A new court filing has revealed what radicalized the Florida man convicted of using weapons of mass destruction in domestic terrorism during the 2018 midterm elections, beyond just the Trump rallies he infamously attended.
Cesar Sayoc became best known as the #MAGABomber after sending explosives to prominent Democratic donor George Soros and former presidents Clinton and Obama and current presidential hopefuls Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. Sayoc was apprehended in his white van which was plastered with Donald Trump propaganda.
Now, the #MAGABomber’s attorneys have revealed how Sayoc became so deeply radicalized to the point he was willing to commit mass murder. Law and Crime reports that this is what his attorneys wrote to the judge, begging for a lenient sentence for their right-wing terrorist client:
“Sayoc attorneys said it was ‘[i]n this darkness’ that Sayoc ‘found light in Donald J. Trump.’ They said Sayoc watched Fox News ‘religiously,’ watching Fox and Friends in the morning and Hannity at night.”
“’His infatuation with the President began as something personal, not political. When he was most down, Mr. Sayoc relied on self-help books on tape to keep going. Donald Trump’s books on success and business were his favorites,’ the attorneys said.”
“’Mr. Sayoc was an ardent Trump fan and, when Trump announced he was running for President, Mr. Sayoc enthusiastically supported him. He began watching Fox News religiously at the gym, planning his morning workout to coincide with Fox and Friends and his evenings to dovetail with Hannity.”
Four months ago, Cesar Sayoc pled guilty to sending mailbombs. In April, he told a federal judge that Trump rallies were like a new drug to him.
One presumes that a rally alone is not enough to radicalize a red hat-wearing Trump supporter and turn them into a mass murderer. We now know that both Fox News, and Donald Trump’s books can be key ingredients in engendering violent extremism in his followers, creating an ecosystem of political propaganda, life advice, and a news narrative aimed at bamboozling people who aren’t exactly 1%ers into supporting plutocracy.
Yet, Donald Trump has never faced any form of accountability—least of all from the complicit Republican Party—for the savage brutality he advocates, and seem to think the First Amendment somehow protects his right to encourage terrorism.
There is no clearer reason to remove someone from political office than if their primary goal is to push domestic violence, and America will be better off when that day happens to Trump, as soon as possible, whether by impeachment and removal or an election.
Fox News and the Republican party should follow Trump —as they blindly do at all times —off stage, and take their place in the dustbin of history like the Whig Party, which died after transforming itself into the “Know Nothing Party,” a nativist, anti-immigration party.
Follow Grant Stern on Twitter @grantstern and check out his first book, Meet the Candidates 2020: Elizabeth Warren and Meet the Candidates 2020: Kamala Harris are both on sale today as part of his Meet the Candidates 2020 Series of voters guides.
