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As conspiracies and threats of violence flooded online spaces in the hours after former president Donald Trump was shot during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, one narrative emerged from the right: Women and DEI, or diversity, equity, and inclusion, are to blame.
The sexist claims are based on deceptively edited videos and images being shared online by right-wing pundits, influencers, and trolls that have critiqued a number of female Secret Service agents who were part of Trump’s close protection detail on Saturday.
The most common complaints against the agents include the fact that they were, according to posters online, too small, overweight, and in one case, incapable of handling their guns.
“This female agent couldn’t even holster her gun today during the attempted assassination of Trump. DEI hire?” wrote far-right troll Chaya Raichik, who runs the hugely popular Libs of TikTok account, in a post on X about a video that seemed to show a female agent struggle with her holster in the middle of the chaos. In a follow-up post on the same topic, which has been viewed 7.2 million times, Raichik wrote: “DEI got someone kiIIed.”
Right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson wrote on X that the situation was an “absolute humiliation for this gaggle of female Secret Service Agents,” and that “DEI Secret Service make Presidents LESS Safe.” This single post has been viewed more than 8 million times.
Hundreds of posts on X make similar claims, and dozens of them have more than 1 million views, according to a review conducted by WIRED and researchers at Advance Democracy, a nonprofit organization that conducts public interest research. Diversity has become a hot button issue for Republicans in recent months, with pundits labeling everything from the Baltimore Bridge collapse to Boeing’s raft of safety crises a DEI issue. Most recently, the right has suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris’ success is due to the fact that she was a “DEI hire.”
Many posts on X also included a video clip from an interview that Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle gave to CBS earlier this year, where she discussed increasing the number of female agents in the service to 30 percent as part of a diversity initiative.
This interview, and Cheatle’s gender, have become a major talking point both online and in the right-wing media ecosystem.
On Fox News, Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee directly blamed Cheatle for the shooting, calling her a “DEI initiative person.”
“This DEI agenda and the destruction of meritocracy is affecting the competence levels of these agencies,” Bill Barr, a former attorney general during the Trump administration, also told Jesse Watters on Fox.
Representative Cory Mills of Florida, who is a former US Army sniper, told Fox: “When you primarily go after DEI, you get D-I-E.”
Right-wing online media and conspiracy outlets like the Washington Times and the Gateway Pundit ran articles blasting the female agents involved. “Ponytail Brigade: Utter Humiliation For Gaggle of Female Secret Service Agents After Trump Assassination Attempt,” one headline on the Gateway Pundit website read.
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In far-right Telegram channels and pro-Trump message boards, deeply misogynistic comments proliferated attacking the female agents who were onstage on Saturday, with many suggesting the agents should stick to “traditional” female roles.
“Women are great at being MOTHERS and making a great home environment and taking care of their family,” one member of the pro-Trump message board The Donald wrote on Sunday.
The claim that women are simply not capable of being Secret Service agents was pushed widely in the wake of the shooting.
“My security detail is all men. Tier 1 operators and seal team six are all men. These women are diversity hires by the SS,” Valentina Gomez, who is seeking the GOP nomination for Missouri secretary of state in next month’s primary, wrote on X.
“If there was a woman doing a job like this, it 100 percent means that a more qualified male was passed over,” Matt Walsh, a self-proclaimed “theocratic fascist,” posted on X. The post had 1.3 million views.
One photo showing one of the female Secret Service agents crouching behind Trump on stage was shared repeatedly as evidence to show why women should not be allowed to be Secret Service agents. Video footage of the moments after the shooting shows the female agent as part of the group of agents who surrounded Trump as he was escorted off the stage.
“This is exactly why women should not be police, military, or Secret Service. Her one job was to jump in front and take a bullet for Trump, but instead she cowered behind him.” wrote Jake Shields, a former MMA fighter, above the picture on X. The post has been viewed 5.8 million times.
Many of the same accounts shared another viral image that compared a male Secret Service agent holding a sniper rifle and one of the female agents protecting Trump, with the caption: “Secret Service agents before DEI and after DEI.” One post featuring this image, from far-right X user Vince Langman, has been viewed 9.4 million times. (The male agent in the photo is a counter sniper while the female agent is performing close protection; therefore, they would typically be armed very differently, according to the Secret Service website.) This image has also spread on Facebook, and similar posts have circulated on TikTok.
While the majority of the right-wing comments online laid the blame on women in the Secret Service, and Cheatle specifically, there was some pushback from the right.
“How dare this sexist MFer question the bona fides of the current Secret Service Director because she’s a woman,” Tara Setmayer, the former communications director for the GOP on Capitol Hill, wrote on X in response to Burchett’s comments. “Let’s set the record straight—Dir. Kim Cheatle was an experienced Secret Service agent who worked her ass off to climb up the ranks and earn her position. How dare he diminish her 20+ years of service to this country. The USSS is not beyond reproach but this is a despicable misogynistic cheap shot.”
Isabel Fraser contributed reporting.
