Donald Trump dodges another assassination attempt
Donald Trump faced a second assassination attempt at his Florida golf course, thwarted by Secret Service. The shooter was arrested; motivations unclear.
Former American president Donald Trump faced a second apparent assassination attempt on Sunday -- just two months after a bullet grazed his ear -- at his Florida golf course, where Secret Service agents successfully thwarted the attempt before a gunman could take the shot.
The event unfolded at 2024 Republican presidential nominee Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club where a Secret Service agent, positioned ahead of Trump, noticed an AK-47 style rifle protruding from a fence. The agent fired at the individual holding the weapon. The shooter, later identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, a staunch Ukraine sympathiser, fled the scene in a vehicle but was later apprehended on the highway.
“Former President Donald Trump is safe and unharmed following a possible attempted assassination shortly before 2 pm Sunday at Trump International Golf Club at West Palm Beach. US Secret Service personnel opened fire on a gunman located near the property line. The FBI has assumed its role as the lead agency investigating this matter,” special agent in charge of the Miami field office, Rafael Barros, said in a statement.
On Monday, Routh appeared before a federal courthouse in Florida where he was charged with two crimes; possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
News agency AP reported that he had been hiding on the golf course for 12 hours before he was confronted and caught.
The assassination bid adds another chapter to an already unprecedented and extraordinary election, reflects the rise in political violence in America, and appeared to be a product of the deep divisions that exist within the US on America’s international role.
The Trump campaign swiftly responded, sending out an email within two hours of the incident. The message from the former president read: “I AM SAFE AND WELL! Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER! I will always love you for supporting me. Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again.”
Trump later posted on Truth Social, describing it as an “interesting day” and expressing gratitude to Secret Service agents and law enforcement officials for their “outstanding” and “incredible” work.
Read more: Trump says Biden, Harris' ‘rhetoric’ led to second assassination attempt: ‘They are the real threat’
Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival in the presidential race, condemned the incident, emphasising that there is no place for political violence in America.
Biden stated that he had instructed his team to ensure the Secret Service had all necessary resources to protect the former President -- a decision Harris reinforced in her own statement.
Separately, on Monday, Biden told reporters that that the Secret Service needed more resources. “The Service needs more help. And I think the Congress should respond to their needs, if they, in fact, need more Service people.”
But, in a Monday morning interview with Fox, Trump attributed the incident to the “highly inflammatory language” of Democrats, particularly criticising Biden and Harris’s “rhetoric”. He asserted, “He (Routh) believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it. Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”
Trump went on to label Democrats the “enemy within”.
This assassination attempt further complicates an already unprecedented election. The race has been marked by a sitting president (Biden) dropping out 100 days before polling day after a disastrous debate, a former president (Trump) running as a convicted felon for a non-consecutive term, and a candidate (Harris) who is the first woman, first Black woman, and first woman of Indian heritage to vie for the presidency.
The election is too close to call, with all polls showing a tight race within the margin of error. The impact of the assassination bid on voter attitudes isn’t clear yet but it is likely to re-energise the Republican base and reinforce Trump’s narrative that he is both a victim of conspiracies and a leader who has repeatedly put his life in line for the American people.
The incident has once again exposed the looming rise of political violence in America, fuelled by deepening political polarisation, the emergence of extremist ideologies, and the widespread availability of firearms, including assault rifles.
This violence has manifested across the political spectrum, from the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters rejecting the 2020 election results, to a far-right extremist’s brutal assault on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul.
But the looming rise of political violence was most starkly symbolised this July when a shooter opened fire at Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania’s Butler. Trump survived with a wound in his ear, but a rally participant died, before Secret Service agents shot down the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year man with no previous criminal record. Both Republicans and a segment of Democrats slammed Secret Service for failing to prevent the attempted assassination, and the July incident had led to the resignation of the Service director and additional security measures for Trump.
Sunday’s incident also symbolises the intersection of domestic and international politics in America’s electoral landscape. While the motivations behind this latest assassination attempt are not yet fully known, the shooter, Routh, had previously expressed support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. In a 2023 interview with the New York Times, Routh said that he had spent time in Ukraine mobilising support for the war and was attempting to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled Taliban rule to aid the Ukrainian war effort.
Trump has consistently advocated for ending the war in Ukraine, proposing to broker a deal between the two sides. His supporters have characterised American support for Ukraine as a misallocation of resources, while his critics have alleged that Trump would sacrifice Ukraine’s interests for a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.