The 16 September edition of The Johnny Vedmore Show, TNT News (UK)

Early yesterday evening I participated in a 50 minute news analysis and interview program of the global broadcaster TNT News, which is Australia owned and operates the given show from the U.K.

I recommend this video to you as much or more for what the presenter Johnny Vedmore had to say and what his second interviewee Ned Ryan had to say in the 65% of air time that they spoke as I do for the 35% of time that was allocated to me.

https://tnt.news/podcast/gilbert-doctorow-ned-ryun-on-the-johnny-vedmore-show-16-september-2024/

Vedmore devoted his introductory remarks (minutes 1 -12) to present investigatory reporting on the would-be assassin of Donald Trump yesterday in Miami, Ryan Wesley Routh. His report is professional and well worth hearing.  For his part, interviewee Ned Ryun also provides value to viewers with his commentary on the U.S. political scene. Ryun is the son of a Republican Congressman who worked as a speechwriter for George W. Bush before moving on and eventually producing the book entitled American Leviathan which was released by his publisher yesterday.

I can say that my time on air from minute 12 to 33 was well guided by the host and avoided repetition of points I have made in other recent interviews. Much attention was directed at why Donald Trump’s first presidency was as disappointing as it was in the foreign policy domain and why a second term in office could be much more constructive, starting with an early end to the war in and about Ukraine.

Transcription below (Vedmore, Doctorow only)
submitted by a reader

TNT: 0:02
Cutting through the clutter, this is Jonny Vedmore on today's News Talk, TNT.

Vedmore: 0:10
Welcome my friends to a new week, a new day on "The Johnny Vedmore Show", on Today's News Talk, TNT. It's even a new hour, would you believe, yes. And ... it's happened again, as many of us expected, another assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump. Mark's another Black Swan event. Many people have told me that the establishment are desperate to postpone the American elections. There would only be a few ways in which they could possibly happen, or that could possibly happen. And one of those ways includes the successful assassination of the veritable Teflon Don himself. And on this occasion, Trump was being targeted on home territory, yes, he was.

1:01
The Secret Service detail, which was following him around-- give me just one sec there-- the Secret Service detail had been enhanced since the previous assassination attempt. So they were ahead of the game on this occasion. To be precise, the Secret Service detail were one hole ahead of the game when they first encountered the shooter. They were checking out the next hole Donald Trump would be visiting on the golf course when there was a rustling in the bushes and a man running away. The would-be assassin is already in custody and was quickly announced as Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old man who was spotted by Secret Service agents near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Routh was also discovered to have an AK-47, which early reports said included a tripod and a specialised scope, along with a GoPro camera and some other equipment.

2:05
The agents initially opened fire on Routh, who fled the scene and was later arrested on the I-95 by local Palm Beach police. So who is Ryan Wesley Routh? Ryan Routh was born on the 18th of February 1966 and is registered as living in Hawaii most recently, although he previously lived in Julian and Greensboro, North Carolina. Routh maintained relationships with many family members including Oran, Adam, Sarah, Daphne and Laura Routh. Ryan Wesley Routh was granted a marriage license in 1989 to wed Laura Frances Wilson. The following year he officially registered his company which was called Routh Roofing.

His marriage to Laura lasted almost 15 years. They filed for divorce on the 22nd of January 2003, with the divorce being granted a few months later on the 10th of March 2003. The year before Ruuth married-- now this is very interesting-- he was arrested. Now he had been arrested a fair few times for a litany of different crimes, but this time he was arrested for possession, this is in 2002, I think it's April, possession of weapons of mass destruction. Although the United States were in a war which focused on the depletion of weapons of mass destruction during this period, Routh was given a probation, and the case didn't even seem to be featured in the newspapers at the time. I've looked through all the newspaper archives; nothing is there now. I can tell you if my neighbor got caught with weapons of mass destruction, I'm pretty positive it would be all over the news. And this isn't the first time that I've seen this during that period between 2002 and 2004.

4:09
Ryan Routh and his wife had been in business with Park H. Washburn before their divorce. After their divorce, they transferred property rights for 5311 Bowman Brook Drive in Clay over to Mr Washburn. Officially, according to Ryan Routh's North Carolina voter registration record, he didn't affiliate with any political party in particular. However, his most recent actions suggest he wasn't intending to vote Republican. Most recently, Ryan Wesley Routh was based in Kaua, Hawaii, where he was the owner of Camp Box Honolulu, which basically was building, I would say, small one-bedroom shed-like properties in Hawaii. There is only evidence of one on any of the websites, and it doesn't seem to be necessarily a successful business. Could have actually been a front.

