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A Bit More on the Cybertruck Story

 Member Newsletter
January 3, 2025 12:34 p.m.
A Tesla Cybertruck is shown after it caught fire and exploded outside the lobby of President-elect Donald Trump's hotel, on January 1, 2025, in Las Vegas. At least one person was killed and seven wounded when a Tesla... A Tesla Cybertruck is shown after it caught fire and exploded outside the lobby of President-elect Donald Trump's hotel, on January 1, 2025, in Las Vegas. At least one person was killed and seven wounded when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside a hotel belonging to US President-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas, police said Wednesday. (Photo by WADE VANDERVORT / AFP) (Photo by WADE VANDERVORT/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS

It’s some testament to our times that there was an immediate and big hunger among many people to find some way that Matthew Livelsberger’s suicide-cum-Cybertruck fireworks incident in Las Vegas was tied in some way to the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New Orleans. The chances of that being the case now seem increasingly remote. I have yet to see any clear theory of what “message” Livelsberger was trying to send by torching his rented Cybertruck in front of a Trump building. But a pretty dark picture is emerging of the man himself, which provides some background for the ideation if not the “message” itself. Livelsberger appears to have been a hardcore Trump supporter and, in the description of at least one person who knew him, a chronic rage case who was abusive to multiple partners.

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