Women are too short, too thin – and in some cases too overweight – to protect someone like Trump, many figures in the US conservative camp argue, accusing the US Secret Service (USSS) of “crazy” hiring practices. These practices, outraged Republicans claim, came very close to killing the former president.
Several women can be seen among the black-suited and sunglasses-wearing agents who rushed to shield Trump with their bodies as the gunman opened fire at the Pennsylvania rally on Saturday. The security team then pushes the former president off the stage, into a car with which he is evacuated from the scene of the assassination attempt.
However, the agents, along with their boss, Kimberly Cheatle – only the second female director of the federal agency tasked with protecting current, former or potential presidents – are now caught in an intense crossfire triggered by the USSS’s unexpected syncopes in the course of the attack which could have had catastrophic consequences.
From Pepsi to the White House
“There should be no women in the Secret Service. The members of these services should be the best and no woman can be among the best in this job!” posted well-known right-wing activist Matt Walsh on the X platform.
“I can’t imagine a DEI employee from @pepsi would be a bad choice as head of the Secret Service. #sarcasm,” Republican Congressman Tim Burchett also posted sarcastically.
Burchett was referring to Cheatle’s previous position as director of global security for Pepsi, a position he held for several years before returning to the Secret Service, where he had previously spent nearly three decades.
With the phrase DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion—he invoked one of the most popular conservative fronts in the ideological culture wars: so-called workplace “awareness,” as employers seek to diversify their hiring practices beyond white men.
The first women were sworn in as Secret Service agents in 1971. CBS News reported last year that the agency aims to have 30 percent female recruits by 2030.
“I’m very aware that we need to attract diverse candidates and make sure we’re developing and providing opportunities for all members of our workforce, especially women,” Cheatle told CBS at the time.
The wildly popular conservative TikTok account “Libs” cited that interview in a post also indicting the agency’s hiring practices. The video received over 10 million views on X.
“The DEI results. DEI killed someone!”, the respective material stated at one point, referring to the person killed during the rally in Pennsylvania.
In the name of diversity
Diversity-based hiring practices have accelerated in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd prompted America to take a new approach to racism and inclusion.
In recent months, however, the practices have faced growing opposition from conservatives who believe they unfairly disadvantage white employees in general and white men in particular.
Even Ohio Senator JD Vance – Trump’s new running mate in the race for the White House, from the position of vice presidential candidate – recently initiated a bill to eliminate such efforts.
“YET it’s racism, plain and simple. It’s time to ban it nationwide, starting with the federal government,” he tweeted last month when the bill was introduced.
Such practices within the Secret Service have been scrutinized since May, when Congress launched an investigation after a female agent from the team of US Vice President Kamala Harris got into an altercation with her colleagues.
The incident raised concerns about the agent’s hiring, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, said in a letter to Cheatle — specifically, whether staffing shortages “caused the agency to lower standards stricter as part of a diversity, equity and inclusion effort.”
In response to Comer’s letter, USSS spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told US media that Secret Service employees “are held to the highest professional standards (…) the agency has never lowered those standards.”
Comer also announced that Cheatle will appear before a congressional committee on July 22 for an assassination attempt hearing.
Biden – protected by a unit Cheatle was a part of when the current US leader was vice president – told NBC News he felt “safe with the Secret Service”, although he agreed it remains an “open question” whether members of the USSS he should have anticipated the attack.
When Trump made his first public appearance since the shootings Monday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, he appeared to be surrounded by a team of Secret Service men.
“This is how to protect a president!” conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley immediately posted on X. “Trump now gets the elite team of the Secret Service!” he added.
Source: jurnalul.ro
