Time magazine came under fire after claiming on social media that the man behind an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump had an “unclear political ideology,” leaving many in the dark about the apparent violence targeting Trump.
Time concealed Ryan Routh’s political leanings, writing Monday on X, “The suspect arrested in relation to the shooting at Trump’s golf course in Florida on Sunday has been identified as Ryan Routh—a 58-year-old with unclear political ideology, a criminal record, and a history of praising Iran and supporting Ukraine.”
The baffling tweet neglects to highlight the fact that Routh voted in a 2024 Democratic primary and has a recent history of donations to ActBlue—facts that Time itself admitted deep within the article the post links to. But why did Time make no mention of these crucially important details? Is it because such assertions might tie the left to a violent act?
Time is owned by Marc Benioff, the CEO of software company Salesforce and one of Vice President Kamala Harris’s biggest supporters. Benioff, by Time’s own admissions, donated to Harris’s 2019 failed Democratic presidential bid.
Previously, Benioff had also donated to the “Kamala Harris Victory Fund,” while making two donations to Harris’s Senate campaign. In total, Beinoff has given at least $18,100 to support the current Democratic nominee in her earlier campaigns according to the Federal Elections Commission. Recently, Time magazine had to issue a correction after incorrectly fact-checking a Trump statement about Harris’s documented support for taxpayer-funded gender transitions for detained illegal aliens.
In their Monday article, Time took until the 13th paragraph to admit that Routh voted in the March Democracy primary of North Carolina in 2024. In the 14th paragraph Time admitted that Routh had donated ActBlue, “the Democratic fundraising platform, between September 2019 and March 2020.”
According to MRC Vice President for Research and Publications Brent Baker, there are significant consequences to placing facts later in a story. In his 1994 book How to Identify, Expose, & Correct Liberal Media Bias, Baker wrote, “[M]ost people ready only the headline. Some read just the first paragraph, some just the first two paragraphs and some read just to the bottom of the column and don’t bother to read the continuation. Very few people read the average story all the way through to the end.”
But Time didn’t just show possible "bias by placement" by burying these facts in the 13th and 14th paragraphs. Time set social media users who didn’t finish the article up to believe that Routh had an “unclear political ideology.”
Imagine how many X users read the post without even clicking.
On the other hand, Time took a beating on social media for the post. The Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik and The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon sarcastically lambasted Time for playing dumb about whether or not a man arrested for allegedly trying to kill Trump supports Trump or Harris. Others alleged that Routh literally had a Biden-Harris sticker on his truck.
Former collegiate swimmer-turned-women's rights advocate Riley Gaines also called out Time for using the words “unclear political ideology,” writing: “He's donated to ActBlue 19 times, has a Biden/Harris sticker on his truck, & vehemently hates Trump. His political ideology couldn't be more clear.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Time at (letters@time.com)and The New Yorker at (800) 444-7570 and demand the publication stop coddling Vice President Kamala Harris.
