Another Trump assassination attempt
The suspect is in custody, and Trump is completely unharmed.
You can read about it here.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
The suspect is in custody, and Trump is completely unharmed.
You can read about it here.
Another day, another Secret Service failure. Only in protecting Trump of course.
Failure in the sense of letting this guy get within shooting range. Surprising they missed their with their shots.
Oh
https://x.com/amuse/status/1835450873427702189
Not sure this is a Secret Service failure. They scout the holes 1-2 ahead of where Trump is playing. The agent saw the barrel of the rifle sticking through the fence and immediately fired on it. Whether the agent had an available shot at the suspect through a chain link fence with undergrowth behind it is unknown. With a rifle of that type, my husband says, a good shooter could hit something reliably at ~200 yds. Trump was 500 yards or so away.
The would-be assassin is a 58-year-old white man. Was he out there daily, lurking, with the rifle stuck through the fence, hoping Trump would come by? Or did he have information that Trump would be playing that day? That’s something the security people need to find out.
Good one, Miguel. Adam Kinzinger gets a dishonorable mention, which he can have a good cry over. Poor thing.
I read elsewhere that he was only 200 yards away or less. Regardless, I just don’t see how anyone should get near that golf course carrying an AK-47. I would agree they did well once they fortunately spotted him.
Also, apparently Trump still has only limited USSS protection despite the previous assassination attempt. I don’t know who makes that decision, but it is outrageous.
The assassins are learning. The Secret Service has learned nothing.
The NY Post has a variety of headlines about the would-be shooter. Democrat donor, all-around leftist, Trump-hater.
Whenever someone crows about how “caring and kind” they are, check your Kevlar – especially if he has funny hair color.
As to why the would-be assassin was able to get that close to the former president despite a previous assassination attempt on him in June, the authorities said that the security perimeter could only be so wide due to him being a presidential candidate as opposed to a sitting president.
Gosh, thanks for the heads up.
After Trump was elected in 2016, I met up with an old hippie friend. He wasn’t the “hey, man” doper type. In fact he put together an impressive contracting business and made over a million dollars in Florida.
When we got around to politics, not that I wanted to, he proudly confided that he had thought of assassinating Trump.
Mind you, not that he ever took any action in that direction.
It is — let’s call it a “vibe” — in that world and still is.
Sorry bout my despair, but I fear that they will get him before the election.
If there’s ever a GoFundMe for Trump’s own security team and counter-snipers, I’m in.
It would also be great politics.
As has been remarked, if you keep telling people that Trump is “a threat to democracy,” a would be “Dictator,” and a modern day “Hitler”—and the MSM constantly broadcasts these types of inflammatory statements far and wide—of course, every nut job in the country is going to be thinking about taking a crack at him, at someone they have been told is a would be “Dictator,” is “Hitler,” in order to save “democracy,” and to earn them a place in the history books.
el gato malo Xpost:
https://x.com/boriquagato/status/1835472150712787448
See the accompanying story about Ryan Routh in a barricaded armed standoff with police in 2002 at the link.
Back in the 70s Stephen King wrote a fine horror novel about a guy who could see the story of a person from tactile contact. “The Dead Zone.”
Later David Cronenberg made “The Dead Zone” into a good film with Christopher Walken as the psychic. Martin Sheen played a right-wing politician who secretly intended to nuke the USSR into oblivion. Walken happened to shake Sheen’s hand and Shazam!
Walken *** Spoiler Alert *** became a lone nut assassin in order to prevent World War III.
Happy Ending! Not so much for Walken.
It’s a classic ethical paradox. If you knew what Hitler intended, would you kill him to prevent World War II and its associated horrors?
Of course, such certainty is … problematic.
It will be interesting to hear if those backpacks with the ceramic plates were hit by the SS.They looked like they were hung on the fence to act as protection against a head shot. But, the dark areas may have alerted the SS to look closer at that area and that’s why they saw the rifle.
And thanks to the person who was quick enough to take a photo of the man as he left the fence area and got into the car. They would have heard the shots and may have been looking in that direction to see what was happening.
@ huxley:
I don’t dispute your statement that assassinating Trump is a vibe, but I’m lost as to why.
Kill one guy, and everything goes back to “normal”?
You’d think that our national experience with the War on Terror(tm) would convey that it’s nigh impossible to kill an idea.
Grunt:
Trump is a man, not an idea.
I know Democrats call all strong Republican leaders Hitler, but they really mean it with Trump.
I thank you for your courtesy.