5:17
Although Routh will probably not be returning to Hawaii any time soon. It's very unlikely. Relatively recently, Ryan Wesley Routh gave an interview to "Newsweek Romania" from Ukraine, where he encouraged civilians to pick up the torch and make things happen. He talks about promoting projects which were about getting people to Kiev to fight against Russia. It all sounds very deep-state. In 2022, Ryan posted comments directed at Tulsi Gabbard stating, "You are an idiot. Why don't you go and join Putin and Trump and be their third leg? Please leave my Hawaii. You embarrass me. Shut your stupid mouth. This a war where people are getting slaughtered for no reason. I am going to fight and die for Ukraine."

6:18
In a previous tweet targeting Gabbard, Routh also stated, "That grey streak in your hair is so stupid. Grow up or go away." On the 16th of July 2024, Ryan Routh posted on X stating, "Joe Biden, you should visit the victims in the hospital of Trump rally victims," this is his own words, so I apologize for the grammar, "and attend the funeral of the fireman that died. Trump certainly never would. Show the world what real leaders do."

6:55
He also posted the same idea the following day to Kamala Harris. Ian Carroll, the wonderful researcher on X, has also pointed out that the first person Routh followed on Twitter, and the first person to follow him, was a CIA agent with many connections to the deep state. The FBI, though, pulled down Routh's social media accounts soon after his name went public, that including his Twitter. A few of us got in quickly and managed to screenshot a few of the tweets. Someone actually archived all of the tweets, I believe, which again Ian Carroll mentioned, but this is what happens. FBI come in and try and stop anybody from looking at the evidence for themselves, because how can you cover up a deep-state assassin, if everybody has all the information?

7:56
Ryan Routh appears to show total disdain for Donald Trump and clearly believed that he was on the righteous path, especially when it comes to Ukraine. Regardless, Routh was rumbled and later captured by local police. He appears to have all of the motives and reasoning to kill Donald Trump, and he also had military training. It is not a surprise that someone who was trained in Ukraine as a US civilian to fight alongside Ukrainians would use that training in an attempt to murder a US presidential candidate who is most likely going to end the Ukrainian conflict. The event should also raise the issue of American civilians who go off to fight in foreign wars and whether they should be arrested and questioned as de facto when they return to the United States.

8:57
RFK Jr's son also has been stationed in Ukraine, which is of note, and there are many deep-state actors involved in that conflict. Ryan Wesley Routh is a perfect example of Western military asset in Ukraine. He believed that he knew best and that everyone should be preparing to fight Putin together. In many ways, Routh had clearly lost his grasp of reality and believed himself to be akin to a martyr, aiming to finish a job where Thomas Matthew Crooks previously failed. It's hard to put yourself in the shoes of someone like Ryan Routh, partly because it would mean you'd need to leave reality behind, and become so swept up with the agenda that you'd be willing to die for another man's war or another agency's war or a neocon war, however you want to put it.

10:00
The Ukraine war is an extremely contrived affair, which has been decades in the making. Ryan Routh is now a good example of why Ukrainian war should come to an end. Special forces have been training up the likes of Routh, and in doing so they appear to have created a monster. Whether it was by accident or on purpose is not clear. However, Routh's agenda to assassinate President Trump is not only of benefit to the deep state; it also serves the agenda of the Democrats, the military-industrial complex, and the neocons. Ryan Wesley Routh is not only a tool and an asset, he may also be something much worse than that, a Manchurian candidate of sorts.

10:52
Today, Ryan Routh will be staring at the walls of his prison cage, hoping that he has inspired someone else to fight for Ukraine or to assassinate Trump. He will believe himself to be a hero, but Routh is a despot, and while Routh is stuck inside a cell probably for the rest of his life, Donald J. Trump will continue to play golf, he'll continue to campaign and he'll continue to be the best hope to end the war in Ukraine. I think we can all agree that out of the two candidates, Donald Trump is likely to be the one who settles that conflict. But, remember, at TNT we never go home. We are committed to bringing you our take on the biggest topics of our time. We broadcast live 24-7, online, globally, no matter what. We got you covered on today's News Talk TNT.

TNT:
TNT. Today's News Talk. TNT.

Vedmoire: 11:52
Welcome back to the "Johnny Vedmore Show" on Today's News Talk, TNT. Now, my next guest up today is a returner, is someone I've spoken to a few times now, Dr. Gilbert Doctorow, who has authored five books of essays, participated in expert forums devoted to international affairs and appears in Russian domestic political talk shows on all national channels. He is a mind to explore, knows a lot about what's going on in Ukraine and this war against Russia. Thanks for coming on the "Johnny Vedmore Show" again Gilbert. How are you today?

