2018 United States mail bombing attempts

[[File:MAGABomber van.png|thumb|right|300px|[[kookmobile|This vehicle]] doesn't immediately scream "crazy bomber," but having this offered as an explanation is somewhat unsurprising.]] 
{{Crimenav}}
'''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]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/nyregion/bomb-explosive-device.html 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</ref> The bombing attempts started on October 22<sup>nd</sup>, 2018, and the last package was intercepted by the [[FBI]] in Atlanta, Georgia on the 29<sup>th</sup>.

On the 26<sup>th</sup>, a 56-year-old man named Cesar Sayoc was arrested and faced federal charges in relation to the attempted attacks.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45996655 US mail bombs: Cesar Sayoc charged after campaign against Trump critics] ''BBC News''. 27 October 2018</ref> He's the proud owner of the [[Kookmobile]] pictured on the right, which earned him the lovely nickname '''"MAGA Bomber"'''.<ref>[https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article220680015.html ‘MAGABomber’: How the mail bomb suspect nickname spread] Magness, Josh. ''Miami Herald.'' October 26, 2018</ref> The FBI and the [[United States]] government consider him to be a domestic [[terrorist]],<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/25/politics/bombs-investigation/index.html The manhunt: FBI treating serial bomber as domestic terrorism]  Kara Scannell and Evan Perez, ''CNN''. October 25, 2018</ref> because he freaking is.{{fact|joke}}

Luckily, no one was injured and none of the bombs actually detonated.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/26/politics/pipe-bombs-suspicious-packages-what-we-know/index.html 5 days, 14 potential bombs and lots of questions. Here's what we know.] Karimi, Faith. ''CNN''. October 27, 2018</ref> 

On August 5, 2019, Sayoc was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.<ref>[https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/05/cesar-sayoc-sentenced-to-20-years-for-sending-bombs-to-trump-critics.html ‘MAGA Bomber’ Cesar Sayoc sentenced to 20 years in prison for trying to kill Trump critics, including Obama, Clinton, Biden, Booker, Harris]</ref> Judge Rakoff, a vocal advocate against mass incarceration,<ref>[https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1158469157526089729]</ref> 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==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Summary of incidents
!scope="col"|Date
!scope="col"|Intended target
!scope="col"|Description of target
!scope="col"|Result
|-
!scope="row"|October 22
|[[George Soros]]
|Billionaire investor, frequent target of [[conspiracy theories]].
|Discovered by mail employee at Soros residence, rendered safe by police.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/22/us/suspicious-package-george-soros/index.html Explosive device found near home of billionaire investor George Soros] Kelly Murray. ''CNN''. October 24, 2018</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|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,"<ref name="magabobfail">[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/24/suspicious-packages-delivered-clintons-obamas-cnn-what-we-know/1749205002/ Suspicious packages sent to Clintons, Obamas, Soros, CNN: What we know so far] Marina Pitofsky, ''USA Today''. Oct. 24, 2018</ref> a clear demonstration of Sayoc's evil genius.
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="5" |October 24
|[[Barack Obama]]
|Former U.S. President
|Intercepted by Secret Service.<ref name="magabobfail"></ref> Turns out that packages sent to high-level government officials are searched before they're opened by the recipients. Who knew?
|-
|{{wpl|Eric Holder}}
|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.<ref name="magabobfail"></ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" |{{wpl|Maxine Waters}}
| rowspan="2" |U.S. Representative, deeply unpopular with Trump and his pals for being one of his fiercest enemies in the House of Representatives<ref>[http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-maxine-waters-trump-banks-20180926-story.html Maxine 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</ref>
|Intercepted by Capital Police in a Maryland mail facility.<ref name="magabobfail"></ref> Again, it's crazy how the Postal Service doesn't just dump random packages on public officials' desks without checking them first.
|-
|A second package was intercepted in a Los Angeles mail facility.<ref>[http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-waters-la-mail-20181024-story.html 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</ref>
|-
|[[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<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/24/politics/bill-clinton-hillary-clinton-chappaqua/index.html 'Act of terror': Bombs sent to CNN, Clintons, Obamas, Holder]  Karl de Vries, Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz, ''CNN.'' October 25, 2018</ref> (apparently Sayoc saw Brennan on TV and assumed he worked for them). Package was misspelled as "Brenan".<ref>[https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1055148005970665472 Jim Sciutto] Twitter post. 10.24.18</ref>
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="3" |October 25
|rowspan="2" |[[Joe Biden]]
| rowspan="2"|Former U.S. Vice President
|Intercepted at a mail facility in Connecticut. Had an incorrect address.<ref name="bidenbomb">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/10/25/mail-bomb-investigation-intensifies-suspicious-package-removed-robert-de-niros-building/?utm_term=.0e566137892c 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</ref>
|-
|Intercepted in a Delaware post office.<ref name="bidenbomb"></ref>
|-
|{{wpl|Robert De Niro}}
|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.<ref name="bidenbomb"></ref>
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="4" |October 26
|James Clapper (via CNN)
|Former Director of National Intelligence
|Once again intercepted at CNN<ref name="twomorebobs">[https://www.fastcompany.com/90257642/arrest-made-after-more-mail-bombs-cory-booker-and-james-clapper-latest-targets Arrest made after more mail bombs: Cory Booker and James Clapper latest targets] Locker, Melissa. 10.26.18</ref> because Clapper was apparently someone else Sayoc saw on TV. 
|-
|{{wpl|Cory Booker}}
|rowspan="2" |U.S. Senator
|Discovered in a [[Florida]] postal facility.<ref name="twomorebobs"></ref>
|-
|{{wpl|Kamala Harris}}
|Intercepted in a Sacramento, [[California]] mail facility.<ref name="yetmorebobs">[https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/california/Suspicious-Package-Sent-to-Kamala-Harris-in-Sacramento-498684491.html 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</ref>
|-
|{{wpl|Tom Steyer}}
|Billionaire investor, like Soros but less famous. He has been leading an [[advertising]] campaign in support of [[impeach]]ing Trump.
|Once again, the package was discovered in a mail facility.<ref name="yetmorebobs"></ref>
|-
!scope="row"|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.<ref>[https://twitter.com/CNNPR/status/1056913518367260674/photo/1 CNN Communications] Twitter post. 10.29.18</ref>
|}

