Former President Donald Trump's would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, allegedly penned a letter that included a promise of $150,000 to anyone who will "complete the job," Breitbart reported. The Justice Department released the letter's contents to the public, which outraged the Trump family.
Routh showed up at Trump's Palm Beach golf club on Sept. 14 with a rifle and other paraphernalia. He was near where Trump was about to play through when the Secret Service apprehended him.
Thankfully, Routh never got the chance to fire a shot at the former president. However, his damage wasn't quite done after the Justice Department released contents of a letter he purportedly penned to the public.
"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," the 58-year-old said in his handwritten letter. "I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job," Routh wrote.
It's not surprising that the ramblings of a crazed gunman included such a promise. However, it is unfathomable that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' administration would allow it to see the light of day in the press.
Donald Trump Jr. railed against this decision, especially since Harris is his father's political opponent in the 2024 presidential election. The younger Trump also compared it to the way the government handled the manifesto of Audrey Hale, who shot and killed three children and three adults at a Tennessee school last year.
His motives are unknown folks!!!! DOJ releasing this in a week but not the trans killer manifesto for months isn’t signaling anything.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 23, 2024
"WTF!? Why is Kamala's DOJ publicizing Ryan Wesley Routh putting a bounty on my dad's head???," Donald Trump Jr. wrote.
"His motives are unknown folks!!!! DOJ releasing this in a week but not the trans killer manifesto for months isn’t signaling anything," the younger Trump wrote in a follow-up tweet. Portions of Hale's manifesto leaked to the press confirmed that she was gender-confused and raised suspicions about authorities' reluctance to release it.
This was the second attempt made on Donald Trump's life, and the DOJ isn't being too careful about preventing a third. Former Attorney General William Barr said there was no reason to release Routh's letter "other than to risk inciting further violence," he told Fox News in an exclusive.
The letter, which was addressed "Dear World," was in a box that Routh had entrustd to a friend. "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," Barr, who served under Trump and George W. Bush, went on.
"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 later continued.
These attempts on Trump's life have so far been unsuccessful. Releasing a call to arms that comes with a reward is all but asking for a third attempt to be successful.
During a meeting with the leaders of Japan, Australia and India at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, President Joe Biden appeared confused and irritated, at one point shouting, "Who's next?" when it was actually his turn to introduce the Indian prime minister.
“I want to thank you all for being here,” Biden told the audience. “And now, uh, who am I introducing next?”
After the rest of the group went silent, Biden shouted, "Who's next?"
Finally, an announcer's voice came over the loudspeaker and introduced Indian PM Narendra Modi to the meeting.
The group is known as the Quad Alliance, and although these countries are staunch allies of the U.S., their leaders have to be wondering what has happened to Biden even just since the 2020 election.
The meeting on Saturday dealt with recent pressures from China and led Biden to say that China is "testing" the alliance.
A joint statement from the alliance also announced the Quad Cancer Moonshot aimed at reducing cervical cancer, disaster relief in the Indo-Pacific region, and maritime security there.
But Biden is barely able to hold it together long enough to run a meeting like this.
On Friday Biden held his first full cabinet meeting in nearly a year. The last one was on October 2, 2023.
He opened the meeting and then turned it over to his wife, First Lady Jill Biden. “I’d like to turn it over to Jill for any comments she has. It’s all yours, kid,” he said.
Never mind that Jill is unelected and no one voted for her to lead her husband's cabinet meetings.
The fact is, our president is too mentally diminished to do his job anymore. Someone unelected has been running the show pretty much his whole term, whether it's been Jill Biden, Barack Obama, or someone else.
The RNC Research account on X pointed out, “Jill, Ed.D., is now assisting whatever is left of Crooked Joe Biden in leading cabinet meetings."
