President Trump’s security team has debuted what appears to be a heavily armored golf cart 10 months after a would-be assassin aimed an SKS-style rifle toward him at his West Palm Beach tee resort.
As the president played at the Trump Turnberry course in South Ayrshire, Scotland, this weekend, an imposing, apparently heavily fortified black vehicle followed close behind — with security experts saying it bears all the hallmarks of an armor-reinforced golf cart in the mold of Trump’s official limo, a k a “The Beast.”
Trump drove a standard white golf cart as he played, but the bulky silhouette of the latest addition to his security fleet — which appears to be a modified Polaris Ranger XP — stood out like a sore thumb on the course.
“Just looking at the front windscreen, that looks armored,” said Gary Relf, director of Armoured Car Services, to The Telegraph.
Relf said that while it’s difficult to ascertain exactly which elements have been reinforced, noting companies such as his often remove and discreetly replace nearly every interior element with armor plating, the vehicle’s darkened front windscreen featuring black banding is a dead giveaway that something major is afoot with it.
“From those photos, that is 100% armored,” he told the outlet. “The windscreen is a giveaway, as are the side panels, doors and the large panel at the rear above the load tray.”
He said the vehicle appeared to be kitted out for “defensive, not offensive” purposes and claimed the tinted windows could indicate a robust transparent armor has been added.
“The thicker the transparent armoring, the more tinted the window looks,” he said.
Relf said it was likely the modifications would likely be designed to keep the vehicle as secure as possible while remaining lightweight enough to avoid damaging grass on the course.
A Secret Service spokesman wouldn’t confirm or deny whether the cart is armored or part of Trump’s security apparatus, telling the outlet that the agency doesn’t discuss the specific means and methods it deploys to protect the president.
But stepped-up hardware to protect Trump on the golf course would not be unexpected given his surviving a pair of assassination attempts last year.
On Sept. 15, Ryan Routh, 59, trained a rifle styled after a Soviet-designed semiautomatic at Trump’s security detail as the president walked along the fifth hole at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
Agents spotted Routh during a sweep of the sixth hole, where the suspect had obscured his location in heavy brush some 400 yards from the president, and fired a shot at him, at which point he ditched his weapon and fled in a Nissan SUV.
Less than an hour later, Routh was apprehended during a traffic stop and charged with the attempted assassination of Trump.
Two months earlier, Trump survived another assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., carried out by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Crooks perched on the rooftop of a building just outside the Butler fairgrounds and opened fire with an AR-style rifle, nicking Trump’s ear, seriously wounding an audience member and killing former firefighter Corey Comperatore.
Crooks was taken out by a counter-sniper team moments after firing.
