After a man who appears to be obsessive about the war in Ukraine was arrested for allegedly attempting to assassinate Donald Trump on Sunday, rumors and conspiracy theories have spread online attempting to tie Democrats to the two assassination attempts on the former president this election.
Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect charged with gun-related crimes on Monday, previously conducted media interviews about his efforts to recruit volunteer fighters, particularly from Afghanistan, to help Ukraine in its war against Russia. Routh also apparently self-published an e-book on Ukraine in which he said that Iran was “free to assassinate Trump as well as me”, according to media reports.
As details of his passion for Ukraine have emerged, some on the far right have claimed Routh may have ties within the US military, with some going even further to say the arrested suspect could have been part of a larger plot. There is no evidence to suggest either – and none of those spreading the rumors have put forth any proof.
“What are the odds that this shooter, who spent months fighting in Ukraine, has zero links to anyone in US military or intelligence circles?” Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, wrote on X. “Find them.”
Questions surrounding how Routh knew Trump would be golfing that day, given that the round wasn’t on a public schedule, led some to suggest that those tasked with protecting the president could be in on the attempt. The former president praised the Secret Service in the aftermath of the apparent thwarted shooting.
Another conspiracy theory claimed Routh appeared in a video for the investment firm BlackRock. The video footage circulated along with the claim shows him at a protest in Ukraine, though the video is unaffiliated with the firm, the company said, adding that Routh “has never been an employee of BlackRock nor has he appeared in any BlackRock ads”.
The theory attempted to tie Routh to Thomas Crooks, the shooter in the first assassination attempt against Trump in July, who did appear in a BlackRock commercial when he was a student at Bethel Park high school in Pennsylvania. “That means BOTH featured in Global Wealth management firm’s Commercial,” an X account with nearly 600,000 followers posted alongside a video that included Routh. “THESE ARENT COINCIDIENCES [sic]. They love their symbolism.”
Routh spoke to the New York Times in 2023 and the Guardian in 2022 for stories about volunteers going to Ukraine to help fight. The New York Times reporter who spoke to him wrote on Sunday that “it was clear he was in way over his head” and had no way of pulling off his plans to recruit Afghan soldiers for the effort. His interviews in the Times and other media well before the shooting led to further speculation.
“Now we see Ryan Routh, who tried to assassinate President Trump today at his West Palm Beach, FL golf club, was profiled by the New York Times @nytimes in 2023 and worked with the US foreign Legion in Ukraine, which has ties to the CIA,” the far-right conspiracy theorist and Trump ally Laura Loomer wrote on X. “The DEEP STATE runs Deep!”
Loomer also pointed to the recent cover of Time magazine, which shows Trump on a golf cart stuck in a sand trap and says “In Trouble”, and said: “Coincidence? Or coordination?
“Did they have advance knowledge of the attempted assassination of President Trump today at his golf club in West Palm Beach FL!?!” Loomer wrote.
Beyond the conspiracies, others on the right have blamed Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Democrats in general for using rhetoric that they claim has put Trump under fire. The Republican presidential candidate himself said “Comrade Kamala Harris” had made statements that had “taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust.
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“Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!”
On Fox News on Monday, Trump used heated rhetoric, calling Democrats like Harris “the enemy from within.
“These are people that want to destroy our country,” he said. “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”
Elon Musk, the owner of X, wrote on the platform on Sunday: “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.” He later removed the tweet and claimed it was a joke, saying that “jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text”.
The Libertarian party of New Hampshire took it further, writing on X: “Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero.”