Former President Donald Trump didn’t share this assassination attempt stat on Truth Social

Authorities arrested a man suspected of lurking in the woods while armed Sept. 15 near former President Donald Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

According to the criminal complaint, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, had been there for about 12 hours when a Secret Service agent spotted what appeared to be the barrel of a rifle, The New York Times reported.

Law enforcement described the incident as an assassination attempt, and it comes about two months after Trump was injured by gunfire at a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania.

"0-2," reads what looks like a Truth Social post from Trump, in reference to two assassination attempts. 

A Facebook account shared a purported screenshot of the post Sept. 15, writing: "This man is a national treasure and we can’t lose him! Not sure if this was posted and deleted or never posted at all..but it’s the TRUTH!"

Trump’s campaign didn’t respond to PolitiFact's questions about the post. 

We found no evidence that Trump actually wrote this, though his son, Donald Trump Jr., shared the same image Sept. 16 on Instagram. Merch with the purported post has started popping up online.

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Viral image

stated on September 16, 2024 in an X post

The FBI said it would “visit” Elon Musk for writing on X, “No one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”

Here are some clues this image was altered. 

It doesn’t appear on the former president’s Truth Social page. He posted about the gunman on Truth Social the night of Sept. 15, thanking the Secret Service and other law enforcement officials "for the incredible job done today at Trump International in keeping me, as the 45th President of the United States, and the Republican Nominee in the upcoming Presidential Election, SAFE."

On the morning of Sept. 16, he posted: "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!!!" He also criticized Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Haris, saying that "because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying." (She is not a communist.)

An X account called "Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social," which shares Truth Social posts from Trump and his team, featured all of the aforementioned posts when PolitiFact reviewed its feed Sept. 16. But it didn’t mention the purported 0-2 post.

We looked for but found no archived versions of the purported 0-2 post. And we found no news coverage that he posted "0-2" and then deleted it. Certainly at least one news outlet would have covered such a deletion, as the media did on previous occasions when Trump deleted posts for reasons including a typo. 

Finally, the font in the purported post appears to be different from the font used in authentic Truth Social posts. Other users have posted "0-2" on the site, and the two typefaces look different.

We rate claims Trump posted "0-2" Sept. 15 on Truth Social False.