Courage comes in many forms, and sometimes it arrives wearing a suit and nursing a bum foot while chaos erupts around you.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer found himself in precisely that situation during the recent incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. With an injured foot limiting his mobility, Emmer witnessed firsthand what happens when trained professionals face down danger. The Secret Service agents responded with the kind of decisive action that likely prevented another tragedy, neutralizing suspect Cole Allen before he could carry out whatever dark intentions he harbored.
Allen’s social media history tells a familiar and troubling story. His anti-Trump posts paint the picture of yet another individual consumed by political hatred to the point of violence. This marks the third apparent assassination attempt on President Donald Trump’s life, a sobering reality that should unite Americans across the political spectrum in demanding better protection for our leaders.
Instead, Washington remains mired in the kind of dysfunction that makes ordinary citizens shake their heads in disgust.
The Department of Homeland Security shutdown has now stretched to 74 days, a record-breaking impasse that has left the Secret Service and numerous other agencies operating without proper funding. The arithmetic here is simple and stark. These are the men and women tasked with protecting the President of the United States, and they have been working without full funding for more than two months.
The genesis of this shutdown lies in Democratic resistance to funding immigration enforcement operations. That initial standoff has morphed into something more complex and, frankly, more dangerous. A funding bill that would provide resources to the Secret Service passed the Senate in March. It now sits in the House, gathering dust while the clock ticks and threats multiply.
House Speaker Mike Johnson faces a difficult choice. The legislation before him includes funding for the Secret Service, which everyone agrees is desperately needed. However, it conspicuously excludes full funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. For Republicans committed to border security, this represents an unacceptable compromise.
Emmer and his Republican colleagues are pushing for swift action to ensure the Secret Service receives the resources it needs. Their argument carries particular weight in light of recent events. When agents are literally stopping assassination attempts while their own funding remains in limbo, something has gone profoundly wrong with our priorities.
The political calculus here is thorny. Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked efforts to fund the full Department of Homeland Security, drawing a line in the sand over immigration enforcement. House Republicans, meanwhile, refuse to abandon border security agencies in exchange for Secret Service funding. Both sides can claim principled positions, but principles do not stop bullets or protect presidents.
The American people deserve better than this stalemate. They deserve a government that can walk and chew gum simultaneously, that can protect the President while also securing the border. These should not be mutually exclusive priorities requiring Solomon-like choices.
As this shutdown drags into its third month, the question becomes increasingly urgent. How many close calls will it take before Congress finds a way forward? The Secret Service performed admirably at that dinner, but luck and skill can only stretch so far without proper support and resources.
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