Donald Trump suffered a second attack. The FBI has in fact announced that it is “investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination” of the Republican candidate, who is unharmed and was promptly rescued. Yesterday afternoon, while the tycoon was at his golf club in Florida, the secret service opened fire on a suspect who had pointed a firearm into the bushes not far from the former president. Subsequently, a Kalashnikov was found near the place where the attacker had hidden.
The man then fled in an SUV, but the car was photographed by a witness. This circumstance facilitated the capture of the man shortly thereafter: it is Ryan Wesley Routha 58-year-old small business owner, currently being held in police custody. According to CNN, he has a criminal record and is a frequent critic of Trump on social networks. Registered as an “unaffiliated” voter in North Carolina, he voted in the last local Democratic Party primaries. Again according to CNN, “Routh expressed his support for Ukraine in dozens of X-posts in 2022, saying he was willing to die in the fight and that ‘we must burn the Kremlin to the ground.’ In one April post, Routh also expressed support for the candidacy of Joe Bidenaccusing Trump of wanting to make Americans “slaves”. A sign that, perhaps, the campaign of demonization of the tycoon carried out by some sectors of the American left could have had profound consequences.
“My determination has become even stronger after another attempt on my life!” she said Trump. “I will never give up!” she added. “I am deeply troubled by the possible assassination attempt on the former president Trump today. As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence,” she said, for her part, Kamala Harris. “I am relieved that the former president is unharmed,” he said instead Biden. The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantishas in turn announced a state investigation. In all this, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahusaid he was “shocked” by what happened.
While waiting for the various investigations to take their course, we will need to understand how this attack will impact the complicated dynamics of the electoral campaign in view of the presidential elections in November. Let us remember that, just two months ago, Trump miraculously escaped an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. At the time, the Secret Service – the body responsible for the security of presidents and former presidents – had come under fire for various flaws in the protection and intervention system. A recently published report following an internal investigation found that the operations put in place to safeguard the tycoon at the time were “alarmingly negligent”.
