Well, well, well—looks like the justice system *actually* worked for once. A Florida jury just slammed the door on a deranged anti-Trump loon who thought he could play sniper outside Trump’s golf club. Spoiler alert, buddy: this ain’t Hollywood, and you’re not Jason Bourne.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 59 years old and apparently full of rage and zero common sense, has officially been found guilty on all charges. We’re talking attempted assassination of President Trump, assaulting a federal officer, and a laundry list of firearm crimes. The only thing he didn’t do was hit his target. Thank God.
Now, if you’re wondering what kind of twisted plan this guy cooked up, buckle up. Routh, a Hawaii resident with no known connection to reality, traveled all the way to West Palm Beach, Florida, and parked himself—literally—in the bushes near the sixth hole at Trump International Golf Club. He had burner phones, a getaway plan, and—wait for it—a handwritten note in his car laying out exactly what he planned to do.
“It is not every case where the defendant writes his intent down on a piece of paper,” said prosecutor Christopher Browne. That’s lawyer speak for “this guy’s a moron.”
And get this—Routh represented himself in court. That’s right, no lawyer. Just him and his two character witnesses trying to convince a jury that he wasn’t trying to kill the most protected man on the planet. At one point Routh offered up a suggestion to play President Trump in a round of golf to decide the outcome of his case. If Trump won, Routh would allow the President to execute him. If Routh won, he would become president. The jury took less than three hours to say, “Yeah, he did it.” Fastest slam dunk this side of the Mississippi.
Although everyone expected that Routh would be found guilty based on the mountain of evidence against him, many people were hoping the trial would help clear up some of the still unanswered questions about how this would-be assassin was able to get so close to President Trump, especially considering just weeks prior he had almost been killed by an assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Most questions people have surround the secret service and what seems to be their gross incompetence. The Secret Service was largely blamed for allowing Thomas Matthew Crooks to get a shot off and nearly kill President Trump at a rally weeks before. And they were blamed again for allowing Ryan Routh to get so close to taking a shot at Trump’s Palm Beach golf course.
Alas this trial left a lot of those questions about the Secret Service still unanswered. This video does a great job of laying it all out…