Failed Trump Assassin’s Mysterious Past: Conviction For ‘WMD,’ Pro-Ukraine Extremism And Anti-Trump Hatred
Ryan Wesley Routh, the 58-year-old suspect in an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, has a troubling history marked by violent behavior and extremist views. His background includes a significant criminal record and radical opinions about Ukraine, which he expressed in a 2023 memoir.
Routh’s most notable criminal act occurred in 2002 when he was involved in a three-hour standoff with police in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was convicted for carrying a fully automatic machine gun, categorized as a “weapon of mass destruction.” His lengthy rap sheet also includes convictions for felony possession of stolen goods, misdemeanor charges of carrying a concealed weapon, hit-and-run, and resisting law enforcement.
This past weekend, Routh allegedly aimed a gun at President Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Secret Service agents, noticing the muzzle of an AK-47 protruding from the bushes, intervened, leading to Routh’s capture after he fled the scene.
Adding to Routh’s concerning profile are his radical political views. In his memoir, Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment, and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea, and the End of Humanity, co-written with his fiancé Kathleen Schaffer, Routh expressed a vehement support for Ukraine. He suggested that Ukraine must win its conflict with Russia by any means necessary, even endorsing extreme actions such as the assassination of Trump to achieve this goal.