Gilbert Doctorow, PhD:
I'm very well, thanks, and thanks for the invitation.

Vedmore: 12:33
I'm always happy to speak with you; you're a man who understands a lot, you understand the game, you understand what's being, what is, you know, on the table, what's being played for. So, let's start off. A lone assassin was planning to kill Donald Trump yesterday. It turned out that he had fought in Ukraine, recruited others to fight against Russia and had once been given probation for possessing weapons of mass destruction. Does this sound like the modus operandi for a deep state asset?

Doctorow:
Well, the group headed by Mr. Budanov in Kyiv certainly would like to murder Mr. Putin. But I think Mr. Putin is probably better guarded by his security detail than Donald Trump is. The elimination of Donald Trump would have the same positive effect for Kyiv, at least as viewed from Kyiv, as removing Mr. Putin. So if you can't get Putin, then you certainly have a better chance of getting Trump. And I think that's what this latest incident was all about.

Vedmore: 13:43
Do you think that, I mean, would that be even possible, trying to get Putin? I think it would be almost impossible, wouldn't it? And what would happen to Russia if there was a successful assassination attempt on President Putin?

Doctorow:
Well, I don't think we'd have much time to worry about it, because the people around Mr. Putin are certainly far quicker of a trigger than he is. And he's a man of astonishing calm and self-collected and rational, who does not give in to pressure from outside and does not submit to his own emotions. The people around him are quite different. They're more like the rest of us, who do submit to our emotions and who can be provoked. Therefore, the chances of the current situation taking a very nasty turn towards open warfare would be far higher if Mr. Putin is eliminated from the scene. But from the perspective of Zelensky, that isn't an issue. They are looking for, Kiev is looking for any way possible to involve the West in a direct war with Russia, so that Kiev would not stand alone. Of course it wouldn't stand alone, but we all would be going straight to the wall.

Vedmore: 15:09
Yeah, and it seems like, I'm surprised that there's been no, with all of the bad mouthing of Putin and saying that he's an evil man, I'm quite surprised there's been no assassination attempt on Zelensky if those rumors are true. Do you think Zelensky is only protected while the war is happening? Do you think that if it enters into peace negotiations that he would start to sweat a little bit more?

Doctorow:
Well, I don't think he's in a position to enter into those negotiations. I think he would be best advised to take the first plane out if it came to that, because the people around him have said explicitly, and this is not conjecture, they have said for public consumption that he will not remain. I think what they mean is he will not be breathing if he dares to enter into negotiations. Today's news, the tickers from Moscow, are saying that those around him, that the army has said, that there'll be a coup d'etat against him if he enters into negotiations.

Vedmore: 16:20
That is, that must be, I mean, stuck between a rock and a hard place, but you kind of put yourself there, especially when you're such an amazing actor and dancer as Zelensky is. Now, do you think they will actually allow Trump to run in the presidential election or will it be a case of third time lucky and he won't make it that far?

Doctorow:
Well, nobody can say. But there are many people who have the backing of certain parts of the American security apparatus to remove Mr. Trump, who fear him, who detest him because he stands-- at least his political statements, not his actions as president in the past, but his political statements-- are such that one might expect him to destroy NATO, for example, certainly to undo American foreign policy. Well, we've been through this before. Back in 2016, these types of fears were raised by his talk, by what he was saying would be his policy if he became president. In point of fact, none of that was realized, very sadly, sadly for us, who are opposed to the current course of American foreign policy. Under Donald Trump, one, the relations with Russia went from bad to worse. The sanctions imposed on Russia became very, very cruel under Donald Trump. And so how do we view him today?

18:00
Well, today, of course, is a different situation, in that this is no longer what Washington does, to seize property of the Russian consulate or the summer resort of the Russian ambassador. These are not the issues of the day. The issues of the day are, will we be in direct war with Russia in the near future? So the situation is far more critical, far more dire for global survival than it was in 2016. But another aspect of it is that in 2016, Mr. Trump was more or less a man by himself. He had his family to fill in key slots in his support when he became president, but he didn't have any particular allies of weight and of good sense to help him run the US government.

19:02
His own administrative experience until he became president was to run about 10 people in the Trump Organization. This was not a manufacturing corporation. It was a narrowly-held real estate operation. He had no real administrative experience that was worth anything. These are simply the facts. Now, US senators don't have much administrative experience either. They come in with a secretary and a few boot lickers, but not with experience running a few hundred, a few thousand, a few hundred thousand federal employees. Nonetheless, those senators who can become president, they have fellow senators and people all through the federal government in its three branches, whom they know and whom they can rely on to assist them when they're appointing cabinet members and other high positions for their administration.

