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Most straightforward? I think it's about equal in complexity with a regular incompetence narrative. Like, who is "they"? Although apparently some requests were denied for extra support, but others were granted, so it's not so clear-cut. The Trump shooting also took place just after a big NATO event in Europe, where presumably the USSS needed a few more hands for. Also, there are variants that range wildly depending on who you think was in the loop, and all of that is resting on the background assumption that "they" even wanted the shooting to happen, which is pretty doubtful given the USSS's documented and historical pro-Republican leanings. If "they" refers only to top leadership, presumably political appointees, it's extremely doubtful they would have the means to directly and without a trail interfere in specific event planning. They are just too far up the chain of command.
No, the simplest explanation is that they attempted to stop the shooter but did not do so due to a combination of laziness/complacency (it's been several decades since a major attempt; it's hot outside; local police can handle it; someone else's problem), communication troubles (USSS over-delegating in the planning stage, bad day-of communication about the exact status, location, and threat level of the person of interest)
Okay, fine, second simplest. Again, who exactly is "they"? Like, if we say that one of the two counter-sniper teams deliberately withheld their fire until after the shooter fired, that's probably the simplest explanation, but even there we can see at least one less-damning explanation accompanies it, such as the team declining to fire due to rules of engagement/not knowing if he was armed/over-caution at creating a PR nightmare by shooting first. I'm hesitant to actually advance a theory given the paucity of the info we have to work with right now (new stuff is only coming out slowly recently, such as today we discovered per the FBI that the shooter fired 8 shots, or at least they found 8 casings) but I strongly disagree that the ingredients that we currently have lean more towards a conspiracy angle. Not that a conspiracy is impossible, on the contrary we absolutely need to keep such in mind.
And even beyond that, it's far from clear that a lot of heads in the USSS won't roll, but to fire someone in an agency like that practically requires that a formal investigation runs its course first. So that's still on the table.
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