Ripple CTO David Schwartz breaks silence on the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Donald Trump, describing it as “multiple layers of spectacular failures.”
The incident occurred last Saturday during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump narrowly escaped death. In the article published on Thursday on X, Schwartz expressed astonishment at the numerous failures surrounding the attempt, saying they were almost unbelievable.
He noted that the attempt only failed due to a small measure of extraordinary luck at the very end. Indeed, Trump escaped being fatally wounded by tilting his head just at the right moment before the bullet would hit. As a result, he sustained minor injuries to his right ear.
The Ripple CTO believes there are only two possible explanations for this incident: an extraordinary case of bad luck or a systematic failure.
https://t.co/phfZ2Y2wxh
— David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz) July 18, 2024
Bad Luck or Systematic Failure?
First, Schwartz suggested that a combination of unfortunate events and oversights may have led to the breach. For instance, the Secret Service may not have had sufficient time to survey the rally location thoroughly.
A single bad decision, such as not blocking a particular sight line, may have disrupted an otherwise solid security plan.
Additionally, the police being absent from the usually manned roof allowed the shooter to find an uncovered building. The counter-sniper team, assuming there would be police on the roof, did not suspect anything out of the ordinary.
Furthermore, the individuals who spotted the shooter reported it to the police. However, there was a communication breakdown between the police and the Secret Service. Finally, the decision to let Trump go on stage was likely made without proper clearance from all stations.
Meanwhile, Schwartz finds it tricky to accept that the unfortunate events and oversights simply aligned on this particular occasion.
Instead, he believes it is more likely that these inexcusable lapses and gaps in security were a regular occurrence, but they never coincided in such a way as to allow an assassination attempt to succeed.
Schwartz suggested that the numerous layers of protection may have led to a false sense of security, causing individuals to become complacent and neglect their critical responsibilities.
Accordingly, he speculated that there were likely hundreds of instances where roofs with clear lines of sight to protectees were left uncovered and dozens of cases where pre-event site surveys were inadequate despite advance notice of the location.
Interestingly, Schwartz stated that the Secret Service had received intelligence about a State-level actor planning to assassinate Trump, yet this incident still occurred despite supposedly upgraded security measures.
Cardano Founder’s Reaction
Conversely, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson viewed the assassination attempt as a tragic but predictable consequence of the deteriorating state of politics in the U.S. Hoskinson lamented that the country has shifted from a culture of respectful disagreement to one where critics are demonized.
Meanwhile, Hoskinson believes that the cryptocurrency industry’s focus on disintermediation and decentralization offers a solution to the current state of politics. He argues that centralized institutions, including political leaders, can no longer be fully trusted.
Instead, decentralized movements, which do not rely on individual leaders, offer a more resilient and trustworthy path forward.
A brief message to everyone pic.twitter.com/jdCAvI5G6S
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) July 14, 2024