The lefties at Althouse, and I hear X, are celebrating. This is not the last time for this.
Hard to blame them. If they succeed, Harris wins, there is no way Trump could be replaced on the ballots, even if Republican voters could settle on a replacement they could mostly get behind. A whole lot of problems would get solved at once, and then they could grind the middle class into serfdom at their leisure.
We know from the rally attempt–the “agents” who were actually DHS desk jockeys trained by a one hour Zoom call and the failure to hold anyone accountable–that the Secret Service does not take their mission seriously when it comes to Trump.
We counting up the corrupted institutions? The national media, the FBI, the CIA, the military, and the Secret Service? How far are we from never having an unmanaged Presidential election again?
This is not the last time for this.
Michael K:
I fear not. The stakes are so very high.
Can you imagine Trump decapitating the top levels of all the alphabet agendas on his first day?
Can you imagine him not?
Can you imagine that the Deep State isn’t thinking ahead?
If Trump is elected, 50-50 they will try to block him as a felon or insurrectionist. Perhaps even backed up by the military.
We are not out of the worst of these woods.
I said earlier:
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If there’s ever a GoFundMe for Trump’s own security team and counter-snipers, I’m in.
It would also be great politics.
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Lo:
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This is why President Trump must announce ASAP that he’s privatizing his security detail. Secret Service protection falls under the purview of the executive branch, and after back-to-back near-misses, the executive branch no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt. It squandered all goodwill with its abject ineptitude and obvious incompetence.
The Biden-Harris administration deserves public shame, and on this issue, President Trump has the unique standing to hit them hard. Sometimes, the best PR is simply to tell the truth — and this is one of those times.
https://pjmedia.com/scott-pinsker/2024/09/15/enough-is-enough-is-it-time-for-president-trump-to-privatize-his-security-n4932545
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Damn straight.
Kill one guy, and everything goes back to “normal”?
You are familiar with the reasoning capacity displayed by the opposition, right?
Huxley:
Trump is a man, yes. I don’t deify him. But a desire from the electorate saw him elected President in 2016. That same desire sees him as the Republican nominee for the upcoming election.
So we kill the man, and all those voters who picked Trump over the establishment candidates just say “aw shucks” and go back to their daily grind?
I don’t think the end results would be very pretty.
I’m completely unsurprised by the news, even a little bit bored. What an odd feeling. I’m a little ashamed of myself. Not to sound grandiose, but I’m also ashamed of our country. How can we possibly be bored by such news? It’s so expected that I need a little spice to wake me up. Maybe I’d pay more attention if the would-be assassin were a transgender librarian or WNBA player. Just another left-wing wacko? Not enough to grab my interest. What’s gone wrong with us?
@Grunt: all those voters who picked Trump over the establishment candidates just say “aw shucks” and go back to their daily grind?
Yep. They have too much to lose. They have mortgages to pay, they have kids to educate, they have 401Ks that can be seized. They will not endanger any of that.
But what they might start doing is cheating on their taxes, doing whatever they can to get government benefits, do business under the table, and stop picking up their trash or following any of the the other rules that middle class people follow without being told. Because as we’re all learning, rules are for chumps.
This security privatization idea seems highly fraught with difficulties, does it not? For instance a ready tool ripe for lawfare by enterprising hostile DAs. Also a target for rhetorical highjinks charging militia being formed outside the purview of Federal authority (think Mussolini’s blackshirts or the like, if you wish). Practically, it might offer better protection simply on grounds of earnest dedication to the task and a demand for excellence in the job. But the political implications (having nothing to do with the job, really) strike me as quite severe. At the very least it’s got an abundance of organizational hurdles (cost not least among them) standing in the way of immediate need, and likely numerous conflicts with existing law on the subject of protection of elected pols and candidates. Hell, Secret Service will probably claim the private security guys are a threat to the candidate’s safety, if their current behavior is any guide to their future behavior.
This security privatization idea seems highly fraught with difficulties, does it not?
sdferr:
To be sure.
But much of the left’s history is based on such high-profile challenges to the legal status quo.
Think Rosa Parks on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama 1955. That wasn’t a spontaneous grassroots uprising by a little old lady who had had enough. Parks was a pretty young NAACP activist who had been groomed by the NAACP to make that specific challenge.
I think it would be worth the Trump’s campaign to, at least, raise the issue for public discussion.
Frankly it is a civil rights issue, as valid as any in the 60s Civil Rights era, that a major political candidate repeatedly faces assassination attempts.
Ballots not bullets!
