As the inimitable Emerald Robinson said, “They always tell you what they’re going to do.”

And “what they’re going to do” should really be no surprise, given the rhetoric coming from the highest level of the Democratic Party. Remember, just four days ago, Biden told supporters to put a "bullseye" on Trump: “I have one job, and that's to beat Donald Trump. I'm absolutely certain I'm the best person to be able to do that. So, we're done talking about the debate, it's time to put Trump in a bullseye"

So, Biden says he’s done debating, “it's time to put Trump in a bullseye," and there are plenty of Democrats who would be only too happy to oblige President Biden.

While Crooks’ associations and political affiliations with ANTIFA have yet to be confirmed by the investigation, various social media posts now apparently scrubbed prompted speculation in that direction, and it is worth noting that ANTIFA, the militia wing of the Democratic Party, has a very active presence in the Pittsburgh area.

FBI Director Chris Wray has repeated said that ANTIFA is an ideology, not an organization, “We don’t really think of threats in terms of left, right, at the FBI. We’re focused on the violence, not the ideology,” the Associated Press reported Wray testified before Congress in 2020.

While the FBI has strangely downplayed the threat from ANTIFA, members of the violent Leftwing organization have made no secret of their connection to the Democratic Party.

Indeed, one Kristopher Jacks of Colorado, in a Project Veritas undercover video, revealed that ANTIFA has its own training program for armed violence – the John Brown Gun Clubs – which is probably a surprise to many. Contrary to what FBI Director Wray says, it appears they are very well organized. Mr. Jacks was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Colorado Democratic Party.

Thomas Matthew Crooks is not former military, he's not known to be a hunter or in his school rifle club - so where did he get the training to pull of this attack?

No surprise that ANTIFA has a John Brown Gun Club chapter in Pittsburgh, the Steel City John Brown Gun Club, less than 50 miles away from Butler County, where the attempted assassination of President Trump took place.

So, given Director Wray’s studied ignorance of ANTIFA and its political objectives, and willingness to use violence to achieve them, it should surprise no one that warnings – given minutes before the shots rang out – were apparently ignored by federal agents on the ground at the rally.

As an eyewitness who tried to warn them about “a guy on the roof with a rifle” told the BBC (odd no American “journalists” had this scoop).

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino has been raising the alarm for months that former President Trump’s security was woefully inadequate to the “apocalyptic threat level” as Dan put it in his podcast. It is also worth noting that the Democrats have completely ignored Robert F Kennedy Jr’s request for Secret Service protection, despite numerous threats and at least one intrusion at his residence.

The operation to assassinate former President Trump was clearly one that took some considerable training, planning, observation and reconnaissance and ideological commitment to carry out. The conspiracy-minded among us will see – at a minimum – what amounts to a “conspiracy of inaction” in the refusal of the Biden administration to provide adequate security to former President Trump (and to Robert F Kennedy Jr) and they have a legitimate point.

But there’s potentially more to this assassination attempt than mere inaction.

I’ve produced dozens of major political events and presidential campaign rallies, and it would never have occurred to me that the Secret Service would leave an obvious over watch position unprotected. In a normal scenario the assassin would have climbed up on the roof only to find a Secret Service CAT (counter assault team) member already there. Leaving that roof uncovered was the equivalent of leaving a castle gate unguarded. How could the assassin know the roof would be unguarded? Why the roof was unguarded is a legitimate and pressing question for the Secret Service to answer.

Perhaps Democrats didn’t plan the assassination of former President Trump, but they certainly sent the signal to their violence-prone allies that violence against their opponents – especially Donald Trump – was welcome, and legitimate. Couple that with their refusal to assign a level of security responsive to the known threats against President Trump, and a serious operational failure at the rally, and it is little wonder many people are starting to think the attempt on Donald Trump’s life is bigger than just one guy.

CHQ Editor George Rasley is a Glock ® certified pistol armorer, firearms instructor and a veteran of over 300 political campaigns, including every Republican presidential campaign from 1976 to 2008. He served as lead advance representative for Governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and has served as a staff member, consultant, or advance representative for some of America's most recognized conservative Republican political figures, including President Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. A member of American MENSA, he served in policy and communications positions on the House and Senate staff, and during the George H.W. Bush administration he served on the White House staff of Vice President Dan Quayle.

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