Behavioral psychologists can tell you that mass shooters, terrorists, and undoubtedly assassins, love publicity for their evil acts. They like their names repeated over and over in the news. They like copycats stepping up to recreate their acts. And they no doubt love it when their offers to the public for more is spread far and wide, even in court cases against them

Which brings us to the odd case of the Trump golf course assassin-wannabe, Ryan Wesley Routh, who had been charged as a felon in possession of a firearm when he was apprehended last week attempting to escape after the Secret Service discovered him as he aimed his weapon through a fence in anticipation of the arrival of President Trump.

According to the Palm Beach Post:

WEST PALM BEACH — Federal prosecutors are poised to bring more criminal charges against Ryan Routh, the man accused of stalking former President Donald Trump and plotting to assassinate him while he golfed.

As it stands, the 58-year-old Routh faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for two federal firearms offenses. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dispoto said Monday that additional evidence collected in the wake of Routh's arrest, including a handwritten letter detailing an attempt to kill Trump, supports a far more serious charge.

Dispoto said the government will convene a grand jury in hopes of indicting Routh on one count of attempting to kill a major political candidate, punishable by life in prison. The federal prosecutor gave U.S. District Judge Ryon McCabe an overview of new evidence against Routh during a pre-trial detention hearing Monday.

His presentation included anecdotes from an e-book Routh wrote in February 2023, a year and a half before investigators say he aimed a semiautomatic rifle across Trump International Golf Club near West Palm Beach.

The handwritten letter, which had been given to an undisclosed source in North Carolina months earlier, encased in a box full of junk, ammo, phones and other letters that hadn't been opened until Routh was captured and in the news, was addressed "Dear World." It said:

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”

Now, it may have been that the prosecutors wanted to add the attempted assassination charges onto this dirtbag and this was the best proof of his intentions out there. They also found that he had an escape plan to Mexico, and multiple phones and pairs of gloves on him as if he had planned everything in advance.

Why he wrote the letter is strange, it's possible there were other letters in that box addressing "the world" which were to be read in case the attempt succeeded.

But the federal prosecutors released this one, which rather accurately seems to indicate that he meant to kill Trump. He also got it out there that he failed and he wanted others to try as a result.

Just the release of his call to action to the public is what has raised eyebrows among many. Whether he has that cash he promises, and where he got it from is another issue. But right now, it amounts to an encouragement for more assassination attempts, just as he wants, which seems rather contrary to the law enforcement goal of shutting him down for good.

Even former Attorney General Bill Barr, who is no friend of Trump's, told Fox News he found it pretty abnormal, given the legal options they had.

"I was dumbfounded that the DOJ made public this morning the contents of the letter that, Ryan Routh, left with an acquaintance prior to the attempted assassination of former President Trump," Barr said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"The letter calls on people to ‘finish the job’ of killing President Trump, attempts to rouse people in incendiary terms to do so, and offers $150,000 to anyone who succeeds. There was no apparent justification for releasing this information at this stage," he continued. 

Barr, who served during both the Trump and George H. W. Bush administrations, says that "DOJ had more than enough evidence to have Routh detained pending trial, without publicizing these details."

"Even if DOJ thought it important to provide the letter to the court, it could have redacted inflammatory material or arranged to have the letter submitted under seal. It was rash to put out this letter in the midst of an election during which two attempts on the life of President Trump had been made," Barr said.

It's nerve-wracking, really, because freaks like Routh love nothing better than publicity for their acts, and rousing the other loonies out there is exactly what he wants done. It's almost as if the prosecution wants the evil act to be done even as they work to put Routh away, given the way they are going about this.

The leading FBI agent on the case is a notorious Trump-hater and had to be told to scrub his social media posts before he could get promoted to the top post in the Miami field office. Does this letter release inspire confidence in his judgment if he was involved in this?

It should also be noted that the previous assassination attempt investigation has been horribly botched with destroyed evidence, bad security, and inexcusable communication failures, meaning, it's rather par for the course that these investigators don't seem terribly interested in getting to the bottom of what is happening.

President Trump has shifted course, too, in the wake of this flawed judgment in releasing the letter. He had been effusive about how good law enforcement had been in catching the would-be killer and acting professionally in keeping him safe, and nothing he has said since would contradict that.

But he has released a statement saying he wanted the state of Florida to continue this investigation and prosecution now, having lost confidence in the feds.

#BREAKING: Former President Trump demands "LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE" of the 2nd assassination attempt, says state charges would be "much more serious" than the federal charges

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently said the federal government is not cooperating with Florida's attempts to… pic.twitter.com/j83hbg5bTD

— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) September 23, 2024

Who, exactly could blame him, given what we are seeing now with the release of that "Dear World" letter from the freak?

Image: Screen shot from Forbes Breaking News, via YouTube