Np discrimination by race, creed or color.
I’ve no problem with Trump directly and loudly confronting the issue huxley, it would be good to do so even!
That initial comment was more pointedly about actually obtaining adequate protection in the nearest term possible as needful (like, tomorrow!). I am not knowledgeable about the nitty-gritty, but merely putting imagination to the problem there and attempting to think as far as I can along the lines the political left propaganda organs and “deep staters” with skin in the game might do reacting to an actual private security set up to do what’s necessary. I don’t know. Just seems hugely difficult to navigate. Not to say it can’t be done in a cooperative environment, but here we are in a morass of the least cooperative environment conceivable. I mean, perhaps quick legislation is required. That’s not happening. After all, they want him dead.
sdferr:
Sure. What can I say … except I assure you that the left didn’t get where it is by thinking inside the box. They throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.
Bill Ayers of the SDS/Weather Underground got a lot of stuff very wrong before he seized upon a clean young black man, named Barack Obama, with Ivy League degrees and launched him like a missile at the White House.
It worked.
Daily Mail reporting shooter’s son said his father hates Trump, ” just like all reasonable people do.”
Good God..this country is heading for an awful near future, encouraged by the Ds.
Like huxley, I know several democrats who would be perfectly happy with an assassination. And I agree with his assessment if, by some means, Trump does win, the violence brought on by 50% of our fellow citizens will be a sight. CW2 is closer than ever. It won’t be north vs south, but urban vs rural but like the previous iteration, it will involve fighting friends and family.
Hard to believe the Democrats are willing to push the country over the abyss.
You’re not wrong, yet you are describing a long game.
This dude is in the heat of a presidential campaign with no time to spare, compounded by having to try to merely stay alive long enough to get through the election.
The true long game solution from my point of view is what it has always been, and not much different from Ayers’ solution actually, save on the question of curriculum: education. But education properly applied takes generations, as you know.
And moreover, for all that, none of this seems to be Trump’s concern, so far as I can see. He’s simply not thinking in a genuinely long term mode. He’s a go getter, a doer who fundamentally eschews the theoretical grounds of political thought. A practical politician. As all politicians must be. This “education” stuff is for another sort altogether: founders.
The Sheriff at the news conference said Trump is not the President, and is not entitled to security at the highest level. Just read several Dem pols again called Trump Hitler and is a danger to democracy.
I guess at the awards tonight, there was hatred expressed toward Trump, after the second attempt on his life.
I just do not understand these idjits.
“I just do not understand these idjits.”
Here is Thomas Hobbes’ go at it:
Shooter is a typical delusional thinker. Wants to do good. Has tried to do good in various ways. Tried to help Haiti, Ukraine, homeless people in Hawaii, etc. He is loony tunes, but not enough to be put away – until now. He has crossed the line into being a danger to others by attempting to assassinate Trump.
Here’s a pretty good run down on him:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ryan-wesley-routh-the-assassination-suspect-who-flew-to-ukraine-and-urged-americans-to-join-him/ar-AA1qDl6o?ocid=BingNewsSerp
” Education”…I suspect that is a Florida Governor DeSantis thing.
I saw people during the primary saying they were voting for Trump because the Democrats were waging lawfare in him. All the while, DeSantis was out there – a guy much more articulate and thoughtful than Trump.
@huxley;
You’re right in the general outline of “The Dead Zone” plot, but the ending is actually a little different. Johnny (the Christopher Walken character) does try to shoot the Martin Sheen character, but the latter grabs a baby to shield himself from Johnny’s gunfire. Johnny is shot to death, yet as he dies, he sees that the world is safe from nuclear holocaust, not because Johnny succeeded in killing the politician (said pol is alive and well) but because the fact that the pol shielded himself with a baby results in a massive scandal, which destroys the pol’s career, and he commits suicide.
****ends spoiler****
I’m just glad that nobody got hurt this time.
All the while, DeSantis was out there – a guy much more articulate and thoughtful than Trump.
But people for whatever good or bad reasons didn’t vote for Desantis.
Sheriff that said Trump doesn’t get the best security because he “isn’t the sitting president” would be the first to make damn sure Obama was protected even though he “isn’t the sitting president” if he were there playing golf, and nobody can tell me otherwise. They hate Trump. PERIOD. They want him dead.
Question:
What happens if they get Trump prior to the election? After the election but before the inauguration?
Is Vance feeling the bullseye on his back? What kind of USSS coverage does his family have?
Is this a movement to kill a particularly hated person, or to take over the POTUS by killing or scaring off potential republican candidates?
