Tangle - A second Trump assassination attempt.

Starting point is 00:00:00 Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca.

Starting point is 00:01:00 From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle podcast, a place we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, quite unfortunately, we are going to be talking about a second assassination attempt, a second attempt on the former president's life. Former President Donald Trump had an incident, I suppose we can say, at his golf course. We're going to

Starting point is 00:01:46 talk about what happened, share the details we have right now as we sit here on Monday morning. And with that, I'm going to pass it to John for the main newsletter, and I'll be back for my take. Thanks, Isaac, and welcome, everybody. Hope you all had a great weekend. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, a North Dakota judge struck down the state's abortion ban, saying it violates the state constitution. Number two, New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned amid ongoing federal investigations into Democratic Mayor Eric Adams and high-ranking members of his team. Number three, the latest Des Moines Register Mediacom Iowa poll shows Trump

Starting point is 00:02:31 leading Harris 47 to 43 among likely voters. Trump led Biden by 18 points in the same poll in June. Separately, former President Donald Trump said on Friday that there would be no third debate. Number four, Venezuela detained three U.S. citizens and three other foreigners, accusing them of a CIA plot to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro. U.S. officials denied the allegations. And number five, Yemen's Houthi militia claimed responsibility for successfully landing a surface-to-surface missile attack in Israel from Yemen for the first time. No injuries were reported, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond.

Starting point is 00:03:20 Breaking news. The FBI is now investigating a shooting in West Palm Beach as an attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump. This will be a second time. The FBI is investigating what it's calling a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. He was golfing this afternoon in Florida when the Secret Service noticed a rifle pointing through the bushes on the golf course. In an email to supporters, Trump said he is safe and well. Call came out, shots fired. That was called in by the Secret Service. Former President Donald Trump is safe and unharmed following a protective incident shortly before 2 p.m. on Sunday at Trump International Golf Club at West Palm Beach.

Starting point is 00:04:03 The U.S. Secret Service personnel opened fire on a gunman located near the property line, and this matters under investigation. On Sunday, former President Donald Trump was targeted in what the FBI has deemed an assassination attempt at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump was not harmed, and police arrested the suspect shortly after he fled the scene. The incident comes two months after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. We covered the attempted assassination in July and the ensuing fallout with the Secret

Starting point is 00:04:36 Service. You can check that out in a link in today's episode description. According to investigators, Secret Service personnel sweeping the course in front of Trump as he played golf spotted a rifle barrel sticking out of the fence near the golf club's property line, at which point agents fired at least four shots toward the gunman. Investigators have not confirmed whether the suspect, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Rath, fired any shots during the encounter. A rifle with a scope, two backpacks containing

Starting point is 00:05:05 ceramic tile, and a GoPro camera were recovered from the bushes where Routh was said to be hiding. A witness spotted Routh fleeing the scene in a black Nissan, which helped law enforcement locate and arrest him in a traffic stop on the interstate north of the golf club. On Monday, the Justice Department charged Routh with two federal gun charges. In an email to his fundraising list on Sunday, the former president wrote, There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear it from me first. I am safe and well, adding, Nothing will slow me down. I will never surrender.

Starting point is 00:05:39 On Truth Social, Trump thanked the Secret Service for an incredible job. President Biden said he had been briefed on the incident and expressed relief that Trump was not harmed. As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and I have directed my team to continue to ensure that the Secret Service has every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to ensure the former president's continued safety, Biden said. Details about the alleged gunman paint a complex picture of someone with a history of extreme

Starting point is 00:06:10 rhetoric and shifting political allegiances. In recent months, Ruff frequently criticized Trump on social media and seemed to support President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, writing, Democracy is on the ballot and we cannot lose in an April post. He also donated exclusively to Democratic candidates and causes since 2019. However, he appears to have supported Trump in 2016, Senator Bernie Sanders at one point during the 2020 Democratic primary, and Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley during the 2024 Republican primary. Broadly, Rath has been a fervent advocate for Ukraine in its war against Russia, reportedly spending time in the country during the war and attempting to recruit conscripts

