Newspaper reports of Ryan Routh, the man who was arrested for allegedly attempting former President Trump's assassination, describe Routh's long attempt to find a mission in life by making arms deals and recruiting soldiers for Ukraine and Taiwan with none succeeding. When younger he was rejected for military service and there was no news mention of current romantic interest though stating he was divorced and had children. Yet love or its equivalent is instinctive to all animals of which humans are a part. For humans, love, ideally, is when the other's welfare is made equal to one's own and honesty and communication is total. When absent, aloneness produces unbearable anxiety and a prison to escape. The total failure to achieve this can result in psychosis, a withdrawal from the outside world with behavior based on delusions during which the pain of separation disappears.
To be separate means to be helpless, arousing shame which can also be avoided by involvement in religion or artistic creation or obsessive work though the fulfilling solution for most is through love. Was Routh's obsessive involvement in his missions motivated by underlying problem with intimacy?
His behavior may also have reflected depression, the sense of having deep problems and cry for help, or the desire for what is termed "suicide-by-cop." The unconscious is very powerful and one must respect its power.
Note: This item was updated as further information became publicly available.