Sure, there was the attempted assassination of Reagan and the fears for Obama as the first black President, but in those cases it was a lone nutter rather than a conspiracy.
How long can Trump crash the market before an angry billionaire decides to take him out? The remaining Koch brother is already pouring money into legal challenges against Trump…
It’s probably pretty low. The secret service was already caught with their pants down once when that guy took a shot at Trump over the summer, so they’re probably going to be on high alert for a while. On top of that, Trump is better protected as the President than a candidate, with access to the White House, Air Force One, the Beast (his Limo), etc. There are probably more people who want to take a shot at him than other Presidents, but I doubt it’s gonna happen.
A counterpoint: unmanned technology has developed really fast recently. In old times, one had to be motivated as hell, because taking a shot at a president meant likely death.
In our days, for a technically capable adversary, an attempt costs only moderate amounts, escape is far more likely, and tools can rigged with self-destruction mechanisms to considerably hinder evidence collection.
I’d say that barriers are lower due to drones and robots. Then again, to get drones and robots pointed at oneself, one has to piss off people who have better things to do. That is, people who are unlikely to be desperate, since they could likely emigrate and find a well-paying job in a week.
If I try to predict a profile, I come up with “a technically competent person with an incurable disease, no longer covered by health insurance”. Or perhaps “a war veteran with an incurable disease”.
Maybe, but I imagine the Secret Service has a drone-attack plan. I would guess that most of D.C. is probably a no-fly zone for drones, and they probably lock down the White House it anyone violates it. I think as long as he continues to split his time between Mar-a-Lago and the White House, Trump is relatively safe.
If he starts doing more speaking tours, though, that might make him more vulnerable. There’s also a staggering amount of disorder and incompetence because of his attacks on federal workers and his terrible cabinet appointments, so I guess it’s possible he’s already opened himself up to security risks. Who knows.