Starting point is 00:06:50 from Afghanistan to fight on the front lines. Routh was interviewed by several news organizations, including the New York Times, about his efforts to aid Ukraine. NBC News also found more than 100 criminal counts against a man named Ryan Ralph, including convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property, and hit and run. The FBI is leading the investigation into the incident, but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that the state would conduct its own investigation into the assassination attempt. Today, we'll share perspectives from the incident from the left and the right, and then Isaac's take. We'll be right back after this quick commercial break. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character

Starting point is 00:07:45 trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca. All right, first up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left is concerned by the assassination attempt, with many saying it sends a dark message about the state of our politics.

Starting point is 00:08:50 Some argue Democrats and Republicans must redouble their efforts to tamp down on political violence. Others say the attempt will again shake up the election. In The Atlantic, Juliette Kamm called the incident a horrifying new attempt on Trump's life. Trump should be outraged. All Americans should be. No former president or current presidential candidate should be so vulnerable during both public and private events, and the choices facing voters should not be left to the whim of gunmen, KM wrote. This latest act of violence is a lot, indeed too much. Violence sits heavily on our politics now. Much is unsettling about this attack. Trump's

Starting point is 00:09:26 schedule was not public. The assassin got dangerously close to the former president with an AK-47-style gun and a long-range scope. He appears to have worn defensive ceramic tiles and an ad hoc bulletproof vest, as if he was anticipating engagement. If politics is in large measure a type of theater, then this assassination attempt was an answer in kind. To seek live stream or document for posterity the death of a former president, and presumably also attempt to evade capture or death, shows a certain type of planning and a desire for a real-time audience, KM said. Though the temperature of our politics desperately needs to be reduced, this moment is unlikely to lower the heat. That didn't happen in July after the Butler, Pennsylvania attack, and our politics are

Starting point is 00:10:09 not likely to demand it now. The Miami Herald editorial board wrote, we can't let political violence steer elections. Details of the incident were only beginning to emerge Sunday evening, but we were glad to learn quickly that Trump remained unhurt. We were also glad that those currently in the White House, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, weighed in, the board said. For a democracy to work, all of us, even bitter political rivals, can and will come together to combat political violence. That has never been more critical than in this highly contentious election, where democracy truly may be at stake. We cannot let those who would commit such violence influence our elections by dividing us further.

Starting point is 00:10:53 There's a lot we still need to know about what occurred Sunday on the golf course, but if it is indeed another episode of political violence, or an attempt, this will turn up the heat in the presidential race and push us further apart, the board added. This is not something that Americans can or should accept as inevitable. Political violence undermines democracy, and we can't allow ourselves to become numb to it. An AK-47 in the bushes near a presidential candidate should chill us to the bone. Violence, or the threat of it, cannot become a force in American politics. The Economist suggested the attempt will shake up the election. The arrest will again shake up the presidential campaign that has in recent months endured one shock after another.

Starting point is 00:11:38 The momentum and media focus that Vice President Kamala Harris has enjoyed following her strong debate against Mr. Trump on September 10th will compete now with wall-to-wall coverage of the suspect's background and the confounding question of how another rifleman could have approached within several hundred yards of the former president without being detected, the writer said. The Secret Service has been under intense scrutiny since its agents failed on July 13th to prevent Thomas Crooks from shooting Mr. Trump in the ear with an assault rifle as he spoke at a rally in Pennsylvania. Now, the service and the Biden administration's overall supervision of the former president's security will again be under a microscope. Until this year, it was possible to think that massive investments in the Secret Service

Starting point is 00:12:12 and aggressive, preemptive policing had contained America's vulnerability to presidential assassinations. But just as January 6th shattered complacency about the durability of America's constitutional norms, the assassination attempts on Mr. Trump have made plain that America's gun violence respects no borders. All right, that is it for what the left is saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. The right is outraged that Trump appears to have had a second close call with an assassination attempt.

