Political Extremism Mixed With Mental Instability = DC Truck Bomb
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Jared and Nick discuss the situation we are in as a toxic brew has led to attempted violence and destruction as police apprehended Ray Roseberry before he could detonate explosives in front of the library of congress. They also explore how the media is dealing with its criticism over Biden's failings with respect to withdrawing our military presence in Afghanistan. They finish by discussing what they're watching - and in a surprise, they're both watching the same show.
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Hey everybody, welcome to the Weekender Edition of the Muppet Podcast.
I'm Jared Yates Sexton.
I'm here with Nick Hauselman.
You know, this is our patron-exclusive episode.
Sometimes we like to, you know, let our hair down, what hair we have left, enjoy ourselves a little bit, be a little bit more casual.
We gotta talk about dumb shit, Nick.
We gotta talk about just a whole slew of dumb shit.
Yes, maybe we'll change the podcast name.
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Nick, a dude named Floyd Roy Roseberry from North Carolina.
We're taping this on Thursday, August 19th.
He drove his big giant truck to Washington, D.C.
He parked it.
In front of the Library of Congress and told people that he had enough explosives in his truck to level two city blocks.
He waited for the police to show up, told them repeatedly that he had set up an explosive dead man switch so that if they did anything to him it would explode and destroy basically not just the Library of Congress but a big chunk of Capitol Hill.
And then he proceeded to live stream During the standoff, saying that he blamed Joe Biden, he was part of a five-man group that had come from the South to take out Biden or to carry out some patriotic maneuver or another, and then he surrendered himself without any further violence.
And Nick, I am so tired, man.
I'm so tired.
Jared, it makes me wonder if he listens to this podcast, because we've talked about this and you've said that this is the result of what Trump would do.
This is what people are going to do.
And he does it.
And now the real question is, are there five other people?
Do you believe that?
I have no idea.
He was so unwell.
And, you know, there's so many threads on this that we have to pull on, unfortunately.
And one of them is the fact that this is a person who's obviously unwell.
They went through his truck.
They found that he had components of explosive making materials, including tannerite.
Which, man, I'll tell you what.
People down in the South with guns love setting them off some fucking Tannerite.
And it makes a big boom.
We have them around here.
Some people have probably heard of my bourbon talks before.
We've been hanging out, drinking a little something.
Next thing you know, an explosive goes off that sounds like a good level of building.
And it's been said that this guy has a wife who has cancer.
He was obviously unwell in the videos.
He was obviously very, very disturbed.
And this is what happens.
When you fearmonger, when you spread conspiracy theories and big, giant, dangerous lies, it affects people like this.
They go and they grab explosive components, they think that they're going to be a hero in some sort of a larger play.
I mean, listen, we know that QAnon will show up in this at some point, undoubtedly.
And, you know, they do stuff like this, or they mail bombs to Democratic leadership and journalists.
I mean, this is the side result of all of this right-wing bullshit.
Well, we already saw this.
A guy did blow up his camper and it was in the similar dire straits.
He blew up in downtown Nashville.
So we have to kind of figure out, you know, just the unwell part of this as well because obviously if you already are sort of predisposed, you know, without the ability to, you know, distinguish lies and truth and what reality really is, this could set you off easily.
There are probably, you know, millions of people like that in America who are, who could go that route.
Or, are they, because I think the guy that blew up the truck, now I'm forgetting where, downtown in front of the AT&T.
Nashville.
Nashville.
You know, I don't, I mean he sounded crazy, but like not completely crazy, you know, and it was just sort of so taken over by the conspiracy theory.
So that's a real issue there, but I don't know if it matters.
Because touching off people who are already predisposed to believe this stuff and then act is why we had Trumpism in the first place.
So it doesn't necessarily even have to get to the level of, you know, filling up your truck with explosives and wanting to blow things up.
It's just the fact that, like, they're going to, you know, school board meetings.
And, I mean, did you, I don't know about you, did you see the Dreadlock guy who was screaming?
