Why was there no security posted on the rooftop from which the would-be assassin of Donald Trump took his shot? Not for any profound reason but because the Secret Service was afraid of its agents falling, according to Director Kimberly Cheatle. "There’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside."
It is part of a succession of marvels that occurred on July 13, 2024. First, there was the rapid preparation of the alleged assassin, Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old cook in a nursing home, for the task of killing an ex-president. Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pa., was advertised approximately ten days before the shooting. "Donald Trump will be holding a rally at the Butler County Farm Show grounds this Saturday ... Doors for Trump's appearance are set to open at 1 p.m. Saturday; Trump himself is scheduled to speak at 5 p.m." reported Pittsburgh's WSA. 'In the 48 hours before he opened fire on former President Donald Trump, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks made a series of stops," reported CNN.
... he went to a shooting range where he was a member, and practiced firing ... the next morning, Crooks went to a Home Depot, where he bought a five-foot ladder, and a gun store, where he purchased 50 rounds of ammunition, the official said. Then, Crooks drove his Hyundai Sonata about an hour north, joining thousands of people from around the region who flocked to Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He parked the car outside the rally, with an improvised explosive device hidden in the trunk that was wired to a transmitter he carried, the official said. Then, investigators believe, he used his newly-bought ladder to scale a nearby building, and opened fire on the former president.
In those preceding ten days, Crooks must have studied the layout of the rally site and deduced his need for a ladder. He also found the time to construct or acquire a remote-controlled improvised explosive device, which he would presumably set off to cover his escape. Although "he was not a professional killer like the ones depicted in those movies – or like a Jason Bourne or John Wick," but a "Gen-Zer with an associate’s degree who worked a low-wage job and lived with his parents ... in an increasingly online world, where digital surveillance is easier than ever, the 20-year-old managed to stay unusually hidden while devising a plan to murder a former U.S. president – nearly successfully – in just 10 days of planning." With this scanty preparation, he beat the U.S. Secret Service.
The assassin was assisted by a series of near miracles that helped him almost succeed at a task he had no seeming motive or training to undertake. Some three hours before Trump took the stage, Crooks was observed with a range finder, useful at estimating shooting distances, but security took no action despite this suggestive equipment. Reports indicated that several bystanders also witnessed a man carrying a rifle on the rooftop and alerted the police about him nearly a minute and a half before shots were fired at Trump.
"A Butler Township police officer attempted to climb to the roof of the building in search of Crooks, hoisted by another officer. Crooks spotted the officer while the officer's hands were clinging to the edge of the roof and aimed his rifle at the officer, at which point the officer let go, falling 8 feet (2.4 m) to the ground and severely injuring his ankle." Then, there was the final wonder of Kimberly Cheatle's reluctance to deploy men on the assassin's roof for occupational health and safety reasons. The shot was clear—and near.
But the advantages of this succession of joint improbabilities were neutralized by an even bigger one. Trump turned his head at precisely the right moment to take the bullet trajectory out of the assassin's point of aim, to the astonishment of millions watching on video. "Following the dramatic events, a computer-generated 3D visualization made by social media account Point Consciousness was posted to TikTok, quickly going viral across social media. The video maps Trump's head movement and shows a bird's eye view of the bullet skimming his ear a second after the former president changed position." A New York Times photographer even captured the bullet whizzing past Trump's head, close but a near miss was as good as a mile. One improbability canceled out a succession of previous ones. It was a battle of miracles in full public view.
In this secular age, when the media narrative is accustomed to explaining all historical events solely in terms of the agency of great leaders and the iron will of states, the public has been treated to an extraordinary exhibition of the power of circumstance. During the first general election debate on June 27, Joe Biden was brought low on national video by the ravages of old age, which, despite the best application of medication and camera angles, reduced him to an incoherent wreck. On July 13, 2024, a youth from nowhere evaded the U.S. Secret Service and took a close-range shot at Donald Trump. Yet that bullet, by a million-to-one chance, missed its target by a split-second turn of the head. And even as these words are written, Joe Biden has been knocked off the campaign trail by COVID and the onset of "general malaise." It's a stark reminder that reality rules despite the vanity of human power. We simply interact with it. Men propose, and what we used to call God -- some still do -- disposes. How did Shakespeare put it?
For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!― William Shakespeare, Richard II
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