==Trump's reaction==
[[File:Mail Bombing Map BusinessInsider.jpg|right|thumb|Locations of the bombing attempts in the USA that Trump should care about.<ref>https://nordic.businessinsider.com/contentassets/140514866e774e32b0028a929c36dcfa/5bd366a0be664a419e6f0bf2.png?preset=article-image</ref>]]
{{cquote|These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country.|||Trump, in his emotionless ''they're-making-me-say-this'' mode.}}

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:

{{cquote|Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this "Bomb" stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows -news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!|||Trump, fully engaged, trying to make it all about how ''he'' did not get enough press<ref>https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1055826295337172993</ref>}}

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 [[Political spectrum|differing political opinions in the US]] (conservatives and liberals) that had fueled this incident.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45996655</ref>

==Right-wing reactions==
[[File:Suspicious-package-exterior-oct-2018.jpg|thumb|right|250px|One of the packages containing an explosive device. Note clever misdirection on the label.]]
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:
{{cquote|How quickly you all forget the calls for violence against Republicans by Democratic leaders & the 2 2016 GOP Headquarters fire bombings & GOP baseball shooting in 2017. Should we say ALL Democrats are complicit in 550<ref group="note">These "attacks" apparently referenced a [https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2018/07/05/rap-sheet-acts-of-media-approved-violence-and-harassment-against-trump-supporters/ Breitbart article] that included such terrible violence as vandalism saying "Fuck trump", a paraglider with an anti-trump message, and Cher saying that ICE uses "Gespato tactics". Too barbaric for words.</ref> attacks against Republicans? [[Hypocrite]]<ref>[http://archive.ph/Vbfgm How quickly you all forget the calls for violence against Republicans by Democratic leaders & the 2 2016 GOP Headquarters fire bombings & GOP baseball shooting in 2017. Should we say ALL Democrats are complicit in 550 attacks against Republicans? Hypocrite] by The Anti-Liberal‏ @MichelleMcC0323 (October 27, 2018) ''Twitter'' (archived from 31 Oct 2018 03:56:33 UTC).</ref>}} 
The commenter seems to forget, if anything, {{wpl|2017 Congressional baseball shooting#Reactions|that both parties strongly condemned the baseball shooting|,}}, 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 incident<ref>Rosenberg, E. (October 27, 2018). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/27/ann-coulter-didnt-ditch-conspiracy-theories-after-bombers-arrest-most-false-flaggers-didnt/?utm_term=.1e2c08dd9ea5 Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and others stick with conspiracy theories after mail-bomb suspect’s arrest]. ''The Washington Post''. Retrieved November 7, 2018.</ref>). 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 ([[Myths and facts about immigration to the United States#Illegal immigrants cause crime|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.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cesar-sayoc-expected-to-plead-guilty-to-mailing-explosive-devices-to-trump-critics/2019/03/21/93c1b7c6-4b2d-11e9-b79a-961983b7e0cd_story.html 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''.</ref> 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".<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/US/mail-bomber-cesar-sayoc-obsessed-trump-fox-news/story?id=64500598 Mail bomber Cesar Sayoc obsessed with Trump, Fox News, chilling new court filings show]. ''ABC News.''</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2019/08/05/748420957/cesar-sayoc-florida-man-who-mailed-bombs-to-democrats-and-media-gets-20-years Florida Man Who Mailed Bombs To Democrats, Media Gets 20 Years In Prison] by Richard Gonzales (August 5, 20195:59 PM ET) ''NPR.''</ref>

==See also==
*[[Donald Trump]]
*[[Far-right]]
*[[Kookmobile]]
*[[Unabomber]]

==External links==
*{{wpa|October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20181024205814/https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-on-the-fbis-investigation-of-suspicious-packages| The official FBI report]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opM6YIx3gA8 RAW/UNEDITED: "Fahrenheit 11/9" outtake of Cesar Sayoc at 'Trump 2020' Rally in February 2017]
*[https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/24/instant-inevitable-cries-false-flag-after-bomb-threats-targeting-clintons-obamas-cnn/?utm_term=.620aaa7758e1 The instant, inevitable cries of ‘false flag’ after bomb threats targeting the Clintons, Obamas and CNN]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Crime]]
[[Category:Terrorism]]
[[Category:United States politics]]
[[Category:Alt-right]]
[[Category:Fascism]]

Categories: Crime, Terrorism, United States politics, Alt-right, Fascism