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Barely two months after he survived an attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, former US President and Republican nominee for the November poll, escaped a second assassination attempt on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at his Florida golf club. Trump quickly reassured supporters via email: “I AM SAFE AND WELL. Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!” His running mate and Republican Ohio Senator, J.D. Vance told the media that Trump was in “good spirits.”
While it would be inappropriate to attribute motives behind the attack – the first time a presidential candidate has been attacked, twice, in the course of a campaign – Trump supporters hinted at deeper political reasons. They pointed out that the first attack came soon after Trump trounced President Joe Biden in the first presidential debate (June 27, 2024), and the second potential attack followed a controversial debate with the new Democratic candidate Kamala Harris on September 10, 2024.
Conspiracy theorists pointed to the latest cover of Time Magazine, posted on 9/11, showing Trump in a golf cart. Time had famously prepared a cover of Hillary Clinton as America’s first female president, but her shock defeat consigned it to the dustbin. However, as Trump’s decision to play golf that day was not publicly known, the investigation must reveal how the shooter knew he would be at the golf course and could get close enough with a semi-automatic rifle.
The would-be assassin, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, managed to escape but was soon arrested on the I-95 highway. Some Americans fear that he may die “mysteriously” in prison as has happened with inconvenient convicts in high-profile cases. The assassins of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were also speedily dispatched, which inhibited a comprehensive investigation into the killings.
Edward Snowden, the former NSA whistleblower who leaked classified documents on US global surveillance programs, tweeted: We know little so far, but alleged Trump shooter’s personal and public participation in military activity in Ukraine, it is hard to imagine this White House’s agencies can claim zero contact-clean hands. Something of an Oswald vibe, here. Congress should get answers.
Supporters link the assassination attempts with Trump’s attacks on illegal immigration. At Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump was showing immigration statistics on big screens at his rally, when an assassin known to Secret Service and law-enforcement, shot several bullets that almost killed the former President. They question why Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary, Department of Homeland Security, who refused more Secret Service protection to Trump and his team, has still not been held accountable.
Now, soon after Trump raised questions about the Haitian invasion of Springfield, Ohio, and locals alleged that the migrants were eating people’s pets, he was targeted at his Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. At the September debate, Trump said that if elected, he would make the NASDAQ liable. Then, at a livestream event on September 17, 2024, Trump, accompanied by his sons and some cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, backed a digital currency initiative, World Liberty Financial. This move to leave slow and outdated big banks behind is a major shift in Trump’s economic perspective.
Ryan Wesley Routh
Ryan Routh is a US soldier who served in the Ukrainian foreign Legion that is allegedly controlled by the CIA. Radio host Alex Jones declared, “This is all about preparing the ground for total war with Russia.” In a self-published book, Routh had advocated Trump’s murder because of the latter’s decision to withdraw from the pact that limited Iran’s nuclear program.
As Facebook quickly deleted Routh’s account, a reader posted a screen picture of all @RyanRouth’s posts on X (Twitter), fearing that his X account may also be deleted. Another reader managed to archive Routh’s entire Facebook page, with posts about recruiting mercenaries for Ukraine and fighting for Taiwan against China. It included posts about Routh being in Maui after the wildfires.
A devoted fan of Biden-Harris, Routh called Donald Trump a threat to democracy. He bragged about his recruitment efforts for the Ukraine war. New York podcaster Candace Owens tweeted: Everything about this shooter’s background reeks of a criminal-turned-Federal asset in prison. Convicted for weapons of mass destruction and then years later trying to recruit Americans to (sic) the war in Ukraine?
What set the social media aflame was the news that Ryan Routh had appeared in a propaganda video for the AZOV BATTALLION in May 2022, ‘trying to recruit people for a revolution.’ However, the Azov brigade’s press service denied any links with Routh. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the suspected assassination attempt, saying on X: “I am glad to hear that Donald Trump is safe and unharmed.”
While there is no clarity about who shot the Azov Battalion video, the first Trump assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, did appear briefly in a BlackRock commercial. Blackrock has secured the largest commercial deal in Ukraine. Routh was interviewed by Newsweek Romania in June 2022, but now the magazine denounces him as “delusional” and a “liar.”
Kamala Harris campaign
Coincidentally, on September 15, the Kamala Campaign found itself in a soup as an ABC News whistleblower released an affidavit revealing that ABC had conspired with the Kamala Harris campaign to provide questions in advance of the debate with Donald Trump on September 10, 2024. The collusion is regarded as election interference. The affidavit was signed on September 9, 2024, one day before the debate. The network also aggressively fact-checked every statement by Trump during the debate for discrediting him but never challenged Kamala Harris’s questionable or inaccurate affirmations.
Social media posts displayed images of the purported sworn affidavit from the alleged ABC News employee (with personal information redacted). The whistleblower alleged that this was the only way the network could get Harris to join in the debate. Interestingly, days before this, Mark Penn, former advisor of Hillary Clinton, had claimed that an ABC News whistleblower would soon come forward with claims of bias at the news outlet.
Following the debate, ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were lambasted by media critics for their lopsided and often faulty “fact-checking” of Trump and softness towards Harris. The affidavit suggests that the Harris campaign made ABC News agree that the moderators would not ask Kamala Harris about President Joe Biden’s health, her numerous statements attesting to his mental and physical fitness, her tenure as Attorney General of California, and Tony West, her brother-in-law who is accused of embezzling billions of dollars in taxpayer funds and may find place in her administration if she is elected.
