Convict, Zelensky fanboy, would-be Trump assassin: Who is Ryan Routh?

"Ryan Wesley Routh, identified in US media as the gunman who allegedly targeted former President Donald Trump on Sunday, is to be subjected to a mental health evaluation, according to sources cited by CNN. Federal authorities reportedly requested the measure due to “unusual rants” the suspect posted online.

The 58-year-old apparently has an unusual past which includes a criminal conviction, trying to recruit US-trained Afghan fighters to join the Ukrainian military, and writing a self-published book, in which he ponders, among other things, why Russian President Vladimir Putin “has not been killed yet.”
The presumed would-be shooter was taken into custody on Sunday shortly after fleeing Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. At the time of writing, officials have not named him or charged him with any crime, but images and reports by media leave few doubts about the man’s identity.
A profile posted by Associated Press says that Routh lived most of his life in North Carolina, but moved to Kaaawa, Hawaii in 2018. In 2020, he donated to the Democratic Party’s presidential campaign of then-US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, according to records....said he’d voted for the Republican in 2016. His political preference appears to have switched to the Democrats since.
Criminal records reveal that while living in Greensboro, North Carolina Routh had multiple run-ins with the police. In 2002, he was convicted of possession of a weapon of mass destruction. The charge, according to local press, related to a fully automatic machine gun, over which he had a three-hour armed standoff with law enforcement. Routh, who was 36 at the time, barricaded himself at his business following a combative traffic stop.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, he had been declaring online his willingness to go to Ukraine and die for the country. " RT