For the second time in just over two months, former President Donald Trump was the target of assassination.
However, unlike the first attempt last July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in which Trump was wounded, he was unharmed. Today's incident took place in the vicinity of Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. Secret Service agents thwarted the assassination attempt. The suspect fled on foot but was apprehended a short time later by local authorities in nearby Martin County.
The suspect has been identified as Ryan Routh, a 58-year-old man originally from North Carolina who has taken up residence in Hawaii. Routh has a lengthy criminal record including a conviction for possessing a machine gun back in 2002. Routh did apparently vote for Trump in 2016 but would sour on him.
In his social media accounts, Routh was particularly outspoken in his support for Ukraine and had evidently gone to Ukraine to join their fighting forces but was rebuffed. While it is not specifically clear what led Routh to try to do what he did today, it is clear that he is not like Thomas Crooks who I have argued is more of an Arthur Bremer-like figure than John Wilkes Booth. Routh might very well have aspired to be like Booth.
Not surprisingly, right-wing media outlets such as the New York Post are trying to link Routh to President Biden and Vice-President Harris:
“DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” he wrote, a similar slogan commonly used by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We cannot afford to fail,” Routh continued. “The world is counting on us to show the way.”
This is similar to language that Harris continues to use on the campaign trail. On Aug. 29, she said at a rally in Savannah, Ga., “We are fighting for our democracy.”
On July 31, she said at an event in Houston that “our fundamental freedoms are on the ballot and so is our democracy” — after using identical wording at a sorority event the same day.
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, told The Post: “It is no coincidence that Routh repeated Kamala’s and Joe’s extremist rhetoric against Trump. At this point it is inexcusable incitement.”
What incredible nonsense!!! No rational individual or person acting in good faith would arrive at such a conclusion. Given Routh's criminal history and erratic, violent behavior, it is reasonable to conclude that he would have attempted to assassinate Trump regardless of anything either President Biden or Vice-President Harris would have said. Whereas Fitton is simply being dishonest and is well aware of his deceit.
The same can be said for Florida Republican Congressman Mike Waltz who claimed:
This rhetoric against President Trump, this narrative that he will be the next dictator, that he is the next Hitler coming, it has got to stop. Enough is enough. And when you have this narrative coming from the left, from [the] media, from elected officials, even, that Trump has to be stopped by any means necessary, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that these people are being radicalized and taking action like this.
Congressman, name me a single Democratic elected official who has called for the assassination of former President Trump. I'll wait.
It won't be long before Trump will also cast blame upon Biden and Harris just as he did late last month after the first attempt on his life. In an interview with Dr. Phil, Trump stated:
When this happened, people would ask, whose fault is it? I think to a certain extent it’s Biden’s fault and Harris’s fault. And I’m the opponent. They were weaponizing government against me, they brought in the whole DoJ to try and get me, they weren’t too interested in my health and safety.
They were making it very difficult to have proper staffing in terms of Secret Service.
Given Trump's poor performance in his debate against Kamala Harris last week, blaming her, President Biden and other Democrats for the attempts on his life is basically the only card they have left to play, and they will play this hand again and again.
As to the second attempt on his life, I shall restate the view I shared two months ago:
As much as contempt as I have for former President Trump and his behavior both inside and outside of the White House, I prefer that he be defeated by ballots instead of bullets. It is wrong to try to kill Trump just as it was wrong for January 6th insurrectionists to shout, "Hang Mike Pence!!!" - an assessment with which Trump concurred.
Unfortunately, things come in threes, and I would not be shocked if there was another attempt made on Trump's life between now and the election. Conversely, I would also not be surprised if a Trump supporter saw fit to make an attempt on Vice-President Harris' life in retaliation for the two attempts on Trump's life.
Sadly, this is our age of unreason.
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