Does no good to win an election if….
Sdferr and Mark Steyn are on the same page. Steyn: “They Want Him Dead”:
https://www.steynonline.com/14649/they-want-him-dead
Whistleblowers allege the FBI Miami Field Office head has strong anti-Trump bias and was told to remove social media material about this before being promoted. The FBI denies this.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2024/09/16/concern-raised-over-fbi-official-whos-involved-in-the-investigation-of-2nd-trump-assassination-attempt-n2644822
Gov. DeSantis has announced a separate Florida law enforcement investigation into the incident and how a gunman got so close.
Last night, MSNBC talking heads said Trump might want to “tone down his rhetoric.” Blame the victim.
Also, the would-be assassin was interviewed by the NY Times and Semafor in 2023. If not “known to the FBI,” he was known to left-wing media.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2024/09/16/the-liberal-media-knew-about-trumps-would-be-assassin-they-interviewed-him-n2644817
I just saw that, Kate. The tentacles in this case reach farther than in the first attempt.
They (deep state, DNC, and your regular everyday democrat living next door) want him dead.
I hope the Florida investigation, if not the federal one, will discover how it was that this unbalanced person knew Trump would be out on that golf course on that afternoon, given that Trump people say it was a last-minute golf outing and that Trump’s schedule is not given to the press.
Right and they would have pinned project 2025 to desantis we arent dealing with rational people
They think desantis abolished black history
“. . .will discover how it was that this unbalanced person knew Trump would be out . . .”
Kate, I suspect the most relevant forensic details, as with T. Crooks, will be held unviewed by the public through the blank wall powers of the “investigating” agencies (FBI, USSS, etc.). He’s in custody and can say how he knew. We won’t be hearing what he says for some time to come, I believe.
On the other hand simple deductions have been made — “movement of security caravans”, “known golfing habits”, and so on.
https://x.com/MaxAbrahms/status/1835479045573595395
sdferr, the Florida investigation should be able to find out when he flew to the US mainland from Hawaii, where he got the car, where he stayed, and who he saw and talked to before the attempted shooting. Investigative journalists can do the same.
Shirehome –
As to your comment about the sheriff declaring Trump is not the President therefore security light is warranted, Maria B this morning cited the SS protection around Obama when he plays golf is over the top. (Obama is a golfer?)
a better story would be if there is a hitler type dictator you absolute hate ruling your country, so as a liberal genius scientist you invent a time machine to go back in time to kill him as a baby, then a multiverse superbeing shows up telling you that this hitler type dictator is actually the one preventing the end of the multiverse from happening as he is the one who gets along with putin and xi so an end of multiverse event won’t happen. The dilemma now becomes would you use your time machine to go back in time to kill this hitler perceived by you as a baby to satisfy your hatred but allowing the end of existence to occur, our suck it up and let this enemy of your political ideology lives and continues to rule your country for the good of the universe?
we all know what the choice would be for liberals, they would happily allowing the end of the universe to happen as long as trump is defeated, even if knowing absolutely that trump is the absolute only person who could prevent the end of the universe from happening. That’s how irrational their hatred for him is
More than you want to know about the AK-47’s accuracy over distance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47#Accuracy_potential
Briefly, it’s not known for being especially accurate, but the bullet flight does have a fairly long range. Typically stated as about a 300 meter range for a man sized target, an expert has a very good chance of hitting said target at 400 yards and a decent chance at 500 yards.
I’m guessing this would be shooter isn’t very skilled because they saw the rifle barrel sticking out from the bushes. That’s a rookie mistake.
TommyJay: the rifle in the photo *appears* to be a long-barreled semi-automatic Dragunov sniper rifle or a civilian variant thereof. Not an AK-47 or SKS, both of which fire the 7.62x39mm intermediate rifle cartridge. The Dragunov fires the 7.62x54mmR cartridge, a full-power Russian military cartridge (introduced in 1891) comparable to the U.S. .30-06. A semi-competent shooter using a scoped Dragunov and that round could easily hit and kill at 400-500 yards or more.
Info on the rifle and cartridge:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SVD_(rifle)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62%C3%9754mmR
I expect we’ll learn more from the Florida investigation.
We’re in a very bad place.
well you don’t the press to know anything about guns, but the authorities too,
the DA charged the lowest possible offense, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm,
by a felon?
but it is Palm Beach, a den of scum and villainy, even though it has a deplorable cohort
Aren’t there laws against “incitement”?
