After decades without political violence directed at a presidential candidate from one of the major parties, the US has now experienced this twice in the space of two months – with former president Donald Trump the target on both occasions.

In mid-July, he narrowly avoided being shot in the head by a 20-year-old gunman at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Again, yesterday afternoon, during a round of golf on his Florida West Palm Beach golf course, Trump was the apparent target of another would-be assassin, according to the FBI, with a suspect now in custody.

The suspect has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, a man reportedly in his late 50s who was deeply involved in efforts to get foreign fighters into Ukraine to battle against the Russian Army.

Donald Trump, in his first statement following the apparent attempt on his life, promised that nothing would slow him down or make him surrender.