The Alleged would-be Trump assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh reportedly travelled to Ukraine last year looking to fight the Russians but was quickly rejected and pushed aside after being dubbed a "wack job" and "off" by the more serious foreign fighters in the country.
According to the NY Post, volunteer fighters knew his "type" and were "not at all surprised by it."
"A crazy idiot, but no one's really surprised. There are people like that that show up and are desperate to help and be important," An American fighting for Ukraine, who requested anonymity told The NY Post.
"And he was just one of those - just on the crazier end of things."
Routh, 58, had no military experience but travelled to Ukraine around March 2023 thinking he could help out in the war effort.
One volunteer told The Post that Routh's alleged use of a GoPro when he tried checking out Trump was particularly telling of his problematic connections to Ukraine, saying that "there are too many clout chasers" among foreign visitors to Ukraine.
"A lot of the people that are here are not really here for Ukraine, they're not really here for the war. They're here to kind of be famous or live out a fantasy or feel like they're a part of something," the volunteer said.
"Ukraine for them is kind of like their chance to finally make it. I think unfortunately that for the vast majority of them, that's not helping."
When he was rejected by the Ukrainian Foreign Legion which has recruited thousands of foreigners to fight for Ukraine, he took it upon himself to become a one-man recruitment officer.
However, he told the Financial Times last year that the Ukrainian international legion rejected him because he was "old" and lacked battlefield expertise. They then suggested he helped to "recruit and coordinate" instead.
"Oh man I knew I recognized that guy," one volunteer said in a private chat group shared with The Post. "He had some scheme where he was moving people from Afghanistan to Ukraine to fight."
"I remember Ryan well...but not fondly," wrote another foreign volunteer, attaching a screenshot of a text conversation with the would-be assassin in which Routh bragged that he was "back home" from Ukraine by including a grinning, shirtless selfie of he and his apparent girlfriend on the beach wearing a straw hat.
One fighter said he met Routh and said he got the impression he "was already extremely shady."
"I ran into him once, he struck me as unbalanced and dangerous," the fighter said.
Also, an individual with knowledge of the legion's recruitment efforts said that "anyone" can claim to be involved in the war effort by showing up and stepping in front of a camera.
"I can speak to this personally, that it's not like recruiting for the military in the United States," the individual said. "Oftentimes, when someone joins the unit, it's that they were just referred by someone else within the unit or somebody outside the unit that knows people in the unit. That's usually how it goes."
"He took it upon himself to steer people in the direction of the International Legion - that seems to be the extent of his recruiting duties for the International Legion."
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