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A federal jury in Fort Pierce delivered justice on September 23, 2025, convicting Ryan Wesley Routh for his attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump at the West Palm Beach golf course last year. The evidence at trial was overwhelming: a man concealed with a high-powered rifle, a plan laid out in notes, and a Secret Service agent who stopped the attack before more innocent blood could be shed. This was not a garden-variety crime — it was a political act of violence aimed at the man millions of Americans elected and continue to support.
Americans should be grateful to the law enforcement professionals who acted quickly and decisively, and to the jurors who saw through a carnival of excuses to hold a would-be killer accountable. The defendant’s erratic courtroom behavior, including an attempted self-harm after the verdict, only underscored how dangerous and unstable this individual was. Our Secret Service agents and prosecutors did their duty to protect lives and preserve the rule of law.
During the trial Routh repeatedly tried to reframe the case by clinging to a crude legal loophole — the claim that because he never pulled the trigger, he lacked criminal intent. Even on conservative legal shows, veteran jurists like Judge Andrew Napolitano rightly called that line of argument absurd and implausible. Representing himself and spinning fantasies about no intent did not erase the weeks of planning, the rifle stashed near shrubbery, or the written admissions he left behind.
Napolitano’s blunt take matters because it cuts through the liberal media’s usual script: legal technicalities can be raised, of course, but bogglingly weak excuses shouldn’t entitle violent men to freedom. If Routh files an appeal on that basis, it will be a last-ditch attempt to weaponize sympathy for procedural hair-splitting, not a meaningful challenge to the facts. Conservatives who respect the Constitution also respect common-sense justice: plotting to kill a presidential candidate is a crime regardless of whether the perpetrator succeeded.
Let’s be blunt — our culture has a problem when violent fantasies about public figures are normalized by toxic rhetoric and indifference from elites. That rot doesn’t come from decent patriots; it grows in echo chambers that celebrate hatred and encourage violent impulses. We must reject that poisonous climate while defending the rights of law-abiding citizens and preserving strong institutions that keep violent actors off the streets.
The court now turns to sentencing, with a federal judge set to impose punishment on December 18, 2025. Routh faces the possibility of life behind bars for the gravity of his crimes, and that outcome would be appropriate for anyone who plotted to endanger the life of a former president and a candidate for the highest office. Americans who love this country should want those who plan political murder to be removed from society permanently.
This verdict should be a wake-up call to every elected official, every media outlet, and every American: defend the rule of law, condemn violence in all its forms, and stop the moralizing that excuses or rationalizes attacks on our leaders. Stand with the brave law enforcement officers who protect us, demand the stiffest penalties for political violence, and keep fighting to restore a culture that values life, liberty, and civil discourse.
