2018 United States mail bombing attempts

The 2018 United States mail bombing attempts refers to an incident in late October 2018 wherein fifteen pipe bombs were mailed to various Democratic politicians and public figures known to be prominent critics of Donald Trump.Pipe Bombs Investigation Turns Toward Florida as More Trump Critics Are Targeted William K. Rashbaum, Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman. New York Times. Oct. 25, 2018 The bombing attempts started on October 22nd, 2018, and the last package was intercepted by the FBI in Atlanta, Georgia on the 29th.
On the 26th, a 56-year-old man named Cesar Sayoc was arrested and faced federal charges in relation to the attempted attacks.US mail bombs: Cesar Sayoc charged after campaign against Trump critics BBC News. 27 October 2018 He's the proud owner of the Kookmobile pictured on the right, which earned him the lovely nickname "MAGA Bomber".‘MAGABomber’: How the mail bomb suspect nickname spread Magness, Josh. Miami Herald. October 26, 2018 The FBI and the United States government consider him to be a domestic terrorist,The manhunt: FBI treating serial bomber as domestic terrorism Kara Scannell and Evan Perez, CNN. October 25, 2018 because he freaking is.
Luckily, no one was injured and none of the bombs actually detonated.5 days, 14 potential bombs and lots of questions. Here's what we know. Karimi, Faith. CNN. October 27, 2018 
On August 5, 2019, Sayoc was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.‘MAGA Bomber’ Cesar Sayoc sentenced to 20 years in prison for trying to kill Trump critics, including Obama, Clinton, Biden, Booker, Harris Judge Rakoff, a vocal advocate against mass incarceration, stated that he believed Sayoc "was fully capable of concocting pipe bombs capable of exploding," and since he didn't, the ineffectual nature of the devices were "in the court's view, a conscious choice." Sayoc will still be nearly 80 before he can be considered for release on good behavior.
==General summary and timeline of events==
Summary of incidents
Date 	Intended target 	Description of target 	Result
October 22	George Soros 	Billionaire investor, frequent target of conspiracy theories. 	Discovered by mail employee at Soros residence, rendered safe by police.Explosive device found near home of billionaire investor George Soros Kelly Murray. CNN. October 24, 2018
October 23	Hillary Clinton 	Former U.S. Secretary of State, opponent to Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election 	Intercepted by Secret Service agents; package label was misspelled as "Hilary,"Suspicious packages sent to Clintons, Obamas, Soros, CNN: What we know so far Marina Pitofsky, USA Today. Oct. 24, 2018 a clear demonstration of Sayoc's evil genius.
October 24	Barack Obama 	Former U.S. President 	Intercepted by Secret Service. Turns out that packages sent to high-level government officials are searched before they're opened by the recipients. Who knew?
October 24	 	Former U.S. Attorney General, angrily outspoken Trump/GOP critic 	Package had an incorrect address and was thus returned to its labeled return address, the office of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, where it was discovered.
October 24	 	U.S. Representative, deeply unpopular with Trump and his pals for being one of his fiercest enemies in the House of RepresentativesMaxine Waters is one of Trump's fiercest critics. She'll get a powerful new platform if Democrats take the House Puzzanghera, Jim. LA Times. SEP 26, 2018	Intercepted by Capital Police in a Maryland mail facility. Again, it's crazy how the Postal Service doesn't just dump random packages on public officials' desks without checking them first.
October 24	 	U.S. Representative, deeply unpopular with Trump and his pals for being one of his fiercest enemies in the House of RepresentativesMaxine Waters is one of Trump's fiercest critics. She'll get a powerful new platform if Democrats take the House Puzzanghera, Jim. LA Times. SEP 26, 2018	A second package was intercepted in a Los Angeles mail facility.Package addressed to Rep. Maxine Waters found at South L.A. mail facility is similar to those on East Coast Winton, Richard. LA Times. OCT 24, 2018
October 24	John Brennan (via CNN) 	Former CIA Director, goes on the news to criticize Trump, especially his foreign policy 	Discovered at CNN's New York office'Act of terror': Bombs sent to CNN, Clintons, Obamas, Holder Karl de Vries, Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN. October 25, 2018 (apparently Sayoc saw Brennan on TV and assumed he worked for them). Package was misspelled as "Brenan".Jim Sciutto Twitter post. 10.24.18
October 25	Joe Biden 	Former U.S. Vice President 	Intercepted at a mail facility in Connecticut. Had an incorrect address.Suspected explosives sent to Biden, De Niro as investigation into pipe bombs expands to 10 packages Devlin Barrett ,Mark Berman and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. Washington Post. October 25 2018
October 25	Joe Biden 	Former U.S. Vice President 	Intercepted in a Delaware post office.
