Déjà vu with assassin

FR Déjà vu with assassin Article by Karl Doemens • 1 hour • 3 minutes reading time The FBI reconstructs the movements of the suspected assassin outside the Trump International Golf Club. Donald Trump escapes the second alleged attempt to shoot him in less than three months. This case is even more mysterious than the first. The dramatic event was only a few hours ago when Donald Trump contacted his fan base with a message: "Don't worry," wrote the 78-year-old: "I'm safe and no one was hurt." However, there are "people in this world who are doing everything they can to stop us." He said this and called for donations. Many in the USA may have felt a macabre feeling of déjà vu: just nine weeks ago, Trump was grazed in the ear in an assassination attempt during a rally in Philadelphia. Now, on Sunday, there was the next suspected attack attempt on the controversial Republican politician - this time on his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. But this time, the Secret Service was able to prevent anything worse from happening and a suspect was arrested. Leading Democrats immediately condemned the assassination attempt. But it is already clear that the second attack on the life of one of the two presidential vying for the presidency will further inflame the already extremely polarized election campaign. Not only are there practical questions about how the shooter knew about the ex-president's whereabouts and was then able to get to within about 400 meters of his target without being noticed. Some Republicans are trying to prove a political background and accuse the Democrats of complicity. Little is known about the motives of the 58-year-old suspect. According to the police, he is Ryan Wesley Routh. He is said to have previously lived as a roofer in North Carolina and moved to Hawaii a few years ago. A man with this profile was very active on social media. In June 2020, he wrote on X/Twitter that he had voted for Trump in 2016 but was disappointed by him. At the beginning of 2024, he encouraged Trump's rivals within the party, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, to run together against Trump. In April, he warned of the dangers to democracy, which could be interpreted as support for Biden. Routh was mainly involved in Ukraine on various online platforms. He campaigned for support for the country invaded by Russia and tried to recruit mercenaries. However, some statements cast doubt on his mental state. In 2020, for example, he invited North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to Hawaii for a vacation and offered to act as a mediator with South Korea. In July 2023, he wrote: "I have hundreds of NATO-trained soldiers asking to go to Haiti to create peace there." According to a report in the New York Times, Routh was arrested in 2002 after he barricaded himself with an automatic rifle. On Sunday afternoon, this man apparently managed to get dangerously close to Trump. His golf course in Florida is shielded from the road by a fence and a thick, high hedge. Trump was playing a round with an acquaintance when a Secret Service bodyguard, who had gone ahead to the next hole, spotted a rifle barrel in the bushes at around half past one in the afternoon. Several shots were fired. The suspect fled in a black Nissan, but was caught and arrested by the police shortly afterwards thanks to the help of attentive passers-by. At the scene of the crime, he had left behind a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle with a telescopic sight, as well as two backpacks with (bulletproof?) ceramic plates and a compact camera. It is unclear how the shooter knew where Trump was. Unlike incumbent Joe Biden, there is no publicly accessible calendar of the ex-president, who travels all over the country during the election campaign. Due to the large number of his outdoor appearances and visits to extensive golf courses in his free time, Trump is difficult to protect completely. The Secret Service had already significantly increased its precautions since the Pennsylvania attack. However, unlike incumbent presidents, the golf courses have not been hermetically sealed so far. Activists from both parties are now calling for such security gaps to be closed. Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to shift the blame for the assassination attempt onto the Democrats. Trump's former ambassador to Germany, the well-known agitator Richard Grenell, accused presidential candidate Kamala Harris of using "radical language" that "contributed to making Trump a target for unstable people." Trump's media adviser Dan Scavino insulted Harris after she expressed relief at the bloodless outcome of the attack: "You are full of shit. Your rhetoric triggered this, again!!!"