20:01
Mr. Trump had none of that. He, for reasons that are quite obscure, he chose people to, I think-- well, not so obscure. I think the reason is, he chose people whom he knew could pass through the Senate approval process. Regrettably, all of them were, all of those people he chose were standing against his policies. And so you had this peculiar situation where he appointed people who made a mockery of all of his political policy lines.

Vedmore: 20:38
Yeah, and when you... Go on. Sorry, go on. What were you saying?

Doctorow:
And Mr. Trump today has had four years to align himself, to find people who could, who have the quality, who have the experience, who have the recognition to serve his policy objectives faithfully and not to undermine and destroy his policies, which was the case in his first administration. Therefore, there is reason to hope, I can't say to be certain, but at least to hope that he would succeed in his first and most important policy mission, which is to end the war.

Vedmore: 21:24
Yeah. Now, in that 2016 presidential run, he was successful; and like you say, he brought in a load of people who were against him, really, and he was very strict on Russia, as you say. Was he doing those things as a response to all of the criticism and smearing that was happening? We know the Steele dossier, you know, the infamous Christopher Steele or Trump-Russia dossier, which was a clear fabrication by UK intelligence, had come out and had been well publicized everywhere. Was Donald Trump actually reacting to that? And is that why his first administration was much tougher on Russia?

Doctorow: 22:16
Well, Trump, I think, his self-vision is that of a person with cold blood, sang-froid, who is good at negotiation and making deals. But that is really some image that he's painted of himself. You cannot compare Mr. Trump with Mr. Putin in the sense of rational behavior and cool calculation of all of the possible results of any action he takes. I think he's far more emotions-driven and, of course, he has far less depth to him than the Russian leader, and that remains the case. So, was he, as you suggest, influenced by all of these threats around him and did he feel that he had to make concessions to his enemies to keep his hold on power? It's entirely possible. I think the scenario that you've drawn is correct.

Vedmore: 23:21
Yeah, it was very hard for him, that's for sure. There's a quick question from the chat from Dark Commission. He says, "I can't see how a major war with Russia, possibly with nuclear weapons, could be at all compatible with the World Economic Forum's Great Reset. A nuclear World War III would be the end of all globalist plans, wouldn't it?"

Doctorow:
Well, there are certain assumptions that go behind and drive the risk-taking that we see in the in the Biden administration. I think the first element here is their appraisal of Mr. Putin as a leader and as a decision maker and as somebody who will respond appropriately to defend his country if it's under attack. And the assumption is that he won't. The assumption of people like Jake Sullivan, who are the masters of the universe and who do not allow others to have similar decisiveness. They believe that American first strike on Russia is feasible, a disarming strike that would knock out the Russian land-based missiles and essentially disarm, decapitate the country, leave it in chaos because it's only ruled by one person, as they think.

24:47
And you remove that one person, and Russia is at a loss. This is their understanding, and this understanding is based on their own reflections without any interest in the reality of Russia. They don't study it. They only, or the people they listen to. are also echo- chamber people, people who were brought on board as supposed Russian experts, and they're saying what they know their bosses want to hear. In this case, the decision makers, such as they are like Jake Sullivan, are ultimately making decisions in total ignorance of the opposite side.

Vedmore: 25:27
Yeah. There's a lot of big trouble at the moment all around the world, isn't there, and everybody is working on these stereotypes and caricatures, but the reality is, people are a lot more complex than that, leaders especially. We're going to take a quick break for the news. You're listening to Today's News Talk, TNT.

TNT:
CO2 sustains all life on earth, but now it's in long-term decline. We face the return of an ice age. We mandate that the truth be told, on Today's News Talk, TNT.

Vedmore: 26:02
Welcome back to "The Johnny Vedmore Show" on Today's News Talk, TNT. I'm here with Dr. Gilbert Doctorow, who is a fantastically interesting man who's got such a fantastic knowledge of Russia and the Ukraine conflict. Gilbert, can you tell me why people with your sort of knowledge and your sort of ability to rationalize, reason and understand the players involved are not more central in the modern media sphere?

Doctorow:
Well, the modern media sphere is very subordinate to the powers that be. There are many reasons for that, and I don't want to bore the audience with ticking them off. But that is the fact, the bottom-line fact. And they toe the line, and they get along, and they get invited to press conferences. They don't toe the line, they don't get invited to press conferences, and their ratings fall. So, the ability of Mr. Kirby and Jake Sullivan and other people who speak for the administration or are insiders of the administration to control the press is unfortunately all too simple.

