The Guardian has an article up now from an interview with Routh’s son. Well worth a read.
The suspect’s hair was dyed yellow and blue, as a tribune to Ukraine, I guess. Information that’s come out in the past few hours suggests to me that he’s probably a sovereign citizen.
p.s. As for the name, it’s probably pronounced “Ruth.” I used to work with a man whose surname was Routh, so that’s how I know this.
Will this attempt finally convince Trump that, contrary to what he claims, not everybody loves and adores him, and as a consequence, he can lose elections?
I am glad that he is safe (as I have posted before, I do not wish ill on anybody, not even Trump), but is this the straw that breaks the camel’s back and makes him realize that he’d better dial it back a bit if he is to appeal to more than just his MAGA base?
All the news coverage right now is about how short handed the SS is or how trump isn’t being provided with enough SS coverage. I just wonder why a billionaire wouldn’t pay for some additional security. I know I’d have several private security people if someone had already tried to kill me.
I’m glad he’s safe. I can not even imagine the chaos if he’d been killed.
I am glad nobody was hurt. It seems like this guy was an avid Ukraine supporter who didn’t like Trump’s views. I didn’t believe in any conspiracy theories about the prior shooting so I am trying hard to not ascribe to any here. Probably just a random nutcase criminal.
If politicians keep fighting against any form of gun control then this sort of thing sooner or later becomes inevitable. Trump may be faced with a choice of either never going outside again or risking his life every time he goes golfing.
Pretty sure it’s not.
Because 1) He’s cheap and has a reputation of not paying people who work for him and 2) he’s almost certainly not an actual billionaire.
didn’t work last time, wont work this time
Right. Their tolerances are a bit lose which affects accuracy. But it makes them more reliable and less likely to jam.
Apparently this incident was more serious than it was initially reported.
It seems unlikely someone prone in the bushes, could be seen from any distance. Especially if the rifle is lying in tall grass.
This happened during an early security sweep before Trump started his game?
It’s a little disturbing that the Secret Service immediately opens fire when the suspect was reportedly 300 yards away. But I realize details are still dribbling in. The nut might have been dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and easily seen. Deadly to bystanders instead of his target.
Of course the Secret Service is hyper-vigilant after the attempt a few weeks ago. Trump is safer now than ever before.
The Guardian live feed
Was he? Admittedly I’m not up to speed on all the small details yet, but he wasn’t in the picture of him getting arrested and sitting in the squad car. If he was wearing one earlier and changed it while trying to get away, I’m not sure but I haven’t seen or read anything that suggests it. In any case, I believe he’s from Hawaii, so I wouldn’t look too deeply into that.
I was being sarcastic. They haven’t reported what he was wearing. Only that he was spotted during the security sweep.
I was under the impression that the Secret Service person was inside the fence with Trump and saw just the barrel of the gun poking through, so didn’t see the person at all. (So if the shooter had been careful to * ot* stick the barrel into view, he probably could have got some shots off.)
Ryan Wesley Routh has a long and troubled history. I’m relieved no one got hurt yesterday.
Was Trumps location published? How did the guy know he’d be there?
Trump should probably not announce his schedule.
Yeah, my concern is that there is now a bunch of people in the “hold my beer” brigade going all “challenge accepted!” after two failed assassination attempts. Not just for Trump, but any political figure who says and does things some armed nutbar doesn’t like.
My husband, listening to NPR, said that the secret service’s usual approach to securing golf courses for people at a lower level than the current president is to send guys to the next hole to check it out. And it’s those guys who saw the gunman.
It sounds like those protocols basically did the job they are supposed to do.
I see the maximum effective range of an AK47 listed as 350m. Max effective is the furthest you can be reasonably sure you can hit what you aim at. It’s different than maximum range which is how far it goes if you lob it in a general direction. It’s not known what kind of variant it was only that it looks like an AK47. It’s possible it was better or worse than a standard model. If there was a scope then there is the issue of if the shooter properly zeroed it or even if he knows how to dial it in. Even with iron sights it would be extremely important to zero the weapon if you are shooting at that range if you have any hope of hitting what you are aiming at.
The SS noticed the guy at ~300 yards from themselves, not from trump. Had he successfully remained concealed until he opened fire, the shooter-to-target range may well have been much less. Like 50-100 yards.
I haven’t seen any diagrams yet of the shooter’s hide position versus the course layout. Then again I haven’t been looking for such. If he set up near a tee box or a green, there would have been lots of time where the target was standing very still and fairly close.
Much like the previous shooter, this guy seems to be somebody who’s a) nutty, and b) not necessarily any good with a rifle. He evidently sucks at the basics of infantry concealment.
The Kremlin has dropped a statement about how “playing with fire” has consequences, making me think a Russian agent posing as a Ukrainian set this whole thing up:
It’s plausible, especially if they were lucky enough to find someone who wanted to do it anyway like with the Reichstag fire. Then give him the AK-47. It would explain why he didn’t buy a more suitable gun. Plus as a bonus to Putin the chances of success are low. Plus you can blame Ukraine because Ukraine also has some AKs. Obviously the facts might contradict this in the end but all the pieces seem to be logical.