Reactions
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on Trump’s assassination attempt. Biden in a statement on Sunday evening, said he is “relieved” that Trump was not harmed, and commended “the work of the Secret Service and their law enforcement partners for their vigilance and their efforts to keep the former President and those around him safe.” Democratic vice-presidential nominee and Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, said that he and his wife, Gwen, are “glad” to hear that Trump is safe. “Violence has no place in our country,” he tweeted, “It’s not who we are as a nation.”
But it did not help a polarised nation that Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump in 2016, appeared on MSNBC and said Donald Trump was a “danger” to the world.
In a long post on X on September 17, Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance warned against the perils of heating up the debate: “Kamala Harris has said that “Democracy is on the line” in her race against President Trump. The gunman agreed, and used the exact same phrase. He had a Kamala Harris bumper sticker on his truck. He was obsessed with Ukraine’s “fight for Democracy” and absorbed many unhinged views about the Russia-Ukraine war… and he donated 19 times to Democrat causes and zero to Republican ones.”
Vance added, “For years, Kamala Harris’s campaign surrogates have said things like “Trump has to be eliminated.” Asking “how have their media allies responded to the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump in as many months?” he accused NBC News, LA Times, USA Today, CNN, PBS of egregious double standards.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct), chairman of the Senate subcommittee investigating the security failures at Butler, observed, “A second serious incident, apparently involving an assault weapon, is deeply alarming and appalling.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), said that the Senate’s investigations into the security lapses in Butler cited mismanagement within the Department of Homeland Security which oversees the Secret Service, as well as budget and morale issues.
Michael Matranga, a former Secret Service agent who protected President Barack Obama, said the agency should “seriously consider giving former President Trump the same or equal package as the president of the United States” and called the incidents “unprecedented.”
The FBI, the Secret Service and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office are probing the attempt on Trump’s life. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told media that the suspect was around 500 yards from the former president. A Secret Service agent positioned ahead of the former president spotted a gun barrel and engaged with the suspect, prompting him to flee. Police later discovered a backpack containing an AK-47 and a GoPro.
David Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County, said the suspect will be charged at the state level but federal charges are also likely. Palm Beach Sheriff Bradshaw told the media on Sunday that the entire golf course would have been secured if Trump was the sitting president, but currently, “security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.” He added that, “the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done, they provided exactly what the protection should have been and their agent did a fantastic job.”
This enraged Trump’s supporters who quickly produced evidence of the level of security still provided at former President Barack Obama’s golf course in Martha’s Vineyard, with Secret Service agents inspecting every vehicle that even drives near the course.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (Republican) said that his office would conduct an independent investigation into the matter, expressing shock that the would-be assassin was able to get within 500 yards of the former president.
References:-
1] What We Know About Second Trump Assassination Attempt, The Epoch Times, Jack Phillips, September 15-16, 2024.
2] https://x.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1835363440774504525?t=ExRNjJ71k8ig9LM0H4v_0Q&s=03
3] https://x.com/Snowden/status/1835460582855631350?t=Xu-25J7Ksf16b1GuLr9pOQ&s=03
4] Donald Trump introduces new cryptocurrency World Liberty Financial: Can it ‘make finance great again’?, ET, September 17, 2024.
5] https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1835464825243095314?t=VjPg1NSkTOkX5cGt2nnRLA&s=03
6] Suspected Gunman in Apparent Trump Assassination Attempt Said He Was Willing to Fight and Die in Ukraine, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 16, 2024.
7] https://x.com/BillboardChris/status/1835452723929457000?t=LjHdq9Bl5yX2mUGxT8t5RQ&s=03
8] https://x.com/ShadowofEzra/status/1835459877143019582?t=Iu2YbJp3kgy9P8u3Px91zQ&s=03
9] https://x.com/RealCandaceO/status/1835468450405204437?t=FxaRlHuLhhyWjRcLCcno5Q&s=03
10] https://twitter.com/dom_lucre/status/1835460983848046830?t=l22fP8dDQzC83DZRSaBh4g&s=03
11] Ryan Routh, reported suspect in Trump assassination attempt, backed Ukraine, Reuters, September 16, 2024.
12] https://x.com/Travis_4_Trump/status/1835505665407676922?t=6B5DBz4vRqfBqZpx0nIv_g&s=03
13] Exclusive: Ryan Wesley Routh ‘Delusional and a Liar’—Ukraine Volunteer, Newsweek, September 16, 2024.
https://www.newsweek.com/ryan-wesley-routh-trump-assassination-ukraine-recruiter-1954348
14] Report: Alleged ABC News Employee Swears in Affidavit Harris Campaign Struck Deal for Favorable Debate Treatment, Maine Wire, Steve Robinson, September 16, 2024.
15] https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1835874545858658562
16] https://x.com/JDVance/status/1835823158957391923
17] Second Assassination Attempt Raises New Questions About Secret Service, NYT, Sept. 15, 2024.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/15/us/politics/secret-service-trump-shooting.html
18] https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1835408677622194218?t=Lf1e_dbu0yEo45LCq9OUlg&s=03
19] https://x.com/Travis_4_Trump/status/1835431010248307185?t=hQ1wxztMkXJOD-92YQcTJA&s=03
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