…Far away from potential assassins.
Russia once had another leader who commanded violence and death but stayed well away from it himself — Lenin.
This, from Victor Sebestyen’s biography:
As usual, where the violence was, Lenin wasn’t…In his circle of confidants and the Party leadership it was axiomatic that he was too important to the Revolution to take risks with his safety. But others were more critical. ‘He would never have gone into the streets to fight on the barricades, or stand in the line of fire,’ remarked [ex-Lenin friend Nicolai] Valentinov. ‘Not he but other, humbler people were to do that…Lenin ran headline from émigré meetings which seemed likely to end in a scuffle. His role was to “get away while the going was good” — to use his own words — meaning from any threat of danger…
Tatiana Alexinsky, wife of one of the most senior Bolsheviks in St Petersburg, was deeply disappointed when she saw him flee from a peaceful demonstration that was suddenly attacked by Tsarist cavalry…in the suburbs of the city in the summer of 1906. ‘…Lenin had seemed to me a legendary hero…assumed he was a revolutionary without fear or blemish. Not when we saw him up close…his behaviour at the demonstration. When someone in the crowd, spotting some cavalry, shouted “Cossacks!” Lenin was the first to run. He jumped over a barrier. His bowler hat fell off…He fell, got up again and continued to run away…”
When Trump commanded his rally mob to march to the Capitol, he said, “I’ll be with you.” They marched, they attacked and Trump was in the White House, gleefully watching the assault on TV.
Cowards, huddling in their bunkers.