Jill, Ed.D., is now assisting whatever is left of Crooked Joe Biden in leading cabinet meetings pic.twitter.com/qvL1fzZ4gX
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 20, 2024
Americans were stunned and horrified earlier this month when former President Donald Trump was targeted in yet another assassination attempt, this time at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
In a rather interesting legal twist, according to Politico, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions related to the Second Amendment could present complications when it comes to prosecuting Ryan Routh, the man suspected of targeting Trump.
The highest court in the land has recently weighed in on a series of cases related to the proper scope and interpretation of the Second Amendment, including challenges to a law currently being used to prosecute Routh.
As Politico notes, as a result of his conduct at the Trump International Golf Club, Routh has been charged with violating a federal prohibition on felony possession of firearms.
Routh's criminal history includes a conviction from North Carolina stemming from his possession of a “weapon of mass destruction” as well as another for possession of stolen goods, and, as such, his possession of a firearm at Trump's golf course has triggered the use of the aforementioned federal law against him.
However, recent battles that have made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court have brought into question the validity of the felony firearms ban, one which has the potential to bring upwards of 15 years in prison to those convicted.
Particular debate has centered on the high court's decision in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, one which has had far-reaching implications since its issuance.
The Bruen majority offered a more expansive definition of rights under the Second Amendment by finding that restrictions on gun ownership withstand constitutional scrutiny only if they are in keeping with historical practices with respect to firearms in America.
As such, conflicts have emerged among lower courts attempting to apply the Bruen precedent in gun possession cases, with two federal appeals panels having determined that using the felon-in-possession ban in the case of those convicted of non-violent felonies is a violation of their constitutional rights.
By contrast, other appeals courts have come to the opposite conclusion, including the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, the panel that would ultimately have jurisdiction in a potential appeal lodged by Routh in the future.
The divergence in opinion across the federal circuits, however, suggests that eventual Supreme Court review of the question is, in the words of UCLA law professor and Second Amendment expert Adam Winkler, “only a matter of time.”
While it is clear that there may be some contentious legal wrangling ahead with regard to the federal felon-in-possession statute, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis believes that accountability for Routh could more directly be pursued at the state level, and he has therefore initiated his own probe of the events at Trump's golf course, as he explained in a press release last week.
DeSantis issued an executive order “directing Florida's law enforcement agencies....to investigate the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, refer violations of state law to the statewide prosecutor's office for prosecution, and to surge resources to President Trump's security detail needs in coordination with the former president and the Secret Service.”
Though the Florida probe will run concurrently with the federal probe of the alarming event, DeSantis declared, as The Hill noted, that he does not believe it is in “the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious, straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law but not federal law,” and in light of the ongoing uncertainty stemming from Bruen, he may well be correct.
Former President Donald Trump notched a legal win after a deadline in the appeal of his Florida case dismissal was moved until October, The Hill reported. This means that the court's decision will likely come after the next president's inauguration.
Trump had been charged with 40 counts for mishandling classified information recovered from his Florida residence. The charges involved accusations of obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act.
However, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the charges after finding that special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges, was improperly appointed. However, Smith petitioned the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for a review.
In his appeal, Smith claimed that Attorney General Merrick Garland lawfully appointed him contrary to Cannon's decision. The court approved delaying the deadline from Sept. 25 to Oct. 25, which will push the resolution of the case into next year.
Trump's lawyers argued for the delay because he's busy with other cases. "President Trump and his counsel are presently engaged in motion practice in a separate case…which will require counsel to spend time in a sensitive compartmented information facility (“SCIF”) in Washington, D.C. in the coming weeks to meet that court’s briefing schedule," the legal filing noted.
After announcing he was running for president for a second term, Trump suddenly became the subject of several criminal probes. In all, he has been subject to four criminal indictments, CBS News reported.
The first that went to trial was the New York hush-money case. Despite the dubious nature of the charges and supposed evidence, a New York jury found Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
However, prosecutors in the other cases haven't been able to finagle such an outcome. Trump's federal election interference case has been postponed indefinitely after the Supreme Court granted Trump's claim of presidential immunity.
