Secret Service protection

US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, the person charged with ensuring Donald Trump’s safety and that of everyone at the president’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, has resigned after admitting in a letter the agency “fell short” on the day fireman Corey Comperatore lost his life and Trump was centimeters away from losing his at the hands of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks. Cheatle, whom the New York Post reports “landed her role thanks largely to a close relationship with First Lady Jill Biden,” was eviscerated Monday by the House Oversight Committee.

Presidential candidates don’t normally receive Secret Service protection until the summer before the election. But these are not normal times. They are dangerous ones — for candidates, elected officials and federal judges. When candidates face lethal threats, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did last week, it’s time to give them protection. The decision is up to President Biden. If he orders the Secret Service to protect Kennedy, it’s done. If not, not. And “not” is Biden’s current decision. It’s a dangerous, mean-spirited political calculation. Political? Yes, surrounding Kennedy with a Secret Service detail elevates his status as a serious candidate. That doesn’t help Biden’s own candidacy.