It feels like the Secret Service was genuinely infiltrated by some far-right crazies about a decade ago and the agency never really recovered. When Joe Biden won the election in 2020, he asked for his old Secret Service detail – the agents who protected his family when he was VP – to come back to protect him and VP Kamala Harris. That’s how little he trusted the agents protecting Donald Trump. Since January 6th, 2021, it absolutely feels like the Secret Service has been plagued with huge morale issues, understaffing and really awful leadership. Well, we’re less than two years into this hell on earth, the second Trump administration, and wouldn’t you know, the Secret Service is still plagued with major issues. Currently, they’re at war with JD Vance. The Vance family wanted the Secret Service to chopper one of the Vance kids to his golf lesson, and now the Secret Service is actively briefing against the Vances:

On Thursday last week, Secret Service agents groused among themselves as they prepared to deliver another perk to Vice President JD Vance’s family: join a military helicopter crew to fly his young son to his golf lesson. The planned trip on Marine Two, the call-sign for the U.S. Marine Corps helicopter that carries the vice president, was canceled at the last minute due to severe thunderstorms and high winds in the Washington, D.C., area that day, according to two people with knowledge of the flight plans. Vance planned to travel with his son on the flight to Joint Base Andrews — which includes a secure, world-class golf center — according to two other administration officials with knowledge of his schedule.

But the Secret Service staff’s complaints about a planned chopper ride for an elementary school student reflects a building morale problem inside the team of agents assigned to shield Vance and his young family, according to the two people and another person familiar with the agents’ frustration.

Agents have shared concerns internally about Vance and his office pressing them for trips and assignments that some agents consider an inappropriate or even unprecedented use of government resources compared to prior vice presidents, they said.

The agents pulled in to protect Vance and his family have also become “fed up” with the last-minute travel demands that Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, frequently place on the security team, according to the two people and an additional source with knowledge of their travel who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The Vances are the first family to reside at the Naval Observatory with young children since former Vice President Al Gore and his family, more than 25 years ago.

There’s no formal Secret Service policy prohibiting the use of a government helicopter for transporting a vice president’s child to a local event, but former and current Secret Service supervisors agreed the request for a chopper for this purpose has no precedent. They told MS NOW that prior vice presidents eschewed using such expensive government perks for the convenience of their children’s schedule, and agents typically drove children locally in sports utility vehicles.

The White House Military Office, which reports to the president, would have to authorize the use of the helicopter for the golf lesson. Operating the helicopter costs taxpayers between $16,000 and $24,600 per hour of use, according to 2022 Defense Department budget estimates.

“That is RIDICULOUS,” one person with knowledge of the planned golf trip said in a message. “Pence and Harris never pulled anything like that.”

Previous vice presidents and other protected administration officials traditionally warned the Secret Service of their intended travel days in advance, especially for their family, and sought to provide at least several hours’ notice of changes. “They change everything,” one of the people said. “They don’t stick to their schedules, and that costs sh-t-tons of taxpayer money.”

Such hastily arranged trips, known within the Secret Service as “off the record” movements, require agents to cancel their days off, drop other plans and often race to the location they are needed. It also forces agents to come up with security plans in a hurry, according to numerous current and former Secret Service personnel. The repeated pattern of off the record movements can quickly and understandably erode morale on a protection detail, current and former agents told MS NOW.

“The detail is tired of them not giving notice on things and making everything an OTR,” said one person familiar with the detail’s frustration. “He [Vance] thinks he can still move around like a U.S. Senator. “

[From MSNOW]

Y’all know I won’t defend that Rancid Cabbage Patch Doll, but it’s worth pointing out that most of this is about the Vances still trying to be a normal family with young kids and fluid, changing schedules. There’s absolutely no reason for Marine Two to be used to ferry a child to a gold lesson, of course. But I have to ask – why did the Secret Service determine that the chopper needed to be used to take Vance and his son to Andrews? Maybe Vance demanded it (it’s likely he did), but the Secret Service could have surely said no? They could have said “actually, for such a short distance, we need to drive.” But the larger issues are the same as ever – Vance’s entitlement and arrogance, his exploitation of the “perks,” and the Secret Service’s profound morale and staffing issues. They fought so hard to get Donald Trump back in office – they didn’t realize that they’d also have to deal with that idiotic Cabbage Patch Doll and his family.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.