Another election interference in Georgia is also on hold after the judge concluded that some charges belonged to the federal court. It seems the very thing leftists thought would trip Trump up has become his best defense for moving the deadline in the appeal.
After his enemies spent the last two years throwing obstacles in Trump's way, the former president seems to be taking it all in his stride. He's survived four criminal probes and two assassination attempts, but he just keeps moving ahead.
The next several weeks will be the true test of his resolve and the left's ability to knock Trump off kilter with their antics. So far, Trump continues to poll strongly against Vice President Kamala Harris as both are locked in a statistical tie, Fox News reported.
This is after the judicial machine spent years going after Trump. It's after the establishment media, Hollywood, the music industry, and just about every other institution has thrown full support behind Harris.
Shockingly, there are signs that a seismic shift may be hiding under the surface of these pollsters' reports. Virginia has long been a Democratic stronghold, but now the New York Post shared that it is locked in a statistical dead heat and will become a battleground state for the two despite going for President Joe Biden by 10 points in 2020.
Trump is a unique figure in American history. He has survived many attacks, literally and figuratively, and now has gained yet another legal win that will keep him moving toward the White House.
An internal communication from Chief Justice John Roberts to his colleagues in the Supreme Court was leaked to the press, the Washington Examiner reported. This is the second time such a breach has occurred at the high court.
On Sunday, the New York Times published an article titled "How Roberts Shaped Trump’s Supreme Court Winning Streak." The leftist hit piece insinuated Roberts was in Trump's pocket after three decisions went the former president's way.
However, the piece also included information from a Feb. 22 memo Roberts penned to the eight other justices on the court. The missive followed a decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit regarding former President Donald Trump's federal election interference trial.
Roberts said the decision made by the court was "inadequate and poorly reasoned" in the memo. "I think it likely that we will view the separation of powers differently," he wrote, according to the Times.
Perhaps this second leak points to a troubling trend at the high court. The first leak came in 2022 when the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization draft opinion was leaked to the press before it was finalized.
The decision would lead to the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision that had granted abortion rights via judicial fiat. Dobbs erased nearly half a century of bad precedent, but the document's premature release was even more remarkable.
No other decision in the Supreme Court's 235-year history has ever been made public before it was supposed to. The Supreme Court's marshal questioned nearly 100 employees of the court and sifted through forensic evidence to no avail.
"But the team has to date been unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence," the final report noted in January 2023. Speculating who could be responsible for these two leaks is nearly unthinkable.
The eight-month probe came up empty, though many believed it was one of the four clerks assigned to each judge. However, if it's the same person or persons, that would be unlikely considering each justice receives a new slate of clerks every term.
It's unknown what the motives of the person or persons behind these leaks are. However, in both instances, these actions have real-world ramifications beyond the contents of a memo or draft decision.
South Texas College of Law professor Josh Blackman believes that the second leak has caused the most harm. In a blog post published to The Volokh Conspiracy on Sunday, he said the Times received the memo as well as insider information about the court's workings on these cases.
"This tapestry would require insights from so many different people. Moreover, all of this comes after the Dobbs leak when Chief Justice Roberts (apparently) put strict limitations on access to Court information," Blackman noted.
"What did all of those measures accomplish? Apparently not much," he wrote. Notably, the first leak led to a threat to Justice Brett Kavanaugh's life by a man upset about the decision, the Washington Post reported at the time.
By definition, both of these leaks are inside jobs. Whoever is doing this is playing a dangerous and partisan game with the safety of those on the court while undermining trust within the highest court in the land.
The Montana Supreme Court refused to hear state Democrats' case to have the Green Party candidate removed from November's ballot for U.S. Senate, Daily Montana reported. The five-judge panel unanimously denied the request Tuesday.
The Montana Democratic Party had requested a writ of supervisory control on the basis that the Green Party improperly replaced its candidate. Michael Downey won the Green Party's nomination in June but withdrew from the race on the very last day allowed.
