I had no idea that constructing a motorcade to protect the President—as well as a car that could shield the President from nearly any assault—was so complex! I found this video of how the Prez drives from point A to point B fascinating, as well as the way that the (two) Presidential limousines are constructed. They’re like James Bond vehicles! They even have blood for transfusion in them, as well as tons of weapons and a smoke emitter. $1.5 million for each vehicle!
The Presidential motorcade
February 4, 2022 • 2:30 pm
Of course, “The Beast” is not just infallible, as Obama found out in Ireland: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ep9bomhKXt8
D’oh – not sure how “just” got into my comment. Grrr!
Not as good as Larry the Cat stopping Trump with a Sit-Under.
Larry the Downing Street cat sits underneath The Beast, the armored Cadillac of U.S. President Donald Trump, in Downing Street in London on June 4, 2019, on the second day of their three-day State Visit to the U.K. Daniel Leal-OlivaS—AFP/Getty Images
Oops-couldn’t get the photo-
Thanks, Debra – somehow that one had passed me by. I found a video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=56y1DDXJnbI
Thanks so much Jez! I just found and think I got it posted…..
My posts seemed to take awhile to connect.
I have to disagree with the last statement in the video (that it’s worth the money/expense). While it’s very nice to keep the president safe and all, I think we put too much emphasis on safety and everything else orbiting the central silverback male (male so far, anyway) of the US. The president is a public servant, and should think of himself as such, as should all members of Congress, Senators, Justices and Judges, etc. They should be reminded of this fact regularly, and the American people CERTAINLY need to be reminded of it, because they/we are so depressingly prone to characterize these people as our “leaders”. MLK was a leader, who led by example and by word. The president is just a person employed in a management position, no more supernal and awe-inspiring than the manager of the local McDonald’s.
And to think Olof Palme was shot while walking home from the cinema.
Oops! This was meant as a new comment, not a reply.
Have you read The Man Who Played With Fire? Very interesting book with conspiratorial overtones regarding the Palme assassination.
I also don’t think the costs are justifiable.
Ohhh, the hagiographers are going to be building a particularly large and slow-cooking pyre for you, you lil’ heretic you!
Ha ha ha!! ^_^
“The president is a public servant, and should think of himself as such”
Hi, Robert. The above, in fact, was the thinking before 1901—that giving the president special protection was undemocratic. At that time the mission of the Secret Service, established in 1865, was to stamp out rampant counterfeiting, since nearly one-third of all currency in circulation was counterfeit. It wasn’t until after the assassinations of Garfield and McKinley that the mission became to protect the president. This is covered extensively in Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard, a biography of James Garfield and one I heartily recommend. I kicked myself for not having known more about Garfield.
Nice, thank you.
“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” (Douglas Adams).
He was no fool, that Douglas Adams, though he could write them very well.
A far cry from rolling down Daily Plaza in 1963 in a Cadillac with the top down. Maybe a Lincoln.
Spelling — Dealey
So much money and they waste it on a Cadillac. 🙂
Very informative, cool, and I am glad the President has so much protection and help at his disposal.
Nothing has been the same since that November 1963 day in Dealey Plaza.