# Cybertruck explodes outside Trump hotel in vegas, one dead \[2025-01-01\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** breaking-news, trump\ **Created:** [January 1, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464 "2025-01-01T22:44:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/121 "2025-01-04T19:40:45Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > He should probably be regarded as a hidden casualty of war, even if he never gets counted as one. > > There are probably thousands more like him. Replace (or supplement!) “hidden casualty of war” with “dangerous criminal” and I agree with you. Suicide is one thing. Violent support of fascism is something else. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/122 "2025-01-04T20:23:55Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > But, as I imagine you’re well aware, actual investigation and true “journalism,” in the traditional sense, has largely been pushed out of many news organizations. Indeed. This is just such a trivial thing to get right that either the standards are so low that no one cares, or (I suspect) the more sensational ‘story’ is what gets play even if it is obviously untrue. With the potential of this story to engender fear about terrorism and be used to justify heightened restrictions of civil liberties and more authority for federal law enforcement by the incoming administration, it is important to characterize this even accurately, i.e. as the suicidal action of a single individual with probably mental health issues and neurological impairment, who purchased openly available pyrotechnics that do not require any kind of license or background check, and did not seriously injure anyone else or destroy a building. > [@steronz](#): > > A deflagration is a subset of an explosion, making calling this an explosion perfectly cromulent. > > [Cite](https://www.nfpa.org/news-blogs-and-articles/blogs/2023/03/27/explosions-vs-deflagrations-vs-detonations). From your link: > _ **Explosion** _ > > _An explosion is a sudden, rapid release of energy that produces potentially damaging pressures._ Neither the glass doors almost immediately adjacent to the vehicle, nor the portico directly above it or the entire glass facia of the hotel show signs of blast damage. As the windows of large glass-front buildings will crack or shatter with as little as a 0.25 psi overpressure wave, it is apparent that the acoustic output of this event was not very energetic. None of the seven victims in or around the car park suffered life threatening injuries which would be produced in proximity to an explosive blast: > [_Of the seven people injured, Touchstone said, two were taken to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. But the injuries of all seven people are considered minor, he said._](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tesla-cybertruck-appears-burst-flames-trump-hotel-las-vegas-rcna185932) Describing this event as an “explosion” (much less using the term “detonation”, which authorities did and reporters carelessly repeated) even in colloquial usage of the term is inaccurate and sensationalist. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/123 "2025-01-04T20:25:19Z")
I’ve got all of five minutes to scan the thread before waiting for my flight, but I’ll pipe in. @Loach has the military aspect pretty much covered. > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Some people seem to think the CT allowed less collateral damage than another/any other vehicle would (I’m not sure it did anything any ‘better’ than another open-back pickup would have done, but … Idunno. VBIEDs, normally by amateurs, tend to be stochastic in performance. Too many variables in play, and normally performance comes down to the simple math of “how much high explosive can I pack into this thing?” The vehicle is just that: a delivery platform. I’ll spare further details on a public message board [Fun, true story!] Back in '09 or '10, I was building a shot for a “major laboratory” who wanted to map blast wave propagation, and component distribution after a VBIED detonation. So, there I am with another NCO, stacking 1,100 lbs of C-4 in the back of a small-ish “breadbox” delivery van kind of a small shot, but hey, t’was a paying job. We primed in, ran det cord out, set a timed fuze and rode our ATVs away. I really reckoned the compartment would be vaporized, the cab heavily damaged, but engine & chassis would just sort of shift forward five feet or so. _ **Nope.** _ That shot not only _vaporized_ the storage and personnel compartments, it _shattered_ the engine block, spraying it forward, and flipped what was left of the chassis a couple of times. ~25 lb chunks of the engine block were splayed up to 300’ forward, and the chassis had rolled twice, coming to rest about 40’ away from the detonation site. Talking with the test engineer post-event, I picked up that the recently playa-like mud flats of the range’s site may have reflected the shock up and out radially, which exceeded his expectations too. He was only planning to map out a radius of 100’ with his GPS in about an afternoon, so we stayed with him for another day afterwards scoping out pieces. [/Fun, true story!] Bottom line: “Vics” don’t matter. Charge composition and mass matters. Site environment matters. Tripler I miss those days. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/124 "2025-01-04T20:28:10Z")
What damaged the truck? What caused pieces of the truck to fly apart? Pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/125 "2025-01-04T20:40:00Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > What damaged the truck? What caused pieces of the truck to fly apart? I am not going to get drawn into yet another hijack with you based on your misperceptions. If you want to discuss this further, start a separate thread and I’ll be happy to explain what an “explosion” is and is not. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/126 "2025-01-04T20:42:40Z")
