President Trump has had far too many attempts on his life. Now his would-be assassin is making demands.
And this Trump assassin floored the entire courtroom with one ridiculous request.
Routh’s Disturbing Plea: Assisted Suicide or a Swap to America’s Enemies
Convicted attempted assassin Ryan Routh, whose botched plot to gun down President Trump at his Florida golf course endangered Secret Service agents and the public, has filed a bizarre new motion from jail, begging to be shipped to a state where assisted suicide is legal so he can end his “constant failure” life.
Routh, who stabbed at his own neck with a pen upon hearing his guilty verdict in September, wrote in the handwritten filing: “I would like to plan forward for sentencing and request kindly to be placed in a state that has assisted suicide since I am a constant failure.” “I have yet been unable to obtain a list, but I hope someone can provide it,” he added, as if shopping for a venue to evade true accountability for his violent obsession.
This latest stunt from the unrepentant Routh, who faces life in prison at his December 18 sentencing, reeks of manipulative theatrics from a man whose courtroom antics already mocked justice. During his self-represented 12-day trial, Judge Aileen Cannon repeatedly reined him in, cutting short his rambling opening statement and warning against turning proceedings into a “mockery.”
Now, with a new lawyer sought for sentencing, Routh’s plea twists his failure into a demand for special treatment, ignoring the gravity of his crimes: attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assault on a federal officer, and multiple gun charges.
Desperate Schemes: Trading a Would-Be Killer for Heroes Abroad
In a grotesque twist, Routh clings to delusions of redemption through international horse-trading, urging the U.S. to swap him for genuine victims of tyranny. “I still hold out hope someone might assist me in being traded in a prisoner swap,” he wrote, proposing exchanges for “any modest, humble female protestor that stood for womens rights” in Iran, a Ukrainian prisoner of war in Russia, or journalist Jimmy Lai in China.
He even dangled a cynical ploy for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate imprisoned in Iran, claiming it “would make Trump look good in the eyes of the Nobel Prize committee, while disposing of his worst enemy.”
Routh’s fantasies extend further: “Trade me for a Palestinian prisoner in Israel to have my spot in Hawaii, or a POW of Ukraine suffering in Russia or any prisoner anywhere that is suffering,” he rambled, listing hotspots like Sudan, Haiti, and Myanmar.
“Do not let me take my own life and it have zero benefit for humanity or mankind,” he implored, as if his worthless existence could somehow barter for the freedom of true heroes oppressed by America’s adversaries. This isn’t remorse—it’s a pathetic bid to glamorize his cowardice, equating a domestic terrorist’s plot with the noble suffering of dissidents worldwide.
Legal Roadblocks and a Lifetime of Reckoning Ahead
Routh’s assisted suicide fantasy crashes against harsh realities: The practice is legal in 11 states—California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington—plus D.C., but strictly for terminally ill, mentally competent adults under tight safeguards.
Federal prisons, funded by taxpayers, prohibit it entirely, and judges’ placement recommendations are nonbinding anyway—the Bureau of Prisons calls the shots. Routh’s earlier pleas, like a July bid to “freeze to death in Siberia” via a Russia swap, fell flat, much like his September 15, 2024, ambush at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course, where a vigilant Secret Service agent foiled his rifle-wielding hide in the bushes.
As sentencing looms under Judge Cannon, Routh’s motion serves only to prolong his infamy, a final act of self-pity from a man whose hatred nearly altered history. True justice demands he rot in isolation, far from any “benefit” he imagines, a stark reminder that failed assassins don’t get to dictate their exit.
