One of Trump’s Alleged Attempted Assassins Sent Me a Letter

In deciding to publish this story, we were not eager to appear as if we were simply providing a platform for the political views of someone accused of attempted murder. “A guard Palm Beach asked jokingly if I was a democrat — I said, ‘NO — Independent — I vote for the best candidate,’" Routh said in the letter. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Routh proceeded to criticize “the two ruling parties” and argued that “ith our national debt swallowing us whole and bankruptcy imminent we may as well fix this problem balls out.” He appeared to call for full public campaign financing in order to “eliminate private donations” and also takes issue with “gridlock in Congress.” “We all wonder why we end up with such flawed candidates,” Routh wrote, “when our system is designed to exclude most everyone.” At one point in the letter, Routh explicitly disclaimed any affiliation with the Democratic Party. “A guard Palm Beach asked jokingly if I was a democrat — I said, ‘NO — Independent — I vote for the best candidate.’” To be sure, Routh is a vigorous Trump opponent. Routh described them both, however, as being “ready to die for freedom and democracy.” The letter continued with a short section urging people to vote against Trump and criticized him for having “destroyed the MidEast.” Routh took specific issue with Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal — name-checking the “JCPOA” — and blamed Trump “for all those lives lost and all the destruction” in the region since.