2mo ago

Man arrested with Molotov cocktails aimed to kill Treasury secretary at Capitol, police say

www.cnbc.com

"In addition to his initial intention of killing Hegseth and/or Johnson, the affidavit said, English told police he considered burning down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank."

Guy turned himself in, but doesn't really say why.

politics @lemmy.world

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2mo ago

Man arrested with Molotov cocktails aimed to kill Treasury secretary at Capitol, police say

www.cnbc.com /2025/01/28/man-arrested-molotov-cocktail-trump-treasury-scott-bessent.html

News @lemmy.world

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2mo ago

Man arrested with Molotov cocktails aimed to kill Treasury secretary at Capitol, police say

www.cnbc.com /2025/01/28/man-arrested-molotov-cocktail-trump-treasury-scott-bessent.html

41 comments

two devices constructed of 50-milliliter vodka bottles with gray cloth affixed to their tops
What is this? A molotov for ants?!?! That's ~3.5 tablespoons of liquid per bottle.
- You doubt the power of the Smallotov?
  
  Note to self: make smallotov emoji
- The guy had a pair of fucking shooter bottles and was gonna try to do something
- I didn't realize this until after I posted, but those sure are small. People suspect he planned to self-immolate since he was covered in hand sanitizer and mentioned suiciding by cop. But who knows.
- aw hell naw he's trying to commit terrorism with the fun sized molotovs
- They must've looked adorable
- I promise it wasn't me, despite the username.
- It's how you use it. In this case it was a waste of vodka lol

Sounds like the guy was having a crisis and thought he could easily end his life this way. Nobody who seriously desires to and plans to kill someone in politics in this day and age shows up outside the capitol building with a folding pocket knife and two 50 milliliter vodka bottles with sweatshirt bits stuffed into the tops (literally airplane bottles). You bring at least a semiautomatic rifle or a handgun, two very easy things for people is this country to obtain.
- molotov mocktails
  
  That's what the article says!
- The real madmen are building custom 50ml drum-fed molotov-launchers
  
  Doohickey-maxxers

English said he left his phone at home in order to evade surveillance and that he had bought an atlas with cash a month earlier in order to find his way to D.C., the affidavit said. He also said he wore clothes that would conceal his appearance when purchasing the atlas, it said.
This is 100% a "I know what I'm doing, I saw it on TV" guy
- It can't be that hard. He can just get the items in d.c and then chuck it there. As long as he doesn't publish anything saying he's gonna do it then it's pretty straightforward.

Guy turned himself in, but doesn't really say why.
Weird that it's happened twice. IIRC some guy went after Kavanaugh a few years back but bailed and called the cops on himself.

how do you arrive at this point with a plan of 5 year old, christ. Probably feds doing shenanigans

You're gonna need something a lot better than a Molotov for a job like that

Going after the treasury secretary is so silly because it's such a niche job. What did the fucking incumbent treasury guy do to you? It's not even something funny like red day on the stock market -> blame the SEC. I'm sure if Trump likes him he's a ghoul, so his hobby is probably liquidating babies to make Legos, but I'd have to google "what does a treasury secretary do?"
- bessent was the architect of the 97 asian financial crisis acting through soros, many geopolitical analysts in china consider him to be the main 'antagonist' within the trump admin and many believe him to have a bone to pick with china as it was hong kong and the chinese government by proxy that put down his rampage almost 30 years ago
- Looks like he was just after whoever in the Trump admin.
  "initially planning to kill Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and/or House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a police affidavit said.
  But English shifted his target to Bessent after stopping at a library in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and reading that the Senate was voting Monday on Bessent’s nomination as President Donald Trump’s Treasury chief, the document said."
  
  Who stops in the middle of their assassination to go to a public library and read the news? And upon reading said news, changes their plan and target?
  We're really dealing with some Level 1 Adventurers here. Starting zone shit
- There's a whole class of libertarian, monetary policy-obsessed people who hate the Treasury and the Fed something fierce. And when you ask them about it they go on these Marxist-length rants, and there's always something about Bretton-Woods, gold, and crypto for some reason.

It takes 5 seconds to shove a rag into a bottle of popov, why the hell would you assemble it beforehand?
- Firstly we on hexbear do not condone illegal conduct, creation, or use of burn bottles.
  Secondly in ww2 burn bottles that were used in warring nations on the eastern front were assembled with storm matches attached to the exterior of the glass surface.
  Thirdly the etymology section of the Wikipedia page on the topic is for purely educational purposes on what not to do.
- that's a great way to set yourself on fire
  you want the lid on tight, fuse on the outside
  also dissolve polystyrene in gasoline for sticky burny
  
  Remember to replace the cap before throwing too.
- Just as a funny observation, based on an interest in historical warfare, nothing current, so please Mr
  don't kick my door down, a molotov cocktail used to be a closed container, otherwise it would've spilled the contents before hitting the target; and the wick was attached to the outside of the container with tape or string. Lastly, the liquid was never only alcohol or gasoline or something, there were other things to add, hence 'cocktail'.

All these unsuccessful assassinations are starting to reek of "attempted self-coup" energy

Something tell me a little strategy of tension is happening

Betting a hundred that he’s just pissed that his 4/10 experimental short movie got its art endowment suspended

Let him cook.

Article just alks about how he told police that he intended to kill the Treasury secretary, not a word about if he then succeeded. What about the initial targets? Are they dead?

41 comments