After days of national tumult over a series of apparent attempts at bombs sent to a dozen prominent Democrats across the United States, a suspect was arrested Friday. Authorities took 56 year old Florida man Cesar Sayoc into custody, and new details about his thinking are continuing to emerge.
The details include images of his van, which is covered in bumper stickers making his pro-Trump political affiliations clear. The image first shot across cable news before authorities placed a tarp over the vehicle for transport, but images quickly popped up via social media. After all, this is the age of the internet.
@CBSMiami I have some pictures of this van I saw him at a stoplight one day and thought is was very strange. pic.twitter.com/VWUwznJK8k
— Mahmud mohamed (@thereal_mo01) October 26, 2018
The bumper stickers — coating what looks like all of the windows and none of the actual bumper — include depictions of prominent Democrats in the crosshairs of a gun. Some of those Sayoc allegedly targeted with his mail bombs are included in the depictions, including Hillary Clinton and CNN.
Further making his political affiliations clear, his apparent social media accounts posted little besides pro-Trump rhetoric — including an apparent first person perspective at a Trump rally — and threats aimed at prominent left wingers.
None of Sayoc’s bombs actually exploded, but he targeted a wide array of prominent Democrats anyway, including the Clintons, former President Barack Obama, and former Vice President Joe Biden. He also targeted others, like the aforementioned CNN, the prominently anti-Trump actor Robert De Niro, and California Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
Those targeted came out strongly against what drove Sayoc, insisting that their efforts to mold the United States to better serve its people will continue.
Waters — who President Donald Trump himself has singled out for criticism time and time again — insisted:
‘We have to keep to doing what we’re doing in order to make this country right; that’s what I intend to do, and as the young people say, “I ain’t scared.”‘
De Niro, who Trump has also singled out, invited people to join him in the continued efforts he and the others Sayoc targeted are involved in, asserting:
‘There’s something more powerful than bombs, and that’s your vote. People must vote!’
The midterms are in less than two weeks at this point, with early voting already well underway in plenty of states. Democrats are on track to become the majority party in the U.S. House and have a chance to do the same in the U.S. Senate, although that’s perceived as more of a longshot.
Some Republicans have claimed that the bombs were an inside job meant to steer conversation away from supposed Democratic failings. Prominent Trump allied Fox News host Lou Dobbs questioned who could benefit from the supposed fakery, barely beating around the bush of his implication that members of the media and prominent Democrats had sent bombs to themselves — or something.
In reality, President Trump’s incessant violent rhetoric drove an attacker clearly influenced by him to make and send the bombs.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
