The extraordinary number of times Ryan Wesley Routh donated to Democrats before alleged Trump assassination attempt amid his obsession to ‘save Democracy’
The man named as a suspect in a possible assassination attempt at Donald Trump’s Florida golf club has donated money to Democrats in the past and posted about the former president who lost the election.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is in custody after allegedly pointing an AK-47 at the former president on Sunday while he was golfing at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach.
He is a registered Democrat and donated 19 times to the Democratic political action committee ActBlue between September 2019 and March 2020, Federal Election Commission filings show.
The donations totaled more than $140 and went to individual candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary, including Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Routh’s social media was filled with anti-Trump rhetoric, previously saying “democracy is on the ballot,” The New York Post.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is in custody after allegedly pointing an AK-47 at the former president while he was golfing
Routh is a registered Democrat and was arrested in 2002 for carrying “weapons of mass destruction”
According to a more than 20-year-old report by News & Record, the shooter was convicted of possession of a weapon of mass destruction more than 20 years ago.
Routh, 36 at the time, was arrested following a three-hour standoff with police after he barricaded himself inside a local roofing company in Greensboro, North Carolina, after speeding away from a traffic stop while carrying a firearm.
In June 2020, he also admitted on social media that he had voted for Trump in 2016, but that he hoped he would be “different and better” as president than he had been as a candidate.
“We were all very disappointed and it seems that you are getting worse and worse and are going backwards; are you retarded,” Routh wrote at the time. “I will be glad when you are gone.”
The incident comes as Trump has ramped up security in the two months since the former president was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
He was calm and emotionless when he was arrested on Sunday
Routh has donated more than $140 to the Democratic political action committee ActBlue
After the assassination attempt, Routh tweeted to Biden that he should visit the victims and attend the funeral of the 50-year-old firefighter who was killed, the Post reported.
“You should visit the victims in the hospital at the Trump rally and attend the funeral of the deceased firefighter; Trump would never do that. SHOW THE WORLD WHAT REAL LEADERS DO,” he posted on July 16.
On social media, he also showed that he strongly supports Ukraine in the war against Russia and Taiwan in the fight against China.
In a response to a post from X owner Elon Musk, Routh said he was interested in buying a rocket from him.
“I would like to buy a missile from you. I want to load it with a nuclear warhead for Putin’s bunker in the Black Sea to kill him. Can you give me a price? It can be old and used, because it won’t come back,” Routh wrote.