Another Nutjob Just Threatened to Assassinate Trump. Here's Everything We Know About Him.
On the heels of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, another unhinged nutjob just threatened to take out the Republican nominee on the 2024 campaign trail, this time while he was visiting the southern border Thursday.
66-year-old Ronald Lee Syvrud, a convicted child sex offender with a history of hating the Republican Party, is accused of posting about his plans to assassinate Trump.
Authorities in Arizona conducted an extensive manhunt to track down Syvrud, as Trump was set to speak with families whose loved ones were murdered by illegal aliens. Following the multi-day search, Syvrud was taken into custody without incident at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time.
Syvrud, who sometimes operates under the alias "Rudy," has a handful of alias accounts where he expresses his hatred toward Trump and those he sees as "radical right-wingers." Investigative journalist Andy Ngo found Syvrud's various profiles, including his now-scrubbed Facebook page he allegedly used to share his apparent plot to shoot Trump.
"tRump is going through here tomorrow and going to Naco, AZ to the port of entry to Mexico. There's a bar right there called the Gay 90s. Noooo. It's not a gay bar. Dawn and I will be there early. I bought a scope for my 44 revolver. Unlike that dweeb that missed. I won't. Maybe I'm joking," Syvrud wrote, under the alias "Sven Lee," on Wednesday evening. "Or am I. Wink, wink."
Syvrud was particularly upset that the first almost assassin failed to kill Trump. The day after Trump was shot at the Butler rally in Pennsylvania, Syvrud posted, "The shooting was rigged."
"[F]eeling annoyed," Syvrud said, "GIVE THE SHOOTER AN A- FOR EFFORT. WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AN A+ IF HE SUCCEEDED. BTW THE KID WAS A REGISTERED REPUBLICAN GOT TO LOVE IT."
In June, Syvrud shared an anti-Trump post, captioned "What Would Jesus Do?" An attached image depicted Jesus Christ drowning Trump in a body of water.
Syvrud also called Trump a child molester who should be "put to sleep," though he himself is a convicted pedophile.
On X, posting as "Rudy Lee," Syvrud said Trump supporters were drinking the "Donny 'Jim Jones' tRump" "orange koolade [sic]."
Trump spoke as scheduled despite the manhunt being actively underway, and Syvrud wasn't captured until hours after Trump's speech.
During a news conference in the desert, Trump indicated he wasn't made aware of the assassination threat when Daily Mail asked about his response and whether he felt he was in danger.
"I haven't heard about that. They probably want to keep it from me. Thank you for telling me. Let's get out of here right now!" Trump, appearing unbothered, joked. Noting it might be "dangerous" for him to be there, Trump declared, "But I have a job to do."
"The U.S. Secret Service investigates all threats against our protectees," the Secret Service said in a press statement. "As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further at this time."
At the open-venue event, Trump abruptly ended an interview with NewsNation, telling network correspondent Ali Bradley, "We're in danger standing here talking." Trump, cutting the conversation short, cited safety concerns after being alerted by his security detail that they're not safe there. "They don't want me standing here," Trump said while he was whisked away. "They don't want you standing here either."
According to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office, local law enforcement learned as early as Tuesday that a male suspect was writing threatening messages on social media targeted toward Trump.
Syvrud was identified, and authorities discovered that he was wanted on several outstanding warrants, including a DUI-related one out of the state of Wisconsin and another from Graham County, Arizona, for a hit-and-run.
A wanted-person flyer was then disseminated to the public in an attempt to locate Syvrud.
On Wednesday, Syvrud allegedly sent a second post, again containing threats against Trump.
Syvrud was ultimately nabbed by multiple units Thursday afternoon in the St. David area. Bradley reports that Syvrud was apprehended in a remote area around an RV.
Syvrud was subsequently booked into Cochise County Jail on a felony warrant from nearby Graham County for failing to register as a sex offender and two counts of threatening for the Trump case.
Syvrud remains behind bars pending court adjudication.
Cochise County Sheriff's Office told Fox News there are "no known ties to Pennsylvania, and we are working with local, state and federal agencies." A public information officer with the sheriff's office told Townhall that initial incident reports take 14 days to be filed.
Late last year, Syvrud pled guilty in Graham County to felony failure to register as a sex offender. Minutes from Syvrud's sentencing hearing in December 2023 show that he avoided jail time in a plea agreement. Although the prosecution argued for stronger sentencing than the pre-sentence report recommended, Judge Travis W. Ragland only placed Syvrud on three years of probation and suspended the remainder of his 180-day jail sentence.
Syvrud was most recently charged with assault in June, but that was dropped in July, reports Fox News.
In 2001, the serial felon, then living in Madison, Wisconsin, was convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child and exposing a child to harmful material (sale), according to court records reviewed by Townhall. Syvrud is on Wisconsin's sex offender registry for life, the state's Department of Corrections says.
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