Like, normally, I don't know what it's like in Georgia, but, like, from my background and my experience, the guys would, Dreadlocks are usually the guys who are not going to be screaming and yelling about wearing masks in schools.
They're usually the guys who are much more, you know, on the other end of the spectrum politically.
They're hanging out listening to Phish, absolutely.
Yeah, so it's all very confusing, but certainly This is growing.
This is the metastasization of Trump over those four years.
And the worry is that, the hope was they were gonna go back in their holes and they're gonna get disinterested in politics and disaffected by any possibility they have to affect change.
And instead it's the opposite, right?
They've been emboldened now and they're not going anywhere.
Yeah, there's so much, and there's so much to go over in this, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to go ahead and, you know, sometimes I really like using the weekend or episode to really set up some foundational information, right?
Some background of this stuff.
And, you know, you're exactly right that Trumpism is a result of people like this.
It's a result of a country that doesn't make sense anymore.
And America doesn't.
America is a very irrational, strange, confusing country.
And a large part of that is because we have such a difference between the reality of why things happen.
Right?
And what the story is that we get told that explains why things happen.
And this goes back to a lot of what I've talked about in terms of like the New World Order, right?
Or the Deep State or QAnon.
These are stories that are simplifications of larger, more complicated phenomenon.
So like the New World Order starts in the late 80s, early 1990s.
And it's when free trade allows corporations to go everywhere, right?
So that way they can avoid paying minimum wage.
That way they don't have to pay for retirements and pensions.
That way they can get away from any of the remaining unions or any of the environmental restrictions.
They can go to Mexico, pay people pennies on the dollar, and then go ahead and bring the products back here, that way they can make more money.
It was a gift to corporations.
It made them international, it made them grow, and basically take over politics.
That's complicated.
That's really hard to talk about.
It's a lot easier to say, oh, Satan and traitors are working together, right?
Because why else would all those jobs go away and factories go away?
Well, we live in a pressurized environment where inequality has gotten worse every single year.
It gets worse and worse and worse.
And you have to put your mind in some sort of a framework to understand why that would happen.
Why are the people who are your leaders, why would they possibly do this?
And instead of realizing that politics has been co-opted by international corporations and the wealthy, it's a lot easier to think that evil malevolent forces are making these things happen, right?
Supernatural sort of things.
And so these conspiracy theories become more and more palatable.
And I have to tell you, even people who aren't like deeply, deeply susceptible to this stuff, I'm talking about people who are unwell, people who are disturbed.
It works on people who just don't understand what's going on, right?
And they're just looking for patterns and things.
And this is, unfortunately, a vanguard of what we're looking at, right?
Like, we start seeing people going out and bombing places.
We start seeing people go out and trying to assassinate officials.
Those are the people who are the most susceptible.
They're the ones who have been brewing and stewing in this stuff for years.
Well, there's the next group.
I don't know a group that on a day like January 6th would have tried to overthrow the government and would have been a part of all of those people.
This is a canary in the coal mine type situation and it is the inevitable effect of political alienation, impotence in politics, and all of these conspiracy theories.
Like there is no doubt that there is a direct line through all of it. - Well, let's talk about religion for a second because it also features prominently in this discussion because clearly, you know, Christianity, Catholicism and in general in America is condoned and encouraged and sort of respected and people are brought up this way.
And I have, you know, you have to imagine in the very beginning of, you know, when humans began speaking and communicating, they developed religion to help them deal with the awful things that are happening in their lives right like that seems to be the comfort you can get when terrible tragedies happen to you specifically and this is how we can build an ideology to help you just get through those things but if you think about it like a lot of these people probably really literally believe what it says in the bible the
All the fantastical things and all the things that, you know, probably aren't really true because it's been written over a lot of time and people are adding things to it.
And so as a result, like that is what has primed them to believe these things as well, right?
We've talked about this a lot where the evangelicals who are, and correct me if I'm wrong because this is more of your area of expertise, but they literally believe in the resurrection, right?
They literally believe a lot of these things that they're reading, right?
And then as a result, they want to take over the government and they want to use the religion part of it as their, you know, to explain and give them the reason to do this.
