--- title: "The Latest Failed Trump Assassin Tried to Buy a Used Rocket From Elon Musk" description: "The man alleged to be Donald Trump's second would-be assassin once asked Elon Musk if he could buy a rocket off of him. " date: "2024-09-16" modified: "2024-09-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/donald-trump-assassin-elon-musk-rocket" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "ukraine" --- # The Latest Failed Trump Assassin Tried to Buy a Used Rocket From Elon Musk ![The man alleged to be Donald Trump's second would-be assassin once asked Elon Musk if he could buy a rocket off of him. ]() *\Image: Kevin Dietsch via Getty\* ## Gently Used The man alleged to be Donald Trump's [second would-be assassin]() once asked Elon Musk if he could buy a rocket off him. In a [tweet posted on X-formerly-Twitter]() in April of this year, suspected gunman Ryan Routh tagged the social network's owner asking him if he could give him the hookup. "I would like to buy a rocket from you," the 58-year-old who has since been arrested on suspicion of planning an assassination attempt on the former president at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida, wrote. "I wish to load it with a warhead for \[Russian President Vladimir Putin's\] Black sea mansion bunker to end him." "Can you give me a price please\[?\]," the Hawaii man continued, as if asking about an appliance on Facebook Marketplace. "It can be old and used as not returning." Though his X account was taken down in the aftermath of the Sunday debacle, which involved the Secret Service thwarting Routh's alleged attempt and catching him when he fled by car, reports from [*Reuters*]() and [*Newsweek*]() confirm its veracity. ## Ukraine Crazy While there's still a lot that isn't known about the alleged attempt on Trump's life, what we do know is alarming. As alluded to in his highly unofficial query to Musk, the 58-year-old who originally [hailed from North Carolina]() was a zealous supporter of Ukraine's resistance to Putin's invasion. He was even [interviewed by the *New York Times*]() about his alleged contributions to Ukraine's defense efforts last year and told reporters that he was trying to recruit Afghanis who'd fled the Taliban to join the cause. Beyond his ardent Ukraine support, Routh's politics seem to be something of a jumble. In another post from his now-suspended account, the [alleged gunman admitted]() in July to having voted for Trump back in 2016, saying he'd become disenchanted with him over the course of his presidency. As of now, it's unclear what Routh's motives were, but as the [*Associated Press*]() and [other outlets]() have noted, he once urged Iran to take Trump out in a bizarre book he seems to have self-published last year. That book, notably, was also about Ukraine. "You are free to assassinate Trump," Routh wrote in his chilling dispatch. "No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection." **More on Trump:** [*Trump's New Crypto Project Is a Type Linked to Organized Crime and Terrorism*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()