Sloped Roof Secret Service Director Comment

About

Sloped Roof Secret Service Director Comment refers to a series of memes based on a quote from U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle who said that the Donald Trump shooter (Thomas Matthew Crooks) was on a "sloped roof," making it dangerous for her Secret Service agents and snipers to clear the building before the July 13th, 2024, assassination attempt. Her exact quote was, "That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point, and so, you know, there’s a safety factor that we considered. We didn’t want to put someone on a sloped roof." Her statement was made in an ABC News interview that took place a few days after the incident. Sloped roof memes trended en masse on social media sites like Twitter / X, Reddit and Facebook in mid-July 2024, all making fun of the idea of a sloped roof being too dangerous to save the former President. Many of them also referenced the memes about the female Secret Service agents on Trump's detail.

Origin

On July 15th, 2024, the YouTube^[1] channel of ABC News shared a promo clip of its upcoming exclusive interview with Kimberly Cheatle, the Director of the Secret Service. The interview aired on national TV on July 16th. A comment she made in the interview about a "sloped roof" generated non-viral reactions on X.^[2][3] She said, "That building, in particular, has a sloped roof at its highest point, and so, you know, there’s a safety factor that we considered. We didn’t want to put someone on a sloped roof …" (video from X^[6] shown below).

Viral reactions surfaced after an article was published by the Daily Mail^[4] on July 16th. The first viral post was shared by X^[5] user @KeenanPeachy on July 16th, who highlighted the passage from the Daily Mail about her "sloped roof" comment, receiving over 8,500 likes in a day (shown below).

Spread

More posts about Cheatle's "sloped roof" comment surfaced on X in the following hours and days, such as a post by X^[7] user @C4CEO on July 16th, 2024, who posted the two photos of Crooks' position and the Secret Service's position and labeled each, "TOO SLOPE-Y" and "NOT TOO SLOPE-Y," receiving over 15,000 likes in a day (shown below).

The first known video upload of ABC's interview with Cheatle was shared by X^[6] user @thevivafrei on the night of July 16th, receiving over 15,000 likes in less than a day.

More sloped roof memes surfaced during the same timeframe, such as a tweet shared by X^[8] user @stevensongs on July 16th showing actor Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt from the Mission Impossible film series getting a call about a mission on sloped roof, gaining over 39,000 likes in a day (shown below, left).

Sloped roof memes surfaced on Reddit as well, evident in a post shared by Redditor^[8] OrcusGroup to /r/Firearms on July 16th, 2024, labeling each roof, "BAD SLOPE" and "GOOD SLOPE," receiving over 1,400 upvotes in a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References