August 13, 2019

Trump ‘Super Fan’ Cesar Sayoc Sentenced To 20 Years In Domestic Terror Bomb Plot

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cesar-sayoc-sentenced-trump-bomb-plot_n_5d485446e4b0acb57fd092e8?fbclid=IwAR1d9YvUZeOcCcyO_FMkb5Pp3nDja5BXsZkUo3gZjG74DhIbGxNo4n1ktyg
"Cesar Sayoc, the domestic terrorist who mailed poorly made explosive devices to President Donald Trump’s critics last year, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Monday. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York imposed the sentence on the 62-year-old Florida man, who admitted in March to mailing 16 improvised explosive devices to those he perceived as Trump’s enemies. Attorneys for Sayoc had argued that their client was a Trump “super fan,” saw him as a “surrogate father” and came to believe in an “alternative reality” that was fueled by the president’s attacks on Democrats and the media. Sayoc’s van was covered in images of Trump, and his lawyers said Trump’s rhetoric guided Sayoc’s actions. “A rational observer may have brushed off Trump’s tweets as hyperbole, but Mr. Sayoc took them to heart,” they wrote. Sayoc “slowly became deranged” by conspiracy theories, defense attorney Ian Marcus told the court on Monday, according to reporter Adam Klasfeld. “We believe that the President’s rhetoric contributed to Mr. Sayoc’s actions in this offense,” Marcus said, according to the report."