Ryan Routh and the War in Ukraine
9th October 2024
The second would-be Trump assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, is clearly an unhinged individual. But that does not mean his actions were irrational.
Following the entire U.S. political establishment, Routh believes that Donald Trump is the foremost threat to the current world order. Because of Trump’s refusal to treat international relations as a Manichean struggle, particularly in regard to the war in Ukraine, he violated the political narrative that every power-wielding institution in the West wholeheartedly believes in. An interview recorded by Newsweek Romania shows Routh explaining that the war “is black and white—this is about good vs. evil.”
He imbibed this narrative from the ruling class and their friends in the mainstream media, all of whom equate a second Trump administration with the fall of the transatlantic world order and the return of regional centers of power in Europe. According to their thinking, the 45th president is committed to destroying NATO and continues to be an ignorant pawn—if not a willing asset—of Vladimir Putin. Trump’s electoral victory would therefore be akin to the end of “democracy,” both at home and abroad.
One does not need to be an expert logician to see where this line of reasoning leads. If true, is it really worth leaving such an important decision to the ballot box, especially when so many Americans have expressed support for the former president, demonstrating that they are incapable of being responsible citizens?