From Ukraine to Hawaii, odd behavior of suspect in apparent Trump assassination attempt suggested ‘delusion of grandeur’

The man suspected of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Sunday depicted himself on social media as a globe-trotting freedom fighter – tweeting at world leaders, traveling to Ukraine to support its war effort, and professing his willingness to die for the causes he believed in.

The man suspected of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Sunday depicted himself on social media as a globe-trotting freedom fighter – tweeting at world leaders, traveling to Ukraine to support its war effort, and professing his willingness to die for the causes he believed in. Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old homebuilder living in Hawaii, told news outlets that he had spent months in Ukraine working to bring foreign fighters to the country from Afghanistan. On Twitter, he implored President Joe Biden to “send every weapon we have to Ukraine” and offered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky advice on military strategy. But the grandiose image that Routh painted online didn’t seem to match up with his reality. In one interview last year, he acknowledged that he hadn’t secured a single visa for the Afghan fighters he claimed he was ready to send to the country, and a Ukrainian military official told CNN that Routh’s ideas seemed “delusional.” Away from his keyboard, Routh ran a small company that built tiny homes in a Honolulu suburb, and he spent his time writing letters to his local newspaper about homeless encampments, graffiti on an Oahu highway tunnel, and a dispute about a hiking trail. And Routh’s tweets to Biden, Zelensky, and other famous figures seem to have been ignored – until he was arrested in Florida this week, after allegedly waiting for Trump with an assault rifle outside the former president’s Palm Beach golf course. In what appears to be the second attempt to kill Trump in about two months, authorities said a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel with a scope sticking out of a fence while the Republican nominee played a round of golf. The agent opened fire, and Routh allegedly fled the scene by car without firing any shots back. Routh was later detained and has been charged with two counts, including possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.