New York Times painted a rosy view of Trump would-be assassin Ryan Routh, arrested on Sunday in Florida on two federal gun charges after he lay in wait at Trump's West Palm Beach golf course with a long rifle and scope. The Times wrote that Routh "has been a serial crusader for causes large and small dating back to at least 1996, when he campaigned against graffiti in Greensboro, NC, where he lived for decades." The Times also wrote about Routh in 2023 after speaking with him about his involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

Routh was an advocate for the war in Ukraine and "had set up a private organization in Kiev that helped connect international fighters with Ukraine’s military units and aid groups," he Times wrote. He had encouraged "Afghan commandos" to join the war effort in Ukraine as well, said one journalist who had interviewed him about his work. He had a website called, "Fight for Ukraine" where he gave information about how to travel to Ukraine and fight there. The Times writes that "his main focus was getting hundreds of Afghan soldiers, who had fled after their country’s government collapsed, to fight for Ukraine."

While the Times notes that his methods often bordered on the illegal or were entirely illegal, "he was dogged in his approach, according to one soldier who fought with Ukraine and helped officially recruit foreign fighters for Ukraine’s foreign legion." Routh apparently took commissions on his enlistments of foreign fighters to the Ukraine cause.

"In July," the Times wrote, "he urged President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the social media platform X to visit the victims of the assassination attempt against Mr. Trump in Butler, Pa., writing that 'Trump will never do anything for them.'"

Routh, the Times claims, "saw himself as an active and influential participant in momentous world events, while becoming estranged from at least some of his family and nearly destitute in the process." He had a son, as well, who said that Routh hated Trump "like every reasonable person does."

It was as a father that he endorsed and aided "his teenage son’s efforts to establish a skate park in Guilford County, N.C." He reportedly "helped the teenagers get permission to use a piece of property owned by an oil company" and taught them how to bend plywood to make quarter pipes.

Yet in an email to a disgruntled client over a construction project, Routh said, "I spent 5 months in Ukraine last year, and 3 months there this year, and 2 weeks in DC and 2 weeks in Taiwan this year volunteering and trying to supply thousands of Afghan soldiers to help win the war. Perhaps I would be happier dead on the front lines than dealing with rich people in fancy cars as I drive old broken down vehicles and hoping to keep my account out of the negative and hoping for food to eat. China and Russia will certainly win at this rate."

He wrote a memoir about his involvement in Ukraine and in it, apologized for Trump's blocking of Iran's nuclear deal, telling the nation "you are free to assassinate Trump." On Sunday, he waited at Trump International Golf Course for 12 hours for the former president to arrive and take up his golf game. As Secret Service agents scouted holes ahead of Trump's game play, they spotted the barrel of a gun coming through the fence and fired at it. Routh fled and was later apprehended.

"Show the world what compassion and humanity is all about," Routh told Biden and Harris on July 16, only three days after the first attempt on Trump's life and perhaps as he began formulating his own plans. He reached out to other celebs, as well, like Elton John and Elon Musk, the Times reports. It's unclear if he maintained a relationship with any of the journalists who had contacted him over the years, or if he reached out to anyone in advance of his Florida plans.