50 days to go until election day ... and if those 50 days are anywhere near as drama filled as these last 50, then buckle up.  

Once again, former president Donald Trump was the target of an apparent assassination attempt----that will be the focus of today's Countdown, where we'll examine the political implications with former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele ... and look at what seems to be continuous security breakdowns at the Secret Service.

But first, a quick lap around the political world:

Much more on this throughout the show but, as Charles just mentioned, Donald Trump was once again the target of a would-be assassin.  58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was a one time Trump voter, back in 2016, but after that his politics seem to be all over the place ... and he has a pretty lengthy criminal record with plenty of gun charges.  Routh was caught with an assault weapon and sniper scope, plus other gear, setting up along the fence of a West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.  He apparently was within at least 500 yards of the former president when he was spotted by Secret Service agents.

Even though the young man in Pennsylvania who shot at Donald Trump was a registered Republican and the man caught yesterday was a former Trump voter ... that hasn't stopped the Trump campaign from fundraising around the two incidents.  A campaign fundraising pitch sent out this morning says "The would-be assassin believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and yesterday, he acted on it.  She’s trying to incite the most extreme elements in her base."

In a post on Truth Social, Trump says Kamala Harris has taken politics in the country to "a whole new level of hatred, abuse and distrust.  Because of the communist left rhetoric," Trump wrote, "the bullets are flying."

Both Vice President Harris and President Biden were quick to condemn the latest assassination attempt ... and political violence in general.  Harris says she was "deeply disturbed" by the arrest of the heavily armed man at Trump's golf course ... while Biden condemned any and all hate speech and violence rhetoric in politics.

Guests on today's Countdown 2024:

-Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee & former Lt. Governor of Maryland

-Cheryl Tyler, retired Secret Service agent who served on the protective details of both Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  She was also a long-time instructor at the Secret Service training center