The Green Party then replaced him with Robert Barb. The Democratic Party panicked and sued, arguing that the Green Party failed to follow its own bylaws and state laws about replacing candidates.
The state Supreme Court also indicated it would uphold an earlier denial for an injunction, which the Democratic Party requested earlier. This comes just ahead of the Sept. 20 deadline to mail out military and overseas ballots.
The Democrats' lawsuit stemmed from issues with "nomination" versus "appointment" in the different rules and laws on replacing candidates. Ultimately, the court said that any obstacles to naming a replacement candidate "would be at odds with allowing ballots to be printed and distributed in a timely fashion" if they must wait for approval.
"Although such would not be an absurd result, it would not give effect to the purpose of the statute, which in part requires political parties to comply with their own bylaws in appointing replacement candidates in the event of the death or withdrawal of a nominee after the primary election," the decision from the court stated. The court also admonished Democrats for its "merely speculative" reasoning.
"MDP has thus failed to demonstrate that it is likely that the Montana Green Party violated its party ‘rules’ when its state central committee appointed Barb to fill the vacancy created by Downey’s withdrawal," the court noted. The court also found no evidence that the lower court erred in denying an injunction.
"Since we have not concluded that the District Court is proceeding under a mistake of law, this matter is not susceptible to writ of supervisory control," the court said. Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen believes the Montana Supreme Court made the right call.
"I’m pleased that the Supreme Court unanimously rejected this hail Mary attempt to undermine Montana election law," Jacobsen said in a statement. "From the start, this lawsuit was a baseless political game from Washington elites that showed complete disrespect for Montana and our election officials.”
Replacing parties' candidates has been a prominent issue in this election year. The highest-profile swap-out happened in the presidential race after an abysmal debate performance.
According to the Associated Press, President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic presidential nominee, and the party eventually replaced him with Vice President Kamala Harris. Despite never winning a single primary vote, she became the pick because Democrats were desperate.
Meanwhile, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has been fighting to have his name removed from November's ballot since he dropped out last month. As CBS News reported, he will remain on the ballot in over 30 of the 50 states, including some battleground states.
Kennedy endorsed former President Donald Trump after stepping aside, signaling to supporters to switch to backing Trump. However, state officials may be digging in to keep his name on with the belief that he will siphon votes from the Republican candidate.
This election cycle is contentious, and many races are close as it is. With the additional issues with the ballots, it could mean the difference between defeat and victory for some, and Democrats know it.
Ryan Wesley Routh, who is implicated in former President Donald Trump's second assassination attempt, may have had "inside information," the UK Daily Mail reported. Routh was arrested after allegedly pointing a rifle through bushes outside the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach near where the former president was playing.
There are many questions about how and why Routh showed up to the golf course where Trump would be playing a round. Authorities say he was there about 12 hours before he was apprehended.
It's unclear how Routh got so close to Trump without being discovered sooner, especially since there was already one attempt in July to take his life. Moreover, Trump does not make his daily schedule public, which begs the question of how Routh knew where Trump would be and when.
A former top FBI official said this could point to one of several possibilities, including that the gunman was tipped off in Trump's orbit. If that's the case, Trump could be in continued danger.
The former FBI official said there were one of three "possibilities" to explain this lapse in security. "One is this guy had inside information, and having enough time to get to that fifth hole—that location between the fifth and sixth hole—and get himself set up," the source told the Daily Mail.
When examining the timing, the likelihood that someone fed Routh this information becomes apparent. "So if somebody tipped them off, at the time Trump went off the first tee, it would have been about an hour and 15 hour and 20 minutes before he got to that that spot," the former FBI official said, noting it would give Routh "plenty of time" to set up.
'The other possibility is that he's been surveilling the former president, and either a watching Mar-a- Lago as to when when he leaves, or actually physically following him and his vehicle and determining exactly where he went," the source continued. This is questionable as the Secret Service around him would likely spot when they're being tailed.