27:17
The other factor is that the media, journalism in general, has a collective memory going back two weeks. And so even in the best of circumstances, people are unfortunately ill-prepared to put what we see in front of us in a perspective that is relevant. I don't mean a 200-year perspective. A 10-year perspective is a good start, to see how we got where we are and where we may end up. That is unfortunately not the case.

Vedmore: 27:51
Yeah, and that's interesting. Dark Commissioner again comes up with a question, says, "So we are looking at then the ultimate Peter Principle. The world is run by people who have been promoted to a level of incompetence." Would you agree?

Doctorow:
I would agree, yes. And that's very regrettable. The people in the highest offices in this administration, and Mr. Biden, are really beyond their depth. Everybody's looking for something. I don't mean to say that these are worthless people, but they're not in the right slots and certainly not at the administrative level where they should be of decision makers.

Vedmore: 28:28
No, they're in the slots where nodding dogs are best put, I think, for these people. So going back, the military-industrial complex, is that who is currently-- and the security services-- is that who's currently really panicking about Trump ending the war in Ukraine? Is this just a money game, really, at the end of the day? Does it really matter about the policy? Is it just all about them, the military industrial complex, making money?

Doctorow:
Well, that is a raw fact, and it's an indisputable fact, that the people who make money off of the war are a factor, because they make very big contributions to the whole of Congress, and so they cannot be ignored. But I think something else cannot be ignored, And that's that our politicians do have agency. They are not simply puppets of this military-industrial complex. And they are subject to another set of considerations, which is pure power. I mean, these are the big factors that always drive the world, money and power. And the power side is the American domination of the world. It's the belief that it is-- about the leaders in Congress-- that the United States is the global leader, and that without its leadership the world will fall into chaos. That is their justification, which is quite separate from and in parallel to what you were describing.
Vedmore: 29:56.
Yeah, yeah, most definitely. Now, do you think that befo.re a potential Trump presidency is possible, is allowed, shall we say, Russia w.ill make another major military push into Ukraine?

Doctorow:
There is such a conjecture, and it has substance to it, yes. However, it's not obligatory. Mr. Putin does not want to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers unnecessarily, to meet a given deadline. And so I would be very cautious in agreeing with you on that, if it's before November 5th. After November 5th, I don't think that Mr. Putin as yet sees a reason to hasten the move toward the Dnieper River. And that also assumes that reaching the Dnieper will be the end of the war. And that is, I think, a false assumption, because there still is the rest of Ukraine. And what will happen to that? Will the country give up because they retreated to the Dnieper? That is possible, but not necessary.

31:01
So where we are right now, after the exchange of courtesies between Mr. Putin and the Biden administration, Thursday and Friday, when Putin said openly that allowing the use of these American and European missiles against the heartland of Russia would essentially mean that countries are at war with Russia and that his country would respond appropriately. And then the next day, we find that the White House is saying, "Oh, no, no, no, no, we haven't changed our position, no use of our weapons in the heartland of Russia." This is even before Mr. Starmer, the British Prime Minister, touched down in Washington for what was highlighted to the press as a meeting to get the approval of the United States on his plans to us..e his missiles, the Storm Shadow, that way.

32:02
Well, we had a quiet weekend. And it's still, my colleagues, even today listening to them on YouTube interviews, like my colleagues in the American intelligence community, are still fairly satisfied that the issue has been resolved in a favorable way for the US Pentagon, which has some reason left to it, versus the US State Department, which is delusional and has no reason. Nonetheless, I can tell you that last night's main news program of the week on state television in Russia, Dmitry Kiselyov's "News of the Week", was speaking as if nothing had happened to change the US determination to use the missiles. So the Russian official position, if I can say that state television represents that, is that these missiles are still slated to be used against the Russian heartland. We'll see where we are.

Vedmore: 32:59
We're still heading towards it. You don't think that Western nations will be forced to take a step back now and re-evaluate their efforts after Putin's very clear drawing of a red line in the sand? You don't think that they will be the ones to re-evaluate?

Doctorow:
I was listening to the BBC this morning, and they had one of the talking heads at the university in Britain who was saying the Washington line, that Putin is just a bully and it's all a bluff.

Vedmore: 33:31
That's it. That's it. That's it. They really are just playing the same old game. It's like the Cold War never ended, it just went digital. Well Gilbert, thank you very much again for coming on the show. I really appreciate your expertise in this field, and keep up the sterling work and the amazing commentary. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Doctorow:
Thanks again to you. A pleasure.

Vedmore: 33:56
Excellent. You're listening to Today's News Talk, TNT.