Trump White House Archive, Flickr

Former President Donald Trump [right] poses with radio host Rush Limbaugh at the Trump International Golf Club of West Palm Beach in 2019. On Sunday, the Secret Service stopped an assassin from attacking former president Donald Trump on this same golf course. This marks the second attempt on Trump’s life in the past year.

An assassination attempt on the life of former president and current Republican nominee for president Donald Trump was thwarted by the Secret Service on Sunday, September 15, at a West Palm Beach golf course. No harm came to the former president or his staff, and the would-be assassin is in custody.

Trump was enjoying a round of golf at the Trump International Golf Club of West Palm Beach when the assassination attempt was prevented. Secret Service agents were securing the grounds one hole ahead of where Trump was playing (around 300-500 feet) when, at around 11:30 MDT, they spotted the end of a rifle in the bushes that divide the golf course from two large roads, S. Congress Ave. and Summit Blvd. The Secret Service immediately fired four to six rounds and secured Trump’s safety.

Trump praised the Secret Service for their protection in a post to Truth Social, saying, “I want to thank the U.S. Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his Office of brave and dedicated Patriots, and, all of Law Enforcement, for the incredible job done today at Trump International in keeping me [. . .] SAFE.” Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Trump’s Democratic opponent in November, have also praised the Secret Service while condemning political violence.

The gunman, later identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, fled the scene after the Secret Service opened fire, leaving behind an SKS-style semiautomatic rifle with AK-style modifications along with two bags, a GoPro camera to film the murder, and an abundance of ceramic tile (likely as armor against retaliatory fire). According to cell phone location data, Routh had apparently been waiting in the foliage for nearly twelve hours.

Authorities pulled over Routh’s Nissan on I-95 and took him into custody 43 minutes after he fled the scene. Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder described Routh as “relatively calm” and “not displaying a lot of emotions” upon his arrest.

Routh is being charged in federal court with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. While an attempted assassination charge was not brought by prosecutors, these two charges together carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and $500,000. As the FBI investigation is ongoing, additional charges may be filed before Routh’s September 30 arraignment.

Routh has quite the rap sheet: he has been arrested 74 times and has over 100 charges on his name, from writing bad checks to hit-and-run. In 2002, Routh was charged with a felony after fleeing a routine traffic stop with a fully automatic machine gun. Said felony should have prevented Routh from possessing the rifle found at the scene, and the FBI may bring charges against whoever provided him the gun.

As of writing, the FBI have not released Routh’s motive for planning his attack on Trump, though Routh was known to be critical of the former president. In his 2023 self-published book Ukraine’s Unwinnable War, Routh wrote that he voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but later saw Trump was “fool” and “buffoon” after what he saw as Trump’s mismanagement of the COVID epidemic and involvement in the January 6 Capitol Insurrection. In the book, Routh told Iran, “You are free to assassinate Trump.”

While Routh, who co-owns an Oahu-based business building tiny homes with his son, is not party affiliated according to his North Carolina voter registration, he did vote in the state’s open Democratic primary this year and has donated around 20 times to ActBlue, a progressive super-PAC. Digital forensics show that he has tagged President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in multiple social media posts, including on in April where he said that Biden’s then-presidential campaign should be “called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA …make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”

Routh’s book and social media also document how Routh has been outspoken about the Russo-Ukraine War and his belief that America should be doing more to fight Russia. After the Russian invasion in February 2022, Routh went to Kyiv and claimed to recruit former soldiers in the US War in Afghanistan to fight in Ukraine until he changed positions on the war in November 2023 after falling out with the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine. As evidenced by the title of his 2023 book, Routh has since withdrawn support for Ukraine while spreading falsehoods about his time in Kyiv.

Routh’s actions come on the heels of another assassination attempt on the life of Trump that occurred at a campaign rally in Butler, PA, on July 13. 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, armed with an AR-15-style rifle, opened fire on the platform where Trump was speaking, killing one spectator and wounding two (Trump himself was grazed by a bullet). Crooks was killed immediately by Secret Service, and the incident raised alarm from both sides of the aisle on the quality of Secret Service protection. After Congressional hearings, Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on July 23.