If the DOJ were actually even-handedly doing it’s job, I would think that they would have, by now, already charged a lot of Democrat politicians and other figures with what is very clearly “incitement” against ex-President Trump and others.
Not a lawyer, so perhaps I am not reading things correctly.
Looking at various laws and court cases dealing with “incitement,” it appears that such incitement is usually in the context of inciting a group of people to riot, and that to charge someone with speech which incites violence against an individual, the violence would have to immediately follow such inciting speech.
Thus, it looks like those Democrats who are tossing around charges of “Hitler,” “threat to democracy,” and “Dictator,” are carefully crafting what they say to skirt around speech which might be indictable.
https://x.com/BrianEntin/status/1835696181067816970?t=I8X1FvjBIlnmcybnaxRo2A&s=19
Dim bulb but still
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1835414217752564193
Thanks Hubert. That’s a big difference, if so. I’d guess it’s much better than a good AR-15.
Hubert:
I am with you on the identification of the weapon, Dragunov clone or maybe even RPK knock-off, both of which are pricey, but available on the commercial market. I read an article that identified it as as “SKS type” weapon. If that is true, then the assassin’s chance of hitting Trump at anything over 200 yards is slim to none, based on experience with a Norinco SKS. I don’t know if a real Russkie one or even one of those Romanian products shoot better. The fact that the assassin spent time with real military in Ukraine (at least according to him) would have provided him with knowledge about an SKS or AK not being exactly the type of platform you could convert into a “sniper” rifle, but also acquainted him with the Dragunov as a possibility.
Kate:
…the Florida investigation should be able to find out when he flew to the US mainland from Hawaii, where he got the car, where he stayed, and who he saw and talked to before the attempted shooting. Investigative journalists can do the same.
In a perfect world, of course. But in that case, two amateurishly ham-handed assassination attempts would’ve been easily thwarted.
Good luck with the investigative journalist phantasm.
@Hein,
Yes, President Obama plays golf. Just about every President since Truman has played golf (with the exception of Carter) some more than others.
@Dave,
The next time you’re at your local library, check out Stephen Fry’s novel “Making History”, where he writes about the same topic.
https://www.amazon.com/Making-History-Novel-Stephen-Fry-ebook/dp/B00LKIBYC4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=238X7YNNNVF7F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8AHB5y3a0ROg9BEbCqQ5U5klK8ilKYi-HWlLxQMreJ_GjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.wjohKSkMtx1OqFZordWUNIyLrVkTgd00nEKkqiWuilo&dib_tag=se&keywords=Stephen+fry+making+history&qid=1726510416&s=digital-text&sprefix=stephen+fry+making+history%2Cdigital-text%2C159&sr=1-1
Banned Lizard:
DeSantis says the state of Florida is launching an investigation.
An agent saw a rifle barrel sticking through the fence. How far away from the rifle barrel was the agent? Given all the foliage, it would be difficult to see at any great distance. Was the barrel horizontal at the time the agent saw it, meaning Routh was then holding it? In which case, one would think that the agent would have been able to estimate where to aim when he fired at Routh. Or was it at an angle, as shown in the picture in the Daily Mail article, which means Routh had placed it in that position before leaving the scene, which would be quite fastidious if he was being shot at by the agent.
Aren’t there laws against “incitement”?
==
In a free society, they only apply to those riling up a crowd. In progtrash society, they apply to Republicans in every conceivable circumstance and never to Democrats.
In a press conference the head of the local police force, explaining why Trump didn’t have a lot of security, said that he was just a “candidate,” and as such he didn’t merit the kind of robust security force that a President did.
It should be very obvious, by now, that Trump’s enemies within the Biden Administration are denying Trump the very robust security he so obviously needs, in the hope that he will be killed; the huge threat he represents swept off the board.
TommyJay: it’s a guess. Hard to tell from the photo, but it doesn’t look like an AK or even an SKS. By the way, James Hodgkinson used an SKS to shoot Steve Scalise and the other attendees at the Congressional baseball game in Alexandria, VA in 2017.
Steve: the RPK is a light machine gun on the Kalashnikov action. It also shoots the 7.62×39 intermediate round. As you say, not suited for sniping. I’ve shot the 7.62×54 round in a Soviet SVT-40 and a couple of Finnish Mosin-Nagant rifles. It’s a slammer–and very accurate in the right rifle.
