The reason the failures and personnel problems of the Secret Service are so glaringly troublesome is because crazy people are still fantasizing about assassinating President Trump.

Last Saturday, the Department of Justice arrested a 50 year old woman who had traveled to Washington DC with the intent to “disembowel” President Trump. Her social media rantings might have been easily dismissed… IF she had not actually traveled to Washington DC. The DOJ press release detailing the charges leaves little doubt as to her intent – even if her means to actually carry out an assassination were questionable.

Nathalie Rose Jones, 50, of Lafayette, Indiana, was arrested in the District of Columbia on Saturday, August 16, and charged in connection with making a series of threats on social media in which she threatened to kill President Trump, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

Jones was charged in a complaint in U.S. District Court with threatening to take the life of, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, and transmitting in interstate commerce communications containing threats to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another.

According to court documents, from August 2 to August 9, members of the U.S. Secret Service observed that Instagram user account “nath.jones” had posted threatening comments about the President of the United States. The Instagram user called for President Trump’s removal, labeled President Trump as a terrorist, referred to President Trump’s administration as a dictatorship, and stated that President Trump had caused extreme and unnecessary loss of life in relation to the coronavirus.

On Facebook between August 6 and August 15, “Nath.Jones” allegedly continued to post threatening comments about President Trump. In an August 6 post directed at the FBI, Nath.Jones wrote that “I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea with Liz Cheney and all The Affirmation present.”

On August 14, in a post directed to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Nath Jones allegedly wrote “please arrange the arrest and removal ceremony of POTUS Trump as a terrorist on the American People from 10-2pm at the White House on Saturday, August 16th, 2025.”

On August 15, the U.S. Secret Service conducted a voluntary interview with Jones, during which she stated the President was a “terrorist” and a “nazi,” that if she had the opportunity, she would take the President’s life and would kill him at “the compound” if she had to, that she had a “bladed object,” which she said was the weapon she would use to “carry out her mission of killing” the president, and that she wanted to “avenge all the lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic,” which she atrributed to President Trump’s administration and its position on vaccinations.

On August 16, Jones joined a protest demonstration that started at Dupont Circle, and circumnavigated the White House complex. Following the march, the U.S. Secret Service interviewed Jones for a second time, during which she admitted that she had made threats towards President Trump during her interview the previous day. She denied having any present desire to harm the President of the United States. Law enforcement arrested her and she confirmed that she was the owner of the Facebook user account “Nath Jones” and that she had posted the threatening statements.

As you can see by the escalation in her social media posts, it’s apparent that Jones was becoming rapidly unhinged, to the point that when she was actually interviewed by the Secret Service the day before her arrest, she was openly saying that she would murder the president if she had the chance. Add in her travel to Washington DC and participating in a protest that took her to the White House? Well, we often forget just how close “Squeaky” Fromme got to assassinating President Gerald Ford. The Secret Service simply cannot take the chance that crazy people are just ranting for fun on the internet. When Jones traveled from New York and showed up in Washington DC, all bets were off. It doesn’t matter that she never got close to President Trump. She’d left red flags all over social media, and then demonstrated intent by showing up in DC and going to a protest at the White House.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro put out a video on X detailing the charges.

Now, I fully agree with charging Nathalie Jones to the fullest extent of the law, and getting her some psychiatric evaluations while she is in federal prison. The problem is that we have a lot of crazy people out there, and social media gives people the platform to uncork the crazy. While this gives law enforcement a trail to follow, it also highlights just how many crazy people are out there – and how many close calls there could be, if the crazy people weren’t bragging about their assassination fantasies. And sometimes, the crazy people are still allowed to be crazy, even when it’s in their best interests to shut up and let someone else do the talking. We learned last month that Ryan Wesley Routh, the wannabe golf course assassin, is being allowed to defend himself during his trial.

Ryan Routh, the man charged with trying to assassinate President Trump last year in South Florida, can represent himself during his trial, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel.

Earlier in the week, the federal public defenders had asked to be taken off the case, saying Routh had refused repeated attempts to meet with them.

Routh, 59, is scheduled to stand trial in September, a year after prosecutors say a U.S. Secret Service agent thwarted his attempt to shoot Mr. Trump as he played golf.

Routh has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations. He has also pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.

The judge told Routh earlier this month that she doesn’t intend to delay the Sept. 8 start date of his trial, even if she lets him represent himself. Routh, who has described the extent of his education as two years of college after earning his GED certificate, told Cannon that he understood and would be ready.

That September trial is going to be a circus, and Routh wants it that way for the attention. And yet, he’s legally entitled to prove the old adage that “he who represents himself has a fool for a client.”

While we can be grateful that the Secret Service picked up on this particular nutcase, and that Jones will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of federal law, it is cold comfort. Yes, we have always had crazy people who fantasized themselves as presidential assassins – and some have succeeded. This is why the failures of the Secret Service are so deeply troubling to both sides of the political aisle, and the internal cleanup of the agency should be a high priority. No one wants to see what happens when a crazy person with grudges or with delusion snaps. We have too many recent examples of the horrific results. Throw the book at people like Routh and Jones, but there are a whole lot of people out there who like to run their mouths on social media – and then act surprised when the Secret Service shows up at their door.

Featured image: official White House photo by Daniel Torok from June 21, 2025, cropped, public domain