Does that sound any different than what the Taliban are?
No, it's a different side of the same coin.
I mean, that is the honest to God truth.
And to be frank, this has been a fundamental battle that has been raging for a very long time.
I mean, the guy, as he was streaming, There was something happening in what he was doing.
And this is a person who, you know, again, like it, we're going to find out that this guy was struggling.
We're going to find out, you know, not only mentally health, but financially, I mean, his wife had cancer.
We're going to find out that undoubtedly he was in debt.
Undoubtedly, you know, we'll probably find out like, like with a lot of these things, I would, I would, you know, almost guarantee you will find out that there was something else that was putting pressure on him materially.
Right.
But while he's streaming, he's talking about, I'm not afraid to die for the cause.
I'm not afraid to die for this.
He wants to be a martyr because religion, particularly Christianity and even the Muslim religion, they sort of revere martyrdom, right?
Which is one of the amazing weapons of Christianity specifically, which is That has two types of power.
One is when you have power.
And then you're on the crusade.
You know what I mean?
Like you have the power of the government on your side.
It's time to go over there and conquer land.
And the infidels are there.
And you are going to destroy the infidels in holy war.
The second type of system of power is on the other side of power.
When the government is against you and the world is against you, you have power by martyrdom, right?
By, by, this is unfair.
It's cruel.
Something will happen to me, but I will inspire the future.
Well, when you start looking at the establishment of religion, which one of the reasons we're in this situation we're in now, Religion is mankind trying to figure itself out.
You know what I mean?
Like the mythologies are like, I'm sorry, but they didn't understand mental illness.
They didn't understand their thoughts.
They thought that they were handed down or something was speaking to them.
And you actually look throughout history and like the dance between individuals and religion is realizing, no, the human has stuff going on.
You know what I mean?
Like I as a person have a life and an interiority and I can deal with this stuff.
But it's a lot easier to say, no, I believe in this higher calling.
And that's where I'll find meaning, right?
And so when the individual starts to fail and you start ending up on the other side of that table, and we're all on that side of the table, like you and I, like we have a successful podcast and like a really cool group of people listening to us.
We can influence people and we can, you know, inform people, but you and I, we're not going to go fix the Supreme Court, you know?
We're not going to end American empire.
We can play a role in that, but When you're faced with all that and the own individual part of it starts to fall apart, it's so much easier to start slotting yourself into that larger crusade or martyrdom, which is what Trump plays on, the Republican Party plays on, Fox News plays on, the churches play on, and what you end up finding is a person who believes
Strapping bombs to himself and maybe killing people and destroying the capital of a country that all of a sudden that's not terrorism.
That's not violence.
That's redemption.
Right?
You're God's will.
You're God's instrument.
And so, all of these things start coming together when people lose track of meaning, which is a moment that we're in right now, and all of a sudden it legitimizes all this violence and possible terrorism and assassinations.
Well, also, if you watch some of the videos, he's talking to Biden directly, which I thought was kind of interesting, an interesting idea there.
Um, um, and so I thought that that was interesting as far as like, you know, uh, maybe he really thinks he is gonna either channeling Biden that he's gonna hear him or he's simply by doing this, you know, ridiculous thing.
He thinks Joe Biden's listening to him.
He thought, and I don't know if you remember this.
Do you remember the QAnon dad who was running from the police with his kids in the minivan?
Did you ever see that guy?
Uh, it sounds familiar.
How long ago was that?
Uh, I want to say that was a year and a half ago.
Okay.
And so, and by the way, like, I want to point out something that's really important that connects both of these besides obviously unwell people, like, believing that major figures are talking to them.
He was streaming too.
Okay.
This guy was streaming.
And he kept saying, Donald Trump, I need you to help me.
Save me, Donald Trump.
I know that you will.
And all of a sudden, like, and, and the, the ingrown viewerdom of the internet.
Right?
Streaming, putting your actions out there.
We are taught and basically made to feel like the world is watching what we're doing and that our actions are massively important and who knows who's watching and that feeds into this larger bizarre religious conspiracy theory fueled alternate reality they live in.