Yes, Dragunovs have been used in Ukraine. Routh may have come across them there. I read somewhere (the indictment?) that he has been charged with owning/using a firearm that had the serial number removed–a felony even if he had possessed the rifle legally, which he didn’t. Add that sinister little factoid to the ceramic bullet-proof vests and the GoPro camera, and this business has a nasty whiff of professionalism about it. I’m not saying Routh is a pro; I’m saying he may have had help or guidance from one. Given Routh’s connections, possibly Ukrainian. Again, speculation on my part. I hope the Florida investigation is thorough.
Addendum: the uncle of a Cuban-American friend was a pilot at the Bay of Pigs. The CIA issued my friend’s uncle a .45 1911A1 pistol with the serial number removed (but the “U.S. Government Property” stamp intact!). My friend inherited the pistol from his uncle and had to apply to the BATF to get a serial number issued for it. There was some awkwardness about his having had an illegal firearm in his possession. Fortunately, he’s a lawyer and knew how to navigate the paperwork.
OK, done with the firearms stuff.
P.S. I should perhaps mention that the law enforcement official who made the statement, referenced above at 3:50, is reportedly an elected official, and a Democrat.
Which explains the tenor of his dismissive statement i.e. of course such a “candidate” as ex-President Trump did not merit a full security detail.
P.S.S.–Incredibly, there are some new reports that the second would be assassin had created his “hide” in the bushes, and had been able to stay there, undetected, for a reported 12 hours.
Perimeter patrols anybody?
Time frame; When did the shooter decide to take up his spot on the golf course and when did Trump decide to go golfing that day?
IOW, why bother with the golf course if you don’t know Trump is going to be using it? Hang out there all day, go home and try again next day?
Got somebody on the inside?
@ Richard Aubrey > “When did the shooter decide to take up his spot on the golf course and when did Trump decide to go golfing that day?”
On the second question, I’ve only seen reports that he decided late enough that it wasn’t on any released schedule; however, it had to be early enough before-hand to contact his friends and get a tee-time (I’ve seen speculation that other people were cancelled to make way for him & security, but no news reports on that AFAIK), so it could have been anytime on Saturday or fairly early on Sunday morning.
On the first question, see this:
https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/alleged-shooter-hid-nearly-12-hours-secret-service-saw-him-golf-course-prosecutors
If Trump made the decision on Saturday sometime, even early in the morning, then how did Routh find out about it? He doesn’t seem to be in the inner circle of Trump’s golf buddies and the golf excursion was not on a publicly available schedule.
If Trump made the decision Sunday, then Routh was already in place before the golf date was set up.
Precognition, however, doesn’t seem to be something Routh is known for.
Why would he go out “on a hunch” at that hour of the morning, and take a huge amount of compromising gear and illegal weapons (for a felon), on the off chance Trump would be there sometime during the day?
Regardless of the time Trump’s decision was made, and how Routh knew about it,
when did he plan all of this? His set-up was far too elaborate to be a spur of the moment operation, when he would have had less than 24 hours (from Saturday morning at the earliest) to pull it together.
My other question (and I am not alone):
How is it possible that nobody saw him lurking for 12 hours along the fence that was, apparently, close to public spaces?
Maybe it was dense enough brush that he couldn’t be seen: how did he know that would be the case? How far in advance did he scope out the golf course?
Of course, there were fewer pedestrians and drivers on Sunday morning, but that’s a chancy thing to count on.
Did he never go to the bathroom or eat anything for 12 hours?
Did he just sit or lay there, waiting?
What if he had dozed off and missed Trump’s time at those holes?
What was his plan if someone had seen him loitering, especially with a gun?
As for the security guard:
After the mockery of the Butler Protocol (“we only shoot after the perp opens fire”), the agent was right to respond to seeing a rifle barrel through the fence, but how did he see that it had a scope (assuming that report is correct), if the brush could hide Routh for 12 hours?
If he actually could see the scope, he should be able to see Routh, or have a good idea where he was, so how come the USSS agent didn’t hit him when he opened fire?
What if someone else, an innocent by-stander, had been in the area and had been hit by the agent’s missed shot?
That’s not the totality of the loose ends that any fiction writer (book or movie) would have to sew up while putting the plot in order.
None of this makes any more sense than the first assassin’s “lucky coincidences.”
Except for him getting killed; that was unlucky.
AesopFan
Thanks for the info. I asked the question elsewhere before reading this.
One possibility for some of the answers is that the guy scoped out a good hide, checked it for sight lines, concealment, and awaited notice. But, still, that’s twelve hours in which time you have to pee your pants while hoping your contact was correct. Could have gotten an eight-hour nap and a Big Mac to go.