The former FBI official had a third theory: Routh simply "got lucky" in guessing Trump would be at that club on that day. Trump often golfs, but the source thinks some happenstance is the least likely explanation.
"I don't think that's the case. I think it's one of the first two, and neither one of them has good implications," the former official concluded.
It appears the investigators have similar suspicions about Routh's ability to access the GOP presidential candidate. According to the New York Post, several club workers were asked whether they shared information with someone else.
One employee told the Post that the Secret Service and FBI "asked a couple questions about who I tell when President Trump is here," the staffer said Monday. "They asked everyone if we tell our friends when he comes and goes," the worker added.
Workers are strictly prohibited from sharing that Trump is at the club. "They’ve told us for a long time that we are putting him in danger if we text a friend to say that he’s here, even if the friends are fans of him. So I have never once done that, and I don’t think a lot of my coworkers have either," the staffer said.
They also denied seeing or even knowing Routh after authorities showed them photos. "Everyone was actually really nice to us; they said that we weren’t suspected of anything, and they made sure I wasn’t too shaken up when they started talking to me," the worker said.
It's reasonable to believe that there was some tip-off to Routh that Trump would be there that day. Only time will tell, but it's reasonable to explore several theories in the meantime, including that an insider betrayed him.
Ryan Wesley Routh, who was caught Sunday with a rifle and scope at a golf course where former President Donald Trump was playing, could spend up to 20 years in prison, the Washington Examiner reported. Routh faces two federal weapons charges, with more likely coming at the state level for the convicted felon.
Authorities believe Routh was at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach intending to assassinate the former president, the second such incident since July. Congress, the Secret Service, the FBI, and the state of Florida are all investigating the circumstances surrounding Routh's offense.
On Monday, Routh appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach for his first hearing. He was charged with illegally possessing a weapon as a felon after he was caught with the "AK-47 style rifle with a scope" by authorities.
That charge carries a $250,000 fine and up to 15 years in prison, with another three years of supervised release. Routh was also charged with Possession of a Firearm with an Obliterated Serial Number, which carries another $250,000 fine and five years in prison with three years of supervised release.
According to Fox News, Routh's demeanor in court was incongruous to the gravity of his situation. Although cameras were not permitted, reporters noted that the 58-year-old smiled and laughed a few times as the judge questioned him.
When asked whether he could afford an attorney, Routh said that his income was insufficient and that he had no assets. He makes only $3,000 a month and has no real estate holdings or liquid savings.
The would-be assassin also claimed that he was supporting his 25-year-old son. Despite his lack of assets, Routh was resourceful enough to plan his ambush against Trump.
Secret Service agents discovered Routh after seeing the muzzle of his rifle sticking out through the bushes just 400 yards from where Trump was playing. They fired on him, and he fled the scene, leaving his rifle, scope, GoPro camera, and two backpacks.
The gun, which authorities told Fox was an SKS-type rifle, is not available in Florida and was likely transported over state or country lines, though no charges to that effect have been filed. Investigators are still trying to piece together a motive, but Routh has a troubled history.
Routh has a checkered past that includes many run-ins with the law. One of the most notable is his 2002 conviction in North Carolina for "possessing a weapon of mass destruction," The Hill reported.
Following a traffic stop, Routh holed up in his roofing business with a machine gun. He was later convicted of the weapon charges as well as driving with a revoked license, resisting an officer, and carrying a concealed weapon, which could all impact his sentencing for the assassination attempt.
However, Routh served no jail time for that incident but was put on probation. The charging officer, Tracy Fulk, was shocked to hear about Routh's recent "escapades" involving the president.
"I figured he was either dead or in prison by now," Fulk said. Over the years, Routh has been charged with writing bad checks and several traffic violations, though it doesn't explain his move to political violence.
Routh deserves to be behind bars if convicted of this attack. Unfortunately, the people around Trump weren't more diligent in making sure someone like him wouldn't get so close to a former president and current GOP presidential candidate.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced on Sunday night that the state will conduct its own investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump despite the FBI's investigation into the incident.
