J.D. Vance does not follow Trump plot suspect on social media

"JD Vance follows the alleged Trump attempted assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh on X. Is JD Vance trying to become the nominee? Just Asking Questions!" says a post shared September 15, 2024 on X. 

The text was posted alongside a cropped image of what appears to be the follower list for an X account with a display name "Ryan Wesley Routh." It features a profile with the handle @JDVanceRep.

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A screenshot of a post on X taken on September 19, 2024

The claim was repeated elsewhere on X and on Threads.

On September 15, Secret Service agents noticed the barrel of a rifle pointing out of the shrubbery on the Trump International Golf Course in the US state of Florida. The suspect -- identified as Routh, 58 -- initially fled the scene but was arrested by local police. He was charged with federal gun crimes.

This is the second assassination attempt on the former president and both incidents prompted online misinformation and conspiracy theories. The claim about Vance's purported online connection to the gunman is similarly false.

The @JDVanceRep handle in the image belongs to a satire account parodying the Republican vice presidential nominee. It has the word "parody" in its display name and "satire" in its bio, both of which can be seen in the image linking it to Routh.

Vance's verified X account handle is @JDVance. The publicly available list of followers does not include any with the display name Ryan Wesley Routh. 

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Screenshot comparison between the J.D. Vance parody account (L) and the Senator's real account

AFP contacted the Trump campaign for comment, but no response was forthcoming.

User @puppydog_gaming was one of the first to share the claim, posting the image along with the caption "why does JD Vance follow the trump shooter lmao."

In the same thread, the account shared a meme about creating stories for attention (archived here). It later posted: "sorry for spreading misinformation i found it rlly funny it will happen again" (archived here).

The image does not appear to match Routh's X account. Media reports indicate that Routh's X handle was @RyanRouth, which had the display name "Ryan Routh" with a US flag emoji. That account has since been suspended.

AFP has debunked other claims about Routh and Donald Trump here.