October 25	 	Actor, Trump critic 	Intercepted at the office of De Niro's production company after an employee recognized a similar package being reported on television news.
October 26	James Clapper (via CNN)	Former Director of National Intelligence 	Once again intercepted at CNNArrest made after more mail bombs: Cory Booker and James Clapper latest targets Locker, Melissa. 10.26.18 because Clapper was apparently someone else Sayoc saw on TV.
October 26	 	U.S. Senator 	Discovered in a Florida postal facility.
October 26	 	U.S. Senator 	Intercepted in a Sacramento, California mail facility.Suspicious Packages Sent to Sen. Kamala Harris, Tom Steyer Tied to Mail Bomb Suspect: FBI Riya Bhattacharjee, Andrew Blankstein and Kristofer Noceda. NBC News. 10.26.18
October 26	 	Billionaire investor, like Soros but less famous. He has been leading an advertising campaign in support of impeaching Trump. 	Once again, the package was discovered in a mail facility.
October 29	CNN Center 	CNN's world headquarters 	Intercepted in a post office in Atlanta, Georgia; even had it not been intercepted, it wouldn't have gone to the CNN Center anyways.CNN Communications Twitter post. 10.29.18
==Trump's reaction==
Although Trump did condemn the attack and compliment law enforcement for their arrest of Sayoc, one of his tweets appeared to convey a very different attitude:
Of course, Trump also later went back to his usual antics, attacking the (zing!) liberal media for "exploiting the case". He bears, but does not acknowledge, substantial responsibility for the deteriorating civility of the ever-polarizing dialogue between differing political opinions in the US (conservatives and liberals) that had fueled this incident.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45996655
==Right-wing reactions==
Quite unsurprisingly, quite a few of Donald Trump's die-hard fanboys were quite outraged by the media's reaction to this incident as well, and many began spouting their usual rhetoric; one of them tweeted:
 
The commenter seems to forget, if anything, , and no one in mainstream media brought up false flag conspiracies (unlike right-wing pundits including Rush Limbaugh, Bill Mitchell, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Candace Owens, Geraldo Rivera, and Donald Trump Jr. — all of whom have done so in this incidentRosenberg, E. (October 27, 2018). Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and others stick with conspiracy theories after mail-bomb suspect’s arrest. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2018.). The accusations of hypocrisy are unfounded. Most pundits have only doubled-down on their remarks (Geraldo Rivera is a notable exception). Ann Coulter, for instance, has deflected her attacks to her accusation that immigrants are more likely to cause political violence anyway (this is not true, and it's not like an immigrant was even involved in this incident!). This behavior is an example of classic Whataboutism by right-wing pundits who can blame incidents on liberals no matter the outcome and shirk responsibility when their own side has people in huge media platforms and high positions of power that repeatedly attack the press and call for violence.
==Arrest and sentencing==
After his arrest in October 2018, Sayoc later pleaded guilty in March 2019 to the charges of mailing explosive devices.Cesar Sayoc pleads guilty to mailing explosive devices to Trump critics by Mark Berman & Edith Honan (March 21, 2019 at 5:31 PM) The Washington Post. Sayoc's defense team argued that he "lost everything in the Great Recession", had "cognitive limitations and severe learning disabilities" and "abandoned by his father and sexually abused by a teacher at his Catholic school".Mail bomber Cesar Sayoc obsessed with Trump, Fox News, chilling new court filings show. ABC News. After that, they said, Sayoc became a disturbed man who was obsessed with watching Fox News and fantasizing about Donald Trump. 
Prosecutors sought a life sentence for Sayoc, but the judge agreed with the defense that Sayoc had intended to intimidate rather than kill and sentenced him to 20 years in federal prison.Florida Man Who Mailed Bombs To Democrats, Media Gets 20 Years In Prison by Richard Gonzales (August 5, 20195:59 PM ET) NPR.
==See also==
*Donald Trump
*Far-right
*Kookmobile
*Unabomber
==External links==
*
*The official FBI report
*RAW/UNEDITED: "Fahrenheit 11/9" outtake of Cesar Sayoc at 'Trump 2020' Rally in February 2017
*The instant, inevitable cries of ‘false flag’ after bomb threats targeting the Clintons, Obamas and CNN
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Crime
Category:Terrorism
Category:United States politics
Category:Alt-right
Category:Fascism