The latest assassination attempt against Donald Trump didn’t get to the point that innocent people died. That’s the excellent news here. However, the fact that there was another attempt is troubling, to say the least. I get that a lot of people don’t like the man, but assassination isn’t exactly a viable strategy.
In the coming days, there will be a lot of information floating around. Some will end up disproven and a lot more will be the kind of thing certain parties would rather not discuss. Who those certain parties might be depends on what the information is.
For example, we know the identity of the would-be assassin. We also know his political beliefs, which are…interesting, but not surprising.
The X profile apparently belonging to Ryan Routh, who police say is the man who prepared to shoot former President Donald Trump on Sunday, shows his support for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Ukraine in the war against Russia’s invasion.
“You should visit the victims in the hospital of the trump rally victims and attend the funeral of the fireman that died; Trump certainly never would. SHOW THE WORLD WHAT REAL LEADERS DO,” Routh apparently told Biden on X after the first attempted assassination in July.
“You and Biden should visit the injured people in the hospital from the Trump rally and attend the funeral of the murdered fireman. Trump will never do anything for them….show the world what compassion and humanity is all about,” Routh’s alleged account similarly told Harris that same day.
Routh also apparently posted about how “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot” this election, which has been a common phrase and sentiment from Democrats this year.
So it’s clear that he was anti-Trump and a fan of both Biden and Harris. In other words, a Democrat or Democrat-leaning independent, more likely the former.
However, that’s not all. It seems he was vocal about his support for Ukraine, as well as quite the criminal history.
The man in custody in connection with what is being described as a second attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump was vocal about U.S. support for Ukraine and has a long criminal and civil court history, including a conviction for possessing a machine gun.
In that case, a man named Ryan Routh, 36 at the time, allegedly led authorities on a vehicle chase before he holed up at a roofing company in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to an account at the time by the Greensboro News & Record.
A person named Ryan Routh resided for decades in North Carolina, property records show. Most recently, a Ryan Routh lived in the small coastal community of Kaaawa on Oahu’s eastern shore in Hawaii. Authorities there did not immediately respond to an inquiry about any possible contacts with Routh.
After the 2002 arrest, authorities said they found the suspect in possession of a fully automatic machine gun, according to the Greensboro News & Record report. The arrest coincides with North Carolina criminal court records that include Routh’s conviction for possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
Records also show convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property and hit-and-run. In those cases, which included misdemeanor convictions for violations such as resisting an officer and driving on a suspended license, the defendant received a suspended sentence and parole or probation.
Routh also made several small donations via Act Blue, which exclusively deals with left-wing causes and candidates.
So we have a man with a long criminal record–including for felonies–and a history of support leftist causes and people.
No doubt, we’ll have op-eds suggesting that this is really all because of America’s gun culture any minute now.
Routh reportedly got in range of Trump at the West Palm Beach golf club, but never got the former president in his sights, thankfully. How he got that close remains to be seen–does the Secret Service even do secure perimeters anymore? Yeah, there don’t seem to be as many breakdowns as the last time we dealt with this, but it also doesn’t look like the Secret Service is sending their best and brightest, either.
We currently don’t know if this guy was on the FBI’s radar or not, though based on what we’ve seen in the past, he most likely was. I’d be shocked to learn they didn’t know of him, but I suppose it could happen.
Now, at this point, there are still a lot of unanswered questions, including how a convicted felon was able to get a firearm in the first place. That’s illegal, so clearly, gun control broke down. There will undoubtedly be those who are so concerned for Trump’s safety that they argue we need additional gun control in response to this event.
We do not.
Meanwhile, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. There are probably questions we don’t even know to ask just yet.
The coming days and weeks will be filled with these answers and questions alike, as well as a good bit of rhetoric surrounding how this wasn’t about politics, I suspect. When someone the media can label as being on the right does something, politics undoubtedly plays a role. When someone on the left does something, well, it’s everything but politics.
This will be no different.
Read the full article here