Would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh sends letter from jail to Politico writer to 'demand peace' in Middle East

Ryan Routh, the second alleged would-be assassin of now-President-elect Donald Trump, wrote a letter to Politico in which he demanded "peace" in the Middle East and decried the two-party system.  

Routh, who has been held in a Miano federal detention center since mid-September, wrote in the four-page letter to Politico writer Ankush Khardori, "We must demand that Israel stop their attacks and demand that all parties come to the table and find common ground," adding that Biden and the Secretary of State Antony Blinken needed to meet up with "the new president of Iran and Hamas, Hezbollah and [the Houthis for] as long as it takes.”  

“My fellowmen, please demand peace," the man charged with attempting to kill Trump when he was golfing in West Palm Beach Florida wrote in the letter.  

Routh had written on the top line of the return address, "Trump Alleged Shooter" and reportedly sent a similar letter to the Palm Beach Post as well as Politico. The handwriting was very similar to the letter reportedly written before the assassination attempt that the Department of Justice said was penned by Routh.  

Routh wrote, “I am unclear how we allowed ourselves to fall into just a two-party system, but it infuriates me. My entire life has been plagued by D’s and R’s. It seems not long ago there was a push for the libertarian party and now a green party and maybe Truth party. But for some reason our leaders have not allowed any other party [to] be recognized in any race." 

He was further critical of "the two ruling parties" and then added “[w]ith our national debt swallowing us whole and bankruptcy imminent we may as well fix this problem balls out." The outlet reported that Routh called to eliminate private donations to campaigns and to fix the "gridlock in Congress," and to publicly fund all campaigns to allow for everyday people to run for office.  

“We all wonder why we end up with such flawed candidates, when our system is designed to exclude most everyone,” Routh added. At one point he tried to distance himself from the Democratic Party, despite being previously profiled by the New York Times and using the talking point in posts that "Democracy is on the ballot." Routh also presented himself as a recruiter for the Ukrainian war online and did activism for Ukraine.  

During his writings, he praised the first would-be assassin of Trump, Thomas Matthew Crooks, saying that they both were "ready to die for freedom and democracy."