Protecting a Billionaire President: ISIS and the Trump Empire
On November 8, 2016, America entered a new era. The Trump era. And while there are many “firsts” with the election of President Donald J. Trump, there is one in particular that poses a significant challenge for our nation.
On November 8, 2016, America entered a new era. The Trump era. And while there are many “firsts” with the election of President Donald J. Trump, there is one in particular that poses a significant challenge for our nation.
Donald Trump is the wealthiest individual ever elected President. In fact, Trump’s reported net worth of somewhere between $4-10 billion is up to 100 times the size of the next wealthiest president during the last 100 years, John F. Kennedy.
But his wealth is not the real challenge. Rather, the nature of his wealth is what poses a monumental security challenge for our nation. Consider that Trump’s wealth is predominately comprised of a high-profile real estate portfolio. From the five star, elite Trump Hotels located around the country and in several foreign countries (including Islamic ones) to his corporate office complexes and skyscrapers, these properties could offer a high-profile target for some of America’s worst enemies.
During the campaign, Trump repeatedly singled out ISIS and other terrorist enterprises, making it clear that he would use the full force of the U.S. military to defeat them. “I’m going to bomb the s— out of them … and knock the hell out of them,” Trump promised.
Following the election, ISIS cheered the results, flooding Twitter with taunts, jeers and threats:
“Don’t try to hide, Donald. The mujahideen are ready.”
“Trump’s win of the American presidency will bring hostility of Muslims against America as a result of his reckless actions…”
The clear intent of ISIS all along has been to draw the world’s lone superpower into a head-to-head confrontation. This leading terrorist enterprise believes that drawing the U.S. into a war will assist it in its recruiting efforts, while appealing to Allah to assist it in defeating the Great Satan.
So is a showdown coming?
If Trump is to be believed, he will be taking the fight to ISIS. But if ISIS is to be taken seriously, it is likely strategizing on ways to inflict maximum harm and devastation in unconventional but media-rich ways, as it has often done in the past. Clearly it cannot take on the U.S. military directly. So what could its targets be? Can we make some informed observations based on the previous methods ISIS has deployed? I believe so. And because of this, I see a dangerous threat to Trump and his related properties and those individuals who might work at or visit them.
Obviously, Trump will be surrounded by the world’s finest detail, our U.S. Secret Service professionals. And no doubt they are already preparing for every kind of threat and developing active contingency plans. But there’s one thing we should have learned by now following hundreds of terrorist attacks around the world and many right here on our homeland: Protecting not only our billionaire president but also his expansive network of high-profile assets in a post-9/11 world presents a new and unprecedented challenge for our nation.
This is just one more reason to offer up prayer for Donald Trump, his family, his team, and the entire Trump empire.
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” —I Peter 2:1-2