“The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club,” DeSantis wrote Sunday evening in a post on the social platform X. “The people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.”
The would-be assassin stuck his AK-47 through the bushes 300-500 yards away from where Trump was golfing before a Secret Service agent fired shots to thwart the attempt.
Unlike the previous assassination attempt in July in Butler, Pennsylvania, the would-be assassin didn't get any shots off this time despite lying in wait for Trump for 12 hours.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, fled the scene in a car but was later arrested after a witness took a picture of the license plate.
Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction in North Carolina, but it was not immediately clear what that entailed.
The motive for the attempt wasn't clear, but Routh did post support online about the war in Ukraine and donated to Democrat causes.
DeSantis was in the running to be the Republican nominee, but was overshadowed by Trump.
He has since endorsed Trump and shown support for his candidacy. Florida has voted Republican in the last few presidential elections after increasing its Republican voter registration.
Trump was on the fifth hole when Routh was discovered by the Secret Service.
Although the previous assassination attempt on Trump exposed numerous Secret Service failures, this one seems to have been handled better even though the detail was not as robust as it would have been if Trump were president.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw made it clear that if Trump were protected the same way as a president, the entire perimeter around the golf course would have been secured.
Members of Congress from both parties as well as the editorial board of the Washington Post called for Trump to get the same Secret Service protection as a sitting president due to the multiple attempts on his life.
“Two assassination attempts in 60 days on a former President & the Republican nominee is unacceptable,” tweeted Rep. Ro Khanna (D).
As the November presidential election draws nearer, issues of ballot access continue to make their way through the courts, with yet another rearing its head in Nevada.
According to The Hill, the Green Party in Nevada is seeking U.S. Supreme Court intervention after the state's highest court excluded its candidates – including presidential hopeful Jill Stein – from the general election ballot.
As the outlet explains, in a 5-2 decision, the Nevada Supreme Court booted Green Party candidates from the ballot, citing clerical problems with the group's signature collection practices.
Notably, a lower Nevada court had sided with Stein and her party, but on appeal, the Supreme Court found that they “did not substantially comply with the requirements” in place to have their candidate appear on the ballot.
The Nevada Supreme Court's decision was greeted with approval by Democrats in the state, who hoped to keep Stein off the ballot, fearing that she could divert votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris in her battle against former President Donald Trump.
Nevada's status as a closely watched swing state ensures that the Green Party's emergency appeal now filed with the U.S. Supreme Court will garner the attention of the nation as voters await resolution.
Working on behalf of the Green Party in this legal action is Jay Sekulow, who has a substantial history representing Trump in a range of matters.
In its application to SCOTUS, the Green Party contended, “The lower court's action preventing Applicant ballot access was extraordinary, denying Applicant both due process and equal protection under the federal Constitution.”
The filing went on, “Given the timing of the lower court's actions, emergency relief in this Court is the only relief available that prevents an ongoing and irreparable harm to Applicant's exercise of one of Americans' most sacred rights.”
The Green Party's application was lodged with Justice Elena Kagan, who has jurisdiction over emergency matters originating in Nevada, and she has set a Tuesday deadline for responses from those opposing the request.
The news from Nevada's high court was not the only hurdle faced by Stein last week, as she also had an embarrassing moment during an interview on the popular radio show The Breakfast Club as Salon reports.
Guest host Angela Rye pressed Stein on why she felt the election was “winnable” in every state in the union when her name will not appear in at least 13 of them – several of which do not provide for write-in options.
Stein responded by simply suggesting, “We will be on the ballot for 95% of voters,” a fact she said was sufficient to achieve a victory.
Perhaps most damaging, however, was when Rye asked Stein for the number of sitting members of the House of Representatives, and rather than offering the correct answer of 435, Stein wondered aloud, “What is it 600, some number?” uttering a response that left many questioning her basic understanding of American government let alone her capacity to serve as commander in chief.