Starting point is 00:12:48 Some argue the left's rhetoric is to blame for repeated attempts on Trump's life. Others question why Trump's Secret Service protection hasn't been greatly enhanced. The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote about Trump in the crosshairs again. The suspect was caught due to an alert witness and good police work, but it's still alarming that the potential assassin could get so close to what could have been a clear line of sight on the former president. All of this suggests considerable planning, as does his location at the golf course that afforded him some foliage as cover, the board said. The country is fortunate that the Secret Service spotted the man while other agents moved Trump to safety.

Starting point is 00:13:26 The trauma of a successful assassination would make our current political distemper seem mild. The risk is too high these days to take chances. This will probably require Mr. Trump to change some of his habits, such as golfing only on courses where a shooter can't get access. But the risks aren't only from alone gunmen, if that's what Mr. Routh is, the board wrote. Especially after Butler and now West Palm Beach, the Secret Service cannot be seen as failing to protect the candidates. Any harm that comes to either nominee,

Starting point is 00:13:55 but especially to Mr. Trump after two failed attempts, would lead to conspiracy theories that could lead to further violence. The country and President Biden can't afford to tempt fate again. In The Federalist, Jordan Boyd said Democrats did the opposite of lower the temperature between Trump assassination attempts. When an assassin first attempted to take Trump's life at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally in July, Democrats and media everywhere overlooked their roles in stoking the flames of hatred against Trump and his supporters to insist that Americans must lower the temperature, Boyd wrote.

Starting point is 00:14:29 Instead of abandoning the assassination prep campaign that put Trump in danger in the first place, Democrats used the days following the fatal campaign event to further smear the potential future president as the next Hitler, a threat to democracy, primary spreader of fascism, and an existential danger to the nation. If Democrats in the media who took their calls for partisan peace at face value meant what they said, they would have called out and corrected the inflammatory behavior plaguing the party. Instead, they continued their campaign to trick Americans into believing Trump shouldn't be allowed to hold office, Boyd said. This second assassination attempt may be yet another example of the stunning failures and corruption plaguing the current

Starting point is 00:15:09 regime, but it's no surprise considering Democrats' commitment to fanning the political flames. The New York Post editorial board asked, why hasn't the Secret Service given Trump the security he plainly merits? How many assassination attempts will it take for the Secret Service to provide adequate security for Donald Trump, the board wrote. The would-be shooter got as close as 300 yards, almost as near as the Pennsylvania assassin, who would have succeeded if Trump hadn't happened to turn his head at the right moment. And that was after Trump's security supposedly got upgraded in the wake of information that Iran was actively gunning for him. Yet this perp got caught because a civilian spotted the suspect fleeing the scene and got a photo of the vehicle, license plate included.

Starting point is 00:15:52 If President Biden were golfing, the whole course would have been surrounded with protection, Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw said. Yet Trump is not the sitting president, so security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible. Huh, the board said. The White House and Kamala Harris's campaign were all, violence has no place in our politics once again on Sunday. But it sure looks like they have yet to install Secret Service leadership that agrees. All right, let's head over to Isaac for his take. All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take. So first and foremost, I am glad the former president is safe.

