Today in one sentence: A man waited with a rifle for 12 hours at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida before a Secret Service agent spotted him and opened fire; Elon Musk deleted his post wondering why "no one is even trying to assassinate" Biden and Kamala Harris; and JD Vance admitted that he has to "create stories" – like the debunked claim that Haitians in Ohio are killing and eating pets – to get media attention.

1/ A man waited with a rifle for 12 hours at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida before a Secret Service agent spotted him and opened fire. Trump, who was golfing at the club at the time, was unharmed. The FBI said it “appear[ed] to be an attempted assassination.” Ryan Wesley Routh did not have Trump in his sightline and did not fire his semiautomatic rifle. After the Secret Service spotted the muzzle of a gun protruding from the bushes several hundred yards away, Routh fled the scene and left behind his phone, a loaded rifle with a scope, some food, and a digital camera. Routh was pulled over and arrested around 2:14 p.m. after a license-plate reader system reported his vehicle on I-95 – about 45 miles north of Trump International Golf Club. Routh’s cellphone records also show he was near the perimeter of the golf course from about 2 a.m. until 1:31 p.m. He was charged with two gun-related offenses: possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh’s past history of criminal convictions – including possession of a weapon “of mass death and destruction” – barred him from owning a gun. Routh was not accused of trying to kill Trump, but he did self-publish a 2023 book in which he appears to tell readers that they were “free to assassinate Trump.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Axios / ABC News / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)

2/ Elon Musk deleted his post wondering why “no one is even trying to assassinate” Biden and Kamala Harris. Following intense backlash, Musk eventually deleted the post and tried to claim it was a “joke” that was “WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.” The White House condemned Musk’s post, saying “violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible.” Meanwhile, Trump blamed the polarized political environment he helped create on Biden and Harris, citing their “rhetoric.” (New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News / NBC News)

3/ JD Vance admitted that he has to “create stories” – like the debunked claim that Haitians in Ohio are killing and eating pets – to get media attention. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance said of his baseless claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. The state’s Republican governor called Vance’s claim that migrants were eating pets “a piece of garbage that was simply not true.” The Ohio town, however, has been forced to close schools and government, and cancel its annual celebration of culture and diversity following bomb threats. (The Guardian / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / NBC News / Axios / Rolling Stone)

✏️ Notables.

  1. How Roberts Shaped Trump’s Supreme Court Winning Streak “Behind the scenes, the chief justice molded three momentous Jan. 6 and election cases that helped determine the former president’s fate.” (New York Times)

  2. Laura Loomer, Trump’s new favorite conspiracy theorist, explained. “Trump’s increasingly close ties to the ‘proud Islamophobe’ expose some ugly truths his allies would rather keep hidden.” (Vox)

  3. Trump Defends Associating With 9/11 Truther Laura Loomer “Loomer, a conservative commentator, attended an anniversary ceremony with Trump at Ground Zero and posted about a 9/11 conspiracy theory days later.” (HuffPost)

  4. J.D. Vance Just Sold Out His Family to Defend Trump and Laura Loomer. “J.D. Vance brushed off Laura Loomer’s racist comments, despite being married to an Indian American woman.” (The New Republic)

  • 📅 The WTFJHT Calendar: Now until then.

  • 🗳️ TODAY: First states start early voting.
    💰 Sept. 30: Government funding deadline.
    📺 Oct. 1: CBS vice presidential debate.
    📆 Oct. 6: Last day to register to vote in some states.
    ⛔️ Oct. 14: Indigenous Peoples’ Day – No WTFJHT.
    🗳️ Nov. 5: Election Day.
    ⚖️ Nov. 26: Trump is sentenced.
  • ✅ Get election ready: Register to vote, update your address, or request an absentee ballot at Vote.org, TurboVote.org, RocktheVote.org, or VoteFromAbroad.org.

  • 📈 Election Polling Tracker

  • Harris +3.0 points (New York Times)
    Harris +2.7 points (538)
    Harris +2.3 points (Nate Silver)
    Harris +3.1 points (The Economist)
    Harris +1.7 points (RealClearPolitics)
    Harris +4.6 points (Election Betting Odds)

  • 🔮 Election Forecast Tracker

  • Harris wins 60 times out of 100. Trump wins 40 times out of 100. (538)
    Trump wins 60 times out of 100. Harris wins 40 times out of 100. (Nate Silver)
    Harris wins 50 times out of 100. Trump wins 50 times out of 100. (The Economist)
Four years ago today: Day 1336: "Herd mentality."
Five years ago today: Day 970: Locked and loaded.