One chilling incident occurred on September 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Former President Donald Trump, at the Trump International Golf Course, became the target of what law enforcement is investigating as an assassination attempt. The suspect is identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, with a layered background that has question marks regarding his motivations and state of mind.
The incident: A close call for Trump
The armed suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, who was standing some 300 to 500 yards away from Trump, who was golfing, was armed with an AK-47-style rifle. Members of Trump’s Secret Service detail witnessed Routh raise the weapon and fired their guns. It is not clear if Routh fired shots before he fled in a black Nissan SUV. He was shortly thereafter apprehended by law enforcement officers, who recovered the rifle along with a scope and two knapsacks containing everything from items deriving from a GoPro camera to ceramic tiles.
The FBI characterized the incident as an apparent assassination attempt against Trump, who departed the scene unscathed but shaken. It is a second attack inside two months of another alleged assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania, where Trump had come really close to taking a bullet.
Routh’s disturbing past
Routh has been in and out of jail and prison since the 1990s on various misdemeanor and felony charges. He was convicted most notably in 2002 for the possession of a weapon of mass destruction after a standoff with law enforcement where he used a fully automatic machine gun. Charges over time against him have ranged from hit-and-run incidents, carrying concealed weapons to resisting arrest.
A native of North Carolina, Routh later moved to Hawaii, operating a shed-building business aimed at helping homeless people. The profile on his LinkedIn page-reads like a soft-spoken, “passionate community servant”. That contrasts with the radicalized persona his social media reveals-one carrying extreme political views.
Political views and social media activity
Routh has indeed had his ups and downs in the political path. Being an early supporter of Donald Trump in 2016, he incrementally became more critical of the former president. His X (formerly Twitter) musings showed that angst toward Trump; from “I will be glad when you (are) gone” to criticizing Trump for his methods of handling different issues.
His social media was littered with postings about political violence and extremist views on foreign conflicts. Routh was such an adamant supporter of Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia that, in 2022, he went to the country to fight against Russians. He even actively recruited Afghan soldiers to go and fight on the side of Ukraine, though he had never served in the army himself. Currently, all his social media platforms are shut down for incendiary content.
Routh was also known to harbor extreme sentiments regarding various geopolitical controversies, from questioning the land claims of Israel to wild accusations against China over COVID-19 and biological warfare. Add these radical political ideologies to his violent past, and there were some serious questions regarding his state of mind and general stability. His social media accounts have been suspended amongst major platforms.
Family insights and future implications
Relatives have described him- despite some questionable elements in his background- as a “loving and caring father”. His son Oran has spoken of not believing his dad would do such a thing, although he conceded Routh had become more politically active of late.
The investigation into Routh’s motive in attacking Trump puts extra pressure on law enforcement agencies to reconsider security around high-profile political figures. This incident underlines the growing rate of political violence in the U.S. against former presidents who return seeking to contest an election.
Routh, who will likely make his first court appearance soon, is reconstructing the events leading to the incident. As American politics becomes increasingly tense, with threats to popular figures building, so too should the security setup evolve to those conditions.
