Cue the national outrage from the Democrats after Donald Trump ended Secret Service coverage for former Vice President Kamala Harris
It is already being played out as Trump’s revenge against his 2024 rival, but that is an empty narrative.
What happened with Harris has happened to every previous vice president.
Harris recently poked her head up out of the sand to announce a book tour to promote 107 Days, which is her memoir meant to document her failed presidential campaign.
The former VP will be touring the country as well as Canada to promote the new book, and that sure would eat up a lot of taxpayer dollars if she were to have Secret Service coverage.
Such a scenario, however, will not be happening.
Reports broke last night that Trump had revoked her coverage, which means Harris will now have to foot her own security bill for the tour.
That is what you are supposed to get for Secret Service protection as a former vice president, as they do not get the sort of lifetime protection that former presidents enjoy.
When former Vice President Mike Pence left office, his protection ended after six months, but not a word was said by the media.
And that is because the Former Vice President Protection Act of 2008 only extends coverage by six months after those officials leave office.
Now, there can be exceptions to that rule if the administration in power believes there is a need to extend the coverage.
Before former President Joe Biden left office, he very quietly signed an order to extend Harris’ protection detail for an additional year. This was yet another blatant abuse of power, in my eyes, as there was no declared danger to Harris, so there was no need to extend her coverage other than as a way to save her money on a security detail.
When Harris announced her book tour, the then-president's decision made sense, because she had probably informed Biden she would be writing a book, so this would have her protected on our dime instead of Harris using her own money.
Trump killed Biden’s order, rescinding Harris’ protection, with the Secret Service having already been notified that Harris’ detail would no longer be needed. The White House did not provide any other commentary other than referring to the FVPP Act of 2008.
I have already seen comments on social media that this is another revenge move by Trump, but they are wrong. Harris is not entitled to forever protection, and she is facing no clear threat, so we should not be paying for her detail. Trump did the right thing here, even though I am sure he will be villainized for it.