Absolutely and so it was just sort of very taking it back like to hear that and another reason why you would say he's not well is that because he's like yeah you really think that they're either listening or you could just talk to him like that he's going to hear you you know and just the fact that it's clearly laid out exactly why you He's doing this, right?
We understand.
The grievances, he already laid them out.
You know, mask wearing was definitely one of them.
Biden's illegitimate, and that he's convinced that, you know, Trump will reclaim the throne.
And Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is probably what put this over the edge.
Ah, okay.
Well, we want to talk about that too, but I think we kind of need to talk about the reaction, the instant reaction to this as well.
Well, and I want to say real fast, We're talking about an unwell person who picked up on all these vibes and got ratcheted up.
What Nick is getting ready to read for us is the response from the Alabama representative, Mo Brooks.
And I want to remind everyone of one thing, which is Mo Brooks spoke at Donald Trump's January 6th rally right before they went to the Capitol.
And it has since come out that Mo Brooks wore a bulletproof jacket underneath his clothes.
Because he expected it to possibly be violent.
So this reaction... Oh, come on.
It was cold in January.
Oh yeah, it must have been so cold.
That's what I do when I'm cold.
I put on my bulletproof vest.
But before Nick reads this, I want to point something out that's getting ready to happen in this statement.
An unwell person went onto Capitol Hill, threatened to blow up a couple of city blocks, and when Mo Brooks decides to respond to it, He has to do a really, really careful arithmetic here, right?
Because he has to say this shouldn't happen because they don't want people driving there and, you know, getting ready to set off bombs in Washington, D.C.
But listen to how he says this.
It is obvious that he understands that he still has to support the idea.
That this guy was a spouse.
Right.
And we have to kind of figure out how much of a benefit of the doubt we want to give him because this was released at, let's see, 11.22 my time, 2.22 in the afternoon.
We had had a pretty good idea pretty quickly why this guy was doing it, but if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, he might not have heard that or seen it yet.
Oh, he knew!
I mean, Let's not forget he's also the target of a lawsuit from Eric Swalwell inciting the resurrection, which is going to go through, it sounds like, and they're going to have some version of a trial, so that'll be interesting.
Here's what his statement is on the Capitol bomb threat, and I quote, I'm aware of the capital bomb threat.
I'm monitoring the situation.
I am in Alabama.
My Washington staff is accounted for and safe.
I pray for the safety of Capitol Police and first responders in the scene in Washington.
Sadly, violence and threats of violence targeting America's political institutions are far too common.
Okay, we're okay so far, right?
We're sprinkling a little religion in there.
Everything he has said right now, a totally expected statement from a member of the political class.
Absolutely.
Yeah, and this is the typical prayers and thoughts and prayers, you know, whatever.
Okay.
Okay, but it keeps going.
And this is, he had to type it out and then added a screenshot.
It must have been more than the characters allowed.
Okay.
Although this terrorist's motivation is not yet publicly known, Okay, this is the sirens and the flashing lights here.
And generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom, and the very fabric of I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial socialism and its threat to Let's run that back.
Yes.
One more time.
Although, okay, let me just, you know, because it's actually not a really great... No, it's terrible.
...constructed sentence.
Terrible writing.
Because he's gonna bring up an idea but then ends the sentence before he actually says what the idea is.
Terrible.
But here, let me say it one more time.
I'll get to the meat.
I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom, and the very fabric of American society.
Okay?
He literally is saying, he is literally saying, I understand why this person felt like they needed to do this.
That's what he said.
Yeah.
That's what a sitting representative said.
Yeah, it's without question sympathetic, right?
Okay.
There's more.
The way to stop socialism's march is for patriotic Americans to fight back in the 2022 and 2024 elections.
I strongly encourage patriotic Americans to do exactly that, more so than ever before.
Bluntly stated, America's future is at risk.
Can I just jump in here before you jump in here?
Because what I get really, really upset with is how they use this bombastic language to indicate that anything the left might do will destroy America in biblical proportions.
It's what they do all the time, and it's exactly why these people are so motivated to do violence.
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