Starting point is 00:16:41 I said this after the first assassination attempt on Trump, and I can't believe I'm even saying those words, but we need to walk away from the abyss as a country, and I don't think we are doing a very good job of that right now. Instead, in the wake of the first assassination attempt, I saw friends, family, and prominent social media accounts who hate Trump joke about how they wish the shooter had better aim, or how Trump got quote-unquote nicked in the ear and should get over it, or even posit that the whole thing was staged. I've been trying to beat this drum since the Pennsylvania shooting. I also brought it up last week in our newsletter about the debate, and I said it again on the Sunday podcast with

Starting point is 00:17:20 Tangle Managing Editor Ari Weitzman. It seems very dangerous and shocking to me that we moved on from Trump nearly being killed so quickly. I'd hoped that the disturbing images of him being shot in the head, literally, would wake this country up from its stupor on political violence, on gun violence, on our inflammatory rhetoric. Yet it didn't appear to. It passed over us, just like any other wow, I can't believe that happened political news cycle. And before I knew what happened, we were talking about J.D. Vance and Kamala Harris and immigrants eating pets. Maybe it isn't all that important that there wasn't a single question about the attempt on

Starting point is 00:17:59 his life at the ABC News debate. Maybe it isn't all that important that so many online influencers minimize or mock attempted assassinations. Maybe it doesn't all that important that so many online influencers minimize or mock attempted assassinations. Maybe it doesn't matter that the rhetoric on both sides has remained unchanged since July. Maybe I am just a rube holding on to a version of the country that doesn't exist or never did. But I happen to think that all of this is important. Imagine for a moment a neighbor of yours gets mugged as they get out of their car. News of the mugging spreads. Now imagine if this is the response. A quarter of the neighborhood is scared and sympathetic, warning that the attack is a dangerous development that should be condemned

Starting point is 00:18:36 by everyone and addressed as a group. Another quarter of the neighborhood blames other neighbors for creating an environment where muggings like this could take place. Another quarter of the neighborhood makes fun of the neighbor and downplays the severity of the attack. And then the remaining quarter of the neighborhood says they wish the person got beat up worse and claims the attack was karma for how the neighborhood had treated other people on the block. Now imagine, in an alternative world, the entire neighborhood came together to condemn the act of violence, showed some sympathy for the neighbor, and demanded changes to prevent a mugging like that from happening again. Do you think the difference in response could potentially change the future outcomes? I certainly do. The details of this attempt are so far disturbing. Police say the

Starting point is 00:19:21 man behind the attack was armed with a popular SKS-style rifle with a scope, was wearing makeshift body armor, and had a GoPro with him. He managed to get within shooting range of Trump and apparently hoped to record himself killing him. He had been interviewed by news organizations for recruiting people to go fight on the front lines of the war in Ukraine. His politics, like the Pennsylvania shooters, were not very normal or obvious. He supported Trump in 2016, yet donated exclusively to Democrats since then. He expressed support for Vivek Ramaswamy-Nikki Haley ticket, yet parroted Democratic talking points and would back Biden and Harris.

Starting point is 00:19:57 He has a lengthy criminal record, including an incident where he barricaded himself inside a roofing business while armed with a machine gun. He did not seem well. Yet this is the country we live in. Where both sides are using increasingly dire, violent, and distinct rhetoric, Democrats insist we need to eliminate Trump or compare him to Hitler. Republicans shoot at Democrat-themed targets in campaign ads or mock an attack on the spouse of a Democratic leader. And citizens can easily and heavily arm themselves, drive to a golf course, and come within a few hundred yards of plunging the nation into a cycle of political violence. We, the neighborhood, now get to decide. We can ignore what is in front

Starting point is 00:20:37 of us, the metaphorical and literal bullets dodged. We can make jokes about it or mock Trump. We could even point to all the dangerous things he's said or done and blame him. Or we could look around and decide that this isn't the neighborhood, the country, the world that we want to live in, and act accordingly. We could take these threats and their root causes, unhinge campaign rhetoric, mental instability, access to firearms, the glorification of war and death and violence, and attack those. It's up to us, and it's up to you. We'll be right back after this quick break. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural

Starting point is 00:21:25 who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. The flu remains a serious disease.

Starting point is 00:21:43 Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot. Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages 6 months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca. All right, that is it for my take, which brings us to your questions answered.

