The recent assassination attempt on President Donald Trump set off a round of soul-searching about the state of American society. There is clearly something deeply wrong in a nation that has seen the third serious attempt on a president’s life in less than two years.

Particularly troubling are the reasons accused gunman Cole Allen gave for wielding a shotgun, a pistol and four knives that he hoped to use against Trump and top administration officials at a press dinner in Washington last Saturday. “I am a citizen of the United States of America,” Allen wrote in a manifesto made public shortly after the attack. “What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crime.”

The troubling part is that Allen’s reasons were so unremarkable. Calling Trump a pedophile, a rapist and a traitor — each charge is false, by the way — is something that millions of Americans routinely do. Go to various anti-Trump social media platforms, and you will see it virtually everywhere. They seem to get some pleasure from it.

Now, it is important to remember that the vast majority of those who believe such things about Trump would never dream of getting a gun and going after the president. The problem is that some would. And now, many wonder what might be done to heal a troubled society so that attacks like Saturday’s will no longer occur.

That’s all well and good, but here is a higher priority for this moment: Protect the president. Improve and increase Secret Service protection to keep potential killers out of reach of their target. Keep Trump safe and away from threats through the end of his term on Jan. 20, 2029.

This might seem an obvious solution, but it was not put into place after the July 13, 2024, attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which Trump was grazed by a bullet that could very easily have killed him. And it was not put into place after the Sept. 15, 2024, attempt at a golf course in Florida, when an armed would-be assassin hiding in the bushes came within minutes of being able to take a shot at Trump.

And now, after the April 25 attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, presidential security is in the spotlight again.

Some voices are stressing that the security around the president was successful. “When are we going to recognize the Secret Service security plan for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner worked, and the assailant was stopped?” wrote former Secret Service official Thomas D. Quinn on X recently. “As long as we are a free people in a freedom loving nation, the Secret Service responsibilities will continue to be immense. Attempts on presidents go back to 1865, and the fact that they occur is not a commentary on the Secret Service and its leadership, but our society overall.”

OK, but given the attempts on Trump, it seems unlikely that the overall society will change for the better in the next two years. In the meantime, it is entirely likely that others will plan to attack Trump. So what to do?

This week, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is convening a meeting of Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security officials to assess Trump’s security. “We’re always monitoring, always asking the tough questions to ensure the president is safe,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Monday.

What would improving Trump’s security involve? It would likely mean distancing the president from crowds, strengthening the security perimeter around him, and basically making it more difficult for Americans to get anywhere near their president.

That’s not a very palatable prospect. People want to see the president at big events, and Trump likes to be seen there. But look at two possibilities. One is having Trump skip big events, or, if he attends, appear behind bulletproof glass or be protected in some other way. That would be a disappointment for many people who want a good look at the president.

The other possibility is losing the president to assassination. That would be absolutely devastating to the nation. Horrible. Its effects would likely play out for years in ways that cannot be predicted. So the choice seems quite clear: Protect Trump first.

There was a terrible period in American history in which three presidents were killed in the space of 36 years — Lincoln in 1865, Garfield in 1881 and McKinley in 1901. Today, that would be like having three presidents assassinated since 1990 — unthinkable.

Now, while all presidents can be and have been targets, it appears that Donald Trump has an intense emotional effect on some people that causes them to react in extreme ways. For most people, that can mean ill-advised social media posts. For a few, though, it could mean violent impulses. Whatever the case, it seems clear that Trump faces great danger. There is no more important task for the government than protecting him.

This content originally appeared on the Washington Examiner at washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/4546884/protect-trump-first-whca-dinner-shooting/.