Cyber truck explodes outside Trump Hotel

outside view

https://twitter.com/fullfrankchan/status/1874552583303708756

reports of one dead and numerous casualties

for the non twitter users

https://bsky.app/profile/meidastouch.com/post/3lepckbsans2b

That sure looks like explosives not a battery fire

No doubt we will find out the motive in due course.

That sure looks like explosives not a battery fire

100%

Using one of Musks products is surely sending a message

Kekius Maximus  ?

Oh, it’s going to be like that is it?

yeah thats a powerful battery if that's all it was!

2025 not looking good so far

Only got to watch the video to see the fireworks going off just after the explosion.

Yea, this is an attack.

Sad times (continue).

Looks like using a Cybertruck actually sent the blast upwards. The glass doors on the hotel don't appear to have been damaged.

So there was the New Orleans attack. The Cybertruck. And a mass shooting in NY (connected perhaps??). Cybertruck "driver" was allegedly a 37 year old US army soldier. Pretty amazing ID given he's blown himself up so I'm guessing he was picked up on CCTV?

For some reason Aus has raised our terror level to "Probable". Has UK done the same?

Reuters are saying there's no link between the truck and the New Orleans thing, but I thought I heard the trucks were both hired by the same company name?

I thought I heard the trucks were both hired by the same company name?

No, I think they were hired from the same company so quite likely a coincidence. The New Orleans attack seems to have been carried out by an ex-military supporter of ISIS. This one by a current military supporter of Trump. Don't ask me to explain the logic of either of them, trying to think like crazy people will only make you crazy too.

No, I think they were hired from the same company so quite likely a coincidence

Yup, Turo which is a p2p car hire service (basically airbnb for cars). Think it is not so much coincidence as if you are wanting a nonstandard fleet hire car then its one of the best choices.

So in the last fortnight the US military has supplied two terrorists and accidentally shot down at least one of its own aircraft.

The cyber truck explosion thing doesn’t make any sense on so many levels. The alleged perpetrator is a long serving intel sgt on leave to see his young family. He’s apparently hired a truck, bought some fireworks and fuel and killed himself by gunshot (suggesting he knew it would be a minimal explosion?) outside a hotel, doing so little damage it hasn’t even broken the windows of the hotel? I’m no expert, but I know enough about explosives to know that’s very poor trade craft. He’s an experienced army veteran, in a country where the public can buy Tannerite, and fireworks and petrol are his chosen tools? It smells weird, this.

Or, as you point out, it's what he intended to happen.

Maybe, but what a weird thing to die for. He’s got a young child and a wife at home. It’s just so bizarre.

All the headlines, none of the danger [to anyone else]. If all he wanted to do is both commit suicide and at the same time capture headlines all over the globe...Well, mission accomplished, no?

For what message though? He was apparently an ardent Trumper. Was he hoping to stoke civil unrest? Frame the ‘militant left’? I get that he more than likely wasn’t in his right mind, but you’d think you’d be able to at least see what he was trying to do. For a grand statement, it’s more than a bit incoherent.

attention seeking suicide, his poor family

He was apparently an ardent Trumper.

the problem in courting cult-like support is your supporters are always upping the ante. The only thing worse than being a democrat is not being MAGA enough 

So for fear of being seen to be that ‘not enough’ trumpist you have to go more Trump

Trump has never lead his supporters. ‘There was a parade marching through town, Trump stood at the front so it looked like the parade was for him’

His supporters tell him who he is and he agrees with them - his rallies are basically cold reading, feeling around the crowd for cheers and boos.

the point comes when Trump can’t keep up though

since his election his approval has been plummeting (snd a lot of the people who voted for him didn’t do so because they like him) and his most ardent supporters are starting to feel he’s betraying them simply by not going straight to the extremes they made him promise to

Interesting point of view, thank you. Perhaps that given the extreme politicisation of the EV issue, the severe cognitive dissonance caused by Trump getting into bed with Mr EV himself must have caused significant distress to the macho anti EV brigade? Enough to literally pop?

It smells weird, this.

I was thinking that as well. He's been described as special forces so he would have known how  to cause a big explosion, but instead seemed to put on an impromptu fireworks display.

My suspicion is that it might have been an attempt at a "false flag" incident to stir up trouble.  Did I read the two perpetrators were linked in some way?  Same military unit?

Jeepers the US is a very weird and troubled place

A false flag attempt has crossed my mind, but I can’t get past the fact that it was an extraordinarily poor tradecraft attempt at mischief, considering he was a ‘decorated special forces intelligence sergeant’, and he was found with ID and was known as a vocal republican trump supporter.

Cynic that I am, I’m not often left baffled and intrigued by news events these days. But this one is weird.

Did I read the two perpetrators were linked in some way?  Same military unit?

Sort of, I believe they both served at, or underwent training at Fort Brag, which is a huge place, so entirely possible they never met while they were there.

@V8ninety - the fireworks were large mortar types, along with lots of cans of accelerant, it’s possible he was hoping for a large explosion with a fireball effect, and what he bought was as a way to avoid drawing attention to his intentions - it being New Year, nobody would be surprised by someone buying fireworks.

