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00:00I am Ruth, charged with two federal gun charges in the wake of his arrest over an alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
00:07The alert was raised on Sunday while Trump was playing golf at his own golf course in Florida.
00:11The US media reported that Routh is now charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
00:21Routh is 58 years old.
00:24He voted for Trump in 2016.
00:31Let's then take a look at that report.
00:39Inside this courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, the wheels of justice are beginning to turn.
00:45It's here that 58-year-old Ryan Routh was criminally charged Monday, a day after he was arrested over an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
00:55Federal prosecutors charged the suspect with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
01:04US media report that Ryan Routh was captured after Secret Service agents opened fire on a gunman carrying an AK-47 rifle near the boundary of Trump's Florida golf course.
01:15A staunch political activist, Routh has voiced opinions both supportive of and critical of Trump.
01:21One cause dear to his heart, however, has been the war in Ukraine, as he recently spent months in the country supporting the resistance against the Russian invasion.
01:29Here he is talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022.
01:34Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be ended.
01:37So we need everybody from around the globe to stop what they're doing and come here now and support the Ukrainians to end this war.
01:44Routh is suspected of being the person who hid in shrubbery with a rifle, scope and camera near the area where Trump was golfing.
01:52Secret Service agents were clearing holes ahead of Trump when they spotted a rifle barrel.
01:57The agents opened fire but the person fled in a black car before being apprehended on the highway.
02:03The FBI has said the incident appears to be an assassination attempt.
02:07Nonetheless, Trump posted statements in seemingly good spirits that evening, praising law enforcement for their work and saying he would never surrender to people trying to stop him and his supporters.
02:17In an interview with Fox News Digital Monday, the Republican nominee said rhetoric from US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is to blame for the apparent assassination attempt.
02:2950 days or so to go before the presidential election in the US.
02:32Another apparent attempt on the life of Republican candidate Donald Trump, the second in two months.
02:37Let's get more analysis of what this could mean going forward.
02:40We're joined by Cammie Knight who's been watching developments for us.
02:43Cammie, great to see you.
02:44Two assassination attempts then on the former president in less than two months.
02:49Are these isolated incidents or does it reflect, do you think, a general sort of uptick in political violence?
02:56Well, studies do show a general rise in political violence, whether that be threats to local officials, political disagreements that turn deadly or assassination attempts on presidential candidates.
03:07This chart here gives us just an idea of the rise and shows how it's evolved with a spike in far-right violence in recent years.
03:16A poll conducted by PBS NewsHour last April showed that one in five Americans thought it was OK to resort to violence if it would get the country back on track.
03:26Now, the January 6 assault on the Capitol is obviously a prime example of recent political violence in the US.
03:32But there have been a number of incidents in the past few years.
03:35In 2017, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was shot at a congressional baseball practice.
03:41He survived but was in a coma for three days.
03:43The Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, was targeted by a foiled kidnapping plot in 2020, which resulted in the arrest of 13 men.
03:52And more recently, of course, in 2022, Paul Pelosi was brutally attacked with a hammer in his home.
03:59Now, what this rise in violence shows is a shift to an era where political assassinations or attacks are viewed as a way to solve political problems.
04:08And the emergence of an us versus them rhetoric where the other becomes a threat that needs to be eliminated.
04:14Mark, you mentioned rhetoric, Cammy. There are political leaders and many prominent figures in the US in some ways.
04:22It's not me saying this, but I think if you look at the analysis, I think it is fair to say they're to blame for this rise in violence.
04:27You know, if we just look at this latest assassination attempt, most senior elected officials did condemn any form of political violence.
04:35We saw Kamala Harris's tweet saying violence had no place in the United States.
04:39But other political entities like the New Hampshire Libertarian Party, for example, wrote on X that anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero.
04:48Now, it's not just on the right, on the left as well.
04:51We saw a number of jokes or suggestions that Trump reaped what he sowed.
04:55And Elon Musk, whose platform publishes a lot of these reactions, posted and no one is even trying to assassinate Biden or Kamala.
05:02Now, he's since deleted that post, but many saw it as an incitement to violence.
05:07So even though there's a condemnation at the highest level, the rhetoric circulating online is very much one of encouragement.
05:15Indeed, Elon Musk once again putting his foot in his own mouth.
05:18It's quite a talent that man has, isn't it?
05:20Rhetoric does seem to be a major factor, but we can't place all the blame on leaders or celebrities.
05:26There's evidence out there that other factors appear to be at play.
05:30Tell us more about that.
05:31Of course. I mean, academics have been trying to find clear answers for the past few years.
05:35And a lot of the findings revolve around a combination of personality traits like aggressiveness and factors like depression combined with intense partisan identity and an increasingly polarized political landscape.
05:47A 2017 study found that 60% of Republicans and Democrats believed that the other party was a threat.
05:5440% believed it was evil and 20% believed its members were not human.
05:59And those figures rose during Trump's presidency.
06:02Now, another factor to consider is gun ownership.
06:04A study conducted just this April, taking into account nearly 13,000 gun owners, found that almost 42% of assault type rifle owners said political violence could be justified.
06:15Now, that's been combined with a rise in the number of armed pro-Trump demonstrations from 2020 to 2021, with studies showing those demonstrations were much more likely to lead to violence than those without.
06:28So limiting the supply of guns won't stop political violence in itself in the US, but it could certainly make that violence less deadly, Mark.
06:36Camille Knight, thank you very much indeed for that look in detail today in the US election campaign.