Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, responded to an assassination attempt targeting the former president in a lengthy post on social media.
The suspect, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, camped outside the Republican nominee’s Florida golf club in West Palm Beach for almost 12 hours before a Secret Service agent thwarted the potential attack and opened fire, according to court documents.
Routh, 58, did not fire any shots and fled the scene in an SUV before being arrested in neighboring Martin County. He has been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Coming after a July 13 shooting at a Pennsylvania rally that saw Trump sustain an ear injury, Sunday’s episode marked the second attempt on Trump’s life in as many months and has reignited concerns about violence in U.S. politics.
In a post on X, Vance decried media coverage of Sunday’s incident and suggested the suspect was motivated by the rhetoric of Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent in November’s election, and her Democratic allies.
Yesterday, Donald J. Trump nearly lost his life. An armed gunman waited for him in the bushes. He brought a go-pro camera to record it. A secret service agent spotted the barrel of a gun through a fence and shot at the gunman. The gunman fled. He was caught. And now we slowly…
— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 16, 2024
Harris “has said that ‘Democracy is on the line’ in her race against President Trump. The gunman agreed, and used the exact same phrase,” Vance wrote.
“He had a Kamala Harris bumper sticker on his truck. He was obsessed with Ukraine’s ‘fight for Democracy’ and absorbed many unhinged views about the Russia-Ukraine war. HIs name is Ryan Routh, and he donated 19 times to Democrat causes and zero to Republican ones.”
Routh made 19 small donations totaling $140 since 2019 to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates, the Associated Press reported, citing federal campaign finance records. On social media, Routh wrote that he had once voted for Trump but his more recent posts showed disdain for the former president.
Authorities are continuing to examine Routh’s potential motive.
U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance on September 14, 2024, in Greenville, North Carolina. Vance blamed the rhetoric of Democrats after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Allison Joyce/Getty Images
Vance wrote: “How do you think the Democrats and their media allies would respond if a 19-time Republican donor tried to kill a Democratic official? It’s a question that answers itself. For years, Kamala Harris’s campaign surrogates have said things like ‘Trump has to be eliminated.'”
The Trump and Harris campaigns have been contacted for comment via email.
Both Harris and President Joe Biden have denounced the thwarted attack, with Harris writing in a post on X: “I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.”
Vance accused the media of a “double standard” when it came to coverage of Sunday’s events and bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio—which has been the focus of much attention after Trump amplified baseless claims that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating pets in the community.
“Of course, I repeatedly condemned those threats,” Vance wrote. “And reports today suggest they came from a foreign country, not—as the media suggested—a deranged Trump fan.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said on Monday that 33 threats in recent days have been hoaxes and indicated that they were being made by foreign actors.
“The double standard is breathtaking,” Vance wrote in his post.
“Donald Trump and I are, by their account, directly responsible for bomb threats from foreign countries. Why? Because we had the audacity to repeat what residents told us about the problems in their town. Meanwhile, Harris allies call for Trump to be eliminated as the media publishes arguments that he deserved to be shot.
“This seems like a double standard. But at a deep level, it is entirely consistent.”
Vance concluded his post by urging Americans to “reject censorship.”
“Reject the idea that you can control what other people think and say. Embrace persuasion of your fellow citizens over silencing them—either through the powers of Big Tech or through moral blackmail,” he wrote.
“I think this will make our public debate much better. But there’s something else. Reject censorship and you reject political violence. Embrace censorship, and you will inevitably embrace violence on its behalf. The reason is simple. The logic of censorship leads directly to one place, for there is only one way to permanently silence a human being: put a bullet in his brain.”