What I think he underestimated was the strength of the rear cargo bed of the truck and it’s shape confining the explosion and focussing it straight upward; tbh, having seen how fragile the bloody things are in other circumstances, including not being bulletproof despite what Elonia Musk has claimed, I’m surprised it survived as well as it did!

Does "being special forces" automatically mean he was a demolitions expert?

What I think he underestimated was the strength of the rear cargo bed of the truck and it’s shape confining the explosion and focussing it straight upward

None of the stuff he had were high explosives, gunpowder basically just burns quickly unless it's confined by a strong container. A stack of loose fireworks that are set on fire will just make a big fireworks display, not an explosion.

Does “being special forces” automatically mean he was a demolitions expert?

There is that - knowing how to use guns and bombs and knowing what makes them work are two quite different things

None of the stuff he had were high explosives, gunpowder basically just burns quickly unless it’s confined by a strong container. A stack of loose fireworks that are set on fire will just make a big fireworks display, not an explosion.

It reminded me a bit of the MO of glasgow airport attack - a load of stuff you'd think would cause an explosion but actually causes a big fire - with you in the middle of it.

The motives are ultimately going to be difficult to understand as the guys dead - but I'm struck by his decision to shoot himself before everything went off. It makes me think he knew well enough that stuff in the truck wasn't sufficient to kill him, or probably anyone. The firework display was perhaps more of an elaborate suicide note than an attempt to  harm anyone else.

Pure speculation here, but my suspicion is he's an anti-Musk MAGA nut and wanted the Tesla battery to go up in a fireball outside a Trump hotel to discredit Tesla. Teslas and Priuses are the favourite target of climate change deniers.

I guess there's no need for this to be any sort of conspiracy or terror attack. It could just be someone ticking several of the 'merican success boxes, living in a dysfunctional society, perhaps with home/family issues (Christmas is good at bringing these to the fore) with a stressful, dangerous job that drags him away, had a breakdown and committed suicide in the most flamboyant way he could come up with at relatively short notice...

A sad event, but I'm not sure all the breathless speculation about false flags, anti-Musk or MAGA madness are actually very helpful... Or all the wild theories are on the money and we should all worry ?

Does “being special forces” automatically mean he was a demolitions expert?

Yes, kinda. Most likely only in the sense of conventional equipment. He could very easily have attended and explosive entry course or basic demolitions but all using conventional equipment. Training still has parameters.

Improvised explosive devices is a whole different level of knowledge, and one that he most likely didn't posses as there would be no need for it in his role.

Right, thanks. That's why I was asking. Folk are going "he was 'special forces' so would've understood explosives" and I'm wondering whether that's False Authority Syndrome. For all I know he could've been their cook.

For all I know he could’ve been their cook.

You've clearly never seen Under Siege.

That reference was not unintentional. 🙂

There’s a lot more detail here, he left voice messages on his phone. He was suffering a lot of pain from a previous head injury, and this was a wake-up call over issues in society he was concerned about.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/soldier-who-died-in-las-vegas-explosion-left-note-saying-it-was-to-be-a-wakeup-for-country-s-ills-1.7164305?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=CTVNews/magazine/Top+Stories

You’ve clearly never seen Under Siege

I've seen that. There was a girl jumps out a cake, and i forget the rest.

Anyone listen to Shawn Ryan's podcast with the guy who has an email 2 days before the incident from the alleged?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/79leVRG9A6wmBxSMIZGQfN?si=XEaZ-_5dTD-RjpF23yBXtg

I believe they both served at, or underwent training at Fort Brag,

Green Berets out of Fort Brag?

According to Wikipedia, Fort Bragg has an area of 250 square miles and 52,000 military personnel. If you randomly picked two U.S. Army veterans, there would probably be pretty good odds that both had served there at some point in their careers.

My suspicion is that it might have been an attempt at a “false flag” incident to stir up trouble.

Outside of airport pot-boilers and bad podcasts; almost nothing is actually a false-flag conspiracy.

Green Berets out of Fort Brag?

Jim Hopper?

I’m as cynical as the next bloke about conspiracy theories, but to suggest false flag operations don’t exist seems a bit of a stretch. There are several well documented ones in recent history, and by their nature only the unsuccessful ones will be known. This event may well have been a very amateurish attempt at one; although I have no clear understanding about why it was so amateurish, given the background of the alleged perpetrator.

to suggest false flag operations don’t exist seems a bit of a stretch

That's not what he said. He said almost nothing.

There have been plenty of conspiracy theories over the years which have been proven to actually be true, as you say. Though of course, despite the nutters' insistence to the contrary that doesn't lend any credence to the vast majority which aren't.

Jim Hopper?

I knew these men.

Sorry @v8ninety, I probably should've said something like Occam's razor rules out most assumed false flags. In 99.9% of cases, it probably is what it is, in this case a desperate man committing very public suicide.

Don't think it was mentioned before but all that data from Tesla tracking the bomber across the country was handed over without so much as a request never mind a warrant. Now I'm not saying the data shouldn't be made available but there is a legal process and the fact that Elon (allegedly) handed all that over personally should be worrying to anyone.

All claimed by the Las Vegas PD.

Jeepers the US is a very weird and troubled place

Not all of us, mate. Some of us wear lycra for fun.