Unfortunately, a bullet hitting President Donald Trump’s ear, nearly missing his head, during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, did not give his opposition a chance to reevaluate. Instead, assassination culture has only become normalized.
This would not be the only time the president’s life was in danger. September 2024 saw another assassination attempt in Palm Beach, Florida, when the president was using the Trump International Golf Course.
In April, yet another attempt was made on his life during the White House Correspondent’s Dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
The Secret Service has the numbers to provide context in just how consistently threats like this are made.
Compared to this time in 2025, there has been a 40 percent increase in protective intelligence cases. CBS News reported that since January, roughly 10,000 cases have been opened.
The Secret Service said a greater number of cases comes from threats made online, foreign threats, mental health issues, lone actors, and ideologically charged complaints.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran concluded, “The numbers are numbers that this agency and certainly I have never seen in my 24-year career.
Do you worry about the stability of the country now that many Democrats embrace political violence?
“The environment has become very volatile, and that’s just across the board,” he said. “The threat picture and environment is as large as I’ve ever seen it.”
The Secret Service noted a direct threat is not needed to draw their attention to a suspect.
Signs like obsessive fixation, stalking, harassment, delusions, paranoia, an interest in violence, and being suicidal can lead them to make their assessment.
It’s not hard to determine where the radicals are getting their marching orders.
The president is a fascist, a Nazi, a white supremacist, and a tyrant. We’ve heard it all repeatedly.
What can be taken as annoying, tired rhetoric by Trump’s opposition is taken as a serious assessment by violent actors.
Prominent voices have called Trump a fascist even after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania.
When now-former President Joe Biden stepped aside, now-former Vice President Kamala Harris became Democrats’ nominee in 2024. That October, Harris participated in a CNN Townhall where she was asked by host Anderson Cooper, “Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?”
“Yes, I do. Yes, I do,” Harris said.
Cooper: “Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?” Harris: “Yes I do. Yes I do.” pic.twitter.com/64p7ab5lwc
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 24, 2024
If the Secret Service has its hands full, the standard bearer setting the tone is not some secret terrorist cell, hiding in a faraway land.
It’s one of the nation’s major political parties.
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