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  • 2018-10-31 (xsd:date)
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  • Was Cesar Sayoc's Van 'Staged' as Part of a 'False Flag' Operation? (en)
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  • On 26 October 2018, a 56-year-old Florida resident named Cesar Sayoc was arrested on suspicion of having mailed a series of explosive devices to Democratic officials and other critics of President Trump over the previous several days. A post-arrest look into Sayoc's background quickly revealed that he appeared to be an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, having attended at least two Trump rallies in Florida and driving a van whose windows were festooned with pro-Trump stickers: Even before Sayoc's arrest, Trump supporters and assorted conspiracy buffs had already been pushing a theory that the mail bombs were not actually part of a plot to harm Democrats, but were a 'false flag' operation concocted by leftists in order to paint conservatives as violent radicals ahead of the [midterm] elections: Not dissuaded by the evidence when a suspect was finally taken into custody, the conspiracy theorists quickly disclaimed evidence such as Sayoc's van, maintaining that it was too obviously staged: The staged van claim had a fatal flaw to it, though: south Florida residents had been spotting and photographing Sayoc's unusual van with its collection of pro-Trump stickers for up to a year before his arrest. The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, for example, reported on the many locals who had observed Sayoc and his prominent vehicle around town long before the wave of mail bombings and his subsequent arrest: In fact, as exemplified by the following Vice article excerpt, some commenters began debating after Sayoc's arrest whether his van shouldn't have been called to the attention of law enforcement authorities well before he allegedly began sending explosive devices through the mail: None of this is likely to dissuade the faithful, however, as conspiracy theorists tend to pick and choose their evidence while ignoring substantive proof that contradicts their claims. In this case, any conspiracy adherent would have to believe the far-fetched notion that Sayoc was engaged to attend Republican political rallies and drive (and possibly live in) in a van prominently marked with political stickers for a year or more in order to set up a false flag plot that wouldn't play out until long afterwards. (en)
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