The man who made a daring ascent of Trump Tower in Manhattan this week was known for his strong anti-Muslim views and for his vocal support of Donald Trump’s political stances, according to former classmates at his Northern Virginia high school.
Michael Joseph Ryan, 19, became a national sensation Wednesday as he scaled the 5th Avenue landmark live on television using special suction cups to adhere to the skyscraper’s glass windows. New York police arrested him after he reached the 21st floor. He identified himself to law enforcement as Stephen Rogata, and his dangerous stunt led his pseudonym and home state to become a trending topic on social media: Steve from Virginia.
But former classmates at Langley High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, knew him as Michael, who they described as an intelligent outcast who left before graduating during his senior year. School system officials confirmed that Ryan attended Kilmer Middle School and Langley and had no record of him receiving a diploma from Fairfax County in 2015, the year he left.
The classmates agreed to speak to The Washington Post anonymously, saying they did not want to be connected with the stunt and the attention surrounding it. Ryan’s family members did not answer the phone at their Great Falls home, and it was unclear if Ryan was represented by a lawyer.
To the teenagers who knew him as far back as middle school, Ryan had a reputation for engaging in passionate debates about topics such as immigration and religious freedoms.
Ryan, who took Advanced Placement classes in economics and government, frequently drew attention with his comments, classmates said, and he at least once made derogatory remarks about Islam in the presence of Muslim students. In a government class, Ryan once advocated for the Transportation Safety Administration to exclusively screen Muslim male airplane passengers for possible terror ties.
“He would make these very hateful comments,” the classmate said. “But he believed he was just spouting facts.”
Classmates identified Ryan as the tower climber from a video posted to YouTube in which he claimed credit for the ascent and explained his reasoning for scaling Trump’s eponymous edifice.
Dressed in a black hooded sweat shirt, Ryan promotes Trump’s campaign for presidency and offered his services to the candidate as a self-styled “independent researcher.” In the video, Ryan says he attempted the climb to gain Trump’s attention and a private audience with the real estate figure and presidential nominee.
“I guarantee it is within your interest to honor this request,” Ryan said in the one-minute video. “Believe me, if my purpose was not significant I would not risk my life pursuing it.”
Officials at the Fairfax County Republican Committee said Thursday that Ryan was once an intern for the local GOP group but that no one currently in the office knew him.
Ryan’s Langley classmates said that he has for years advocated for many of the policies that have become central to Trump’s campaign. “He was a Trump supporter before that was cool or socially acceptable,” the classmate said.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท T. Rees Shapiro
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