Starting point is 00:22:28 This one is from Anne in Douglasville, Pennsylvania. Anne said, I'm hearing a lot of concern about large cryptocurrency packs donating huge amounts to Trump's campaign. Why is this a bigger concern than other packs making large donations to a campaign? Quickly, for those playing catch-up who might not know about this story, the Trump campaign announced in May that it would start accepting crypto donations. Those donations made headlines in July when Trump raked in $3 million in crypto donations from all kinds of people, from the Winklevoss twins to a Michigan pizzeria owner. In a vacuum, this is not a big deal, but it does tell a different story about shifting

Starting point is 00:23:05 political loyalties. Whether it's crypto or USD, donations show which candidate is aligned with different special interest groups. Trump wasn't a big proponent of crypto at first, but he's changed his tune. And I think it shows a new alignment of the tech right towards Republicans who traditionally lean away from regulation. While states like California in general obviously tend liberal, Silicon Valley is at the intersection of left-wing culture, free market entrepreneurs, big money venture capitalists, and supporters of new tech like AI and cryptocurrency that is fighting against regulatory sentiment. Losing any of the quote-unquote coastal elite bloc that typically supports Democrats may be a concern for them, but it shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone. To me, the bigger

Starting point is 00:23:51 story here is the trail of donations to members of Congress from crypto companies lobbying for deregulation. I am bullish on this technology, and I personally own cryptocurrency, but as it exists today, it's undeniably ripe for exploitation and scam. So the high potential for corruption shown by this kind of obvious paper trail is a worry for people like me who are even long on crypto. All right, that is it for Your Questions Answered. I'm going to send it back to John for the rest of the pod, and I'll see you guys tomorrow. Have a good one. Thanks, Isaac. Here's your Under the radar story for today, folks. Erica Lee, the woman behind the viral social media posts that her neighbor's

Starting point is 00:24:34 cat was kidnapped, killed and eaten by Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, has deleted her post and apologized. Lee said she messed up royally, adding that she had no first-hand knowledge of any such event and had misinterpreted a neighbor's story. Separately, the Ohio Division of Wildlife told TMZ that a viral photo of a black man holding two geese in Columbus, Ohio, was taken after the geese were struck by a vehicle. NBC News has the story on the Post, and TMZ has the story on the Ohio Man. Both of those are linked in today's episode description. All right, next up is our numbers section. The number of days between the first and second attempted assassinations of former President Donald Trump is 65. The approximate number of miles north of Trump International Golf Club that the suspect in the assassination attempt was arrested was 45.

Starting point is 00:25:27 The estimated distance in yards that the suspect was from Trump when Secret Service agents opened fire on his position is 300 to 500 yards, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw. The total amount that the suspect donated to Democratic candidates and causes since 2019 is $140. The percentage of Americans who say political violence is a major problem is 45%, according to a June 2024 survey from States United Action. The percentage of Americans who say they think political violence in the U.S. has increased over the past few years is 66%. The percentage of Americans who said the use of force is justified to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president is 10%, according to a June 2024 poll from Robert Pape at the University of Chicago. And the percentage of Americans who said they support force to restore Trump to the presidency is 7%. All right, and last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. On August 23rd, a Sumatran tiger cub was born at the San Diego Zoo.

Starting point is 00:26:31 This occasion marked an important moment in the preservation of the Sumatran subspecies, of which only about 600 remain in the wild. Lisa Peterson, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the park, commented that the birth of the cubs added incredibly important genes into the pool of the population, furthering the genetic diversity and health of the Sumatran tiger subspecies. Good News Network has this story and there's a link in today's episode description. All right, everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, please go to readtangle.com and sign up for a membership we'll be right back here tomorrow for isaac and the rest of the crew this is john law signing off have a great day y'all

Starting point is 00:27:14 peace our podcast is written by me isaac Saul, and edited and engineered by John Wall. The script is edited by our managing editor, Ari Weitzman, Will Kedak, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bokova, who is also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. And if you're looking for more from Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website.

Tangle - A second Trump assassination attempt.

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