I said my piece and provided a cite from an expert who supports my position. I’m good leaving it at that. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/127 "2025-01-04T21:52:58Z")
It looks more like a suicide than a bombing. The explosion managed to pop the roll top bed cover off but not much else. If he shot himself with a Desert Eagle 50 cal gun that would have made a mess. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/128 "2025-01-04T22:03:42Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Back in '09 or '10, I was building a shot for a “major laboratory” who wanted to map blast wave propagation, and component distribution after a VBIED detonation. So, there I am with another NCO, stacking 1,100 lbs of C-4 in the back of a small-ish “breadbox” delivery van kind of a small shot, but hey, t’was a paying job. I think for most people, half a ton of C-4 would not be classified as “a small shot”, but I have been witness to the “energetic reduction” of a CMDB motors with an NEW of over four thousand pounds detonated with a couple of bricks of C-4. Occasionally we would find an identifiable piece of fiberglass case or a portion of the aft closure but virtually everything else is consumed or reduced to unidentifiable fragments. I am told that there was once a test where one of these motors which was dropped from a C-141 or C-17 to see if it would detonate completely upon impact and…it did. Unfortunately, I have never been able to secure any video of that test. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/129 "2025-01-04T23:41:13Z")
Here is an interview with the owner of the cybertruck that the guy rented. The renter asked specifically about how to turn on the outlet in the back from the screen and from the phone app. > **[EXCLUSIVE: Owner Of Tesla Cybertruck Used In Vegas Bombing Recalls Hour Spent...](https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-owner-of-tesla-cybertruck-used-in-vegas-bombing-recalls-hour-spent-with-suspect)** > > The owner of the Tesla Cybertruck that was blown up in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas says the suspected attacker was “pretty calm and chill” when renting the car days earlier in Colorado, and stayed in contact with questions about the vehicle... ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/130 "2025-01-05T00:25:09Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I think for most people, half a ton of C-4 would not be classified as “a small shot”, but I have been witness to the “energetic reduction” of a CMDB motors with an NEW of over four thousand pounds detonated with a couple of bricks of C-4. Oh, I was being a bit of a wiseguy. I would figure for _most_ people, a 1.25 lb “brick-‘o’-C” would be a fun day. Those of us in that world though–_you included_–would regularly handle hundreds of pounds on a routine basis. My “fun days” were ‘thermal treatment’ of SLBM motors (87,000 lbs TNT Eqv.), initiated with, like you said, just a couple of bricks. Tripler I do have _my_ video–self narrated for authenticity. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/131 "2025-01-05T01:22:44Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I’m reluctant to describe any particular methods about which the suspect could have initiated the pyrotechnics and accelerants remotely (not because that information isn’t freely available on the internet but because of board rules), but I’ll note that a standard 9V battery that you put in your fire alarm is sufficient to ignite any number of commonly available conductive materials. It doesn’t take a Tony Stark to rig up something capable of this kind of event. To be clear, my question wasn’t about what reaction he could initiate that would set off the explosives. It was about what he, personally, did to start it. Did he push a button, flip a switch, light a fuse, etc. > [@hajario](#): > > Here is an interview with the owner of the cybertruck that the guy rented. The renter asked specifically about how to turn on the outlet in the back from the screen and from the phone app. In particular: This certainly sounds like a way that someone could set off the IED. But using a touchscreen menu on a phone or dashboard is not something that you can do after you’ve shot yourself in the head. Does the app include a timer that you could use to turn on the outlet after a one-minute delay, or something of the sort? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/132 "2025-01-05T01:29:10Z")
Or you could flip a switch that turns on a timer to set off the fireworks, then shoot yourself in that short interval. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/133 "2025-01-05T01:45:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Does the app include a timer that you could use to turn on the outlet after a one-minute delay, or something of the sort? No. Good point. But it could turn on a timer. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/134 "2025-01-05T02:39:03Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Or you could flip a switch that turns on a timer to set off the fireworks, then shoot yourself in that short interval. Or just use a few feet of [cannon fuse](https://cannonfuse.com/american-visco-cannon-fuse.html). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/135 "2025-01-05T02:46:00Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Or just use a few feet of [cannon fuse](https://cannonfuse.com/american-visco-cannon-fuse.html). > > Stranger Hey y’all! Watch this! ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/136 "2025-01-06T17:38:22Z")
TPM: [https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-are-publications-sugar-coating-livilsbergers-political-minifestos](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-are-publications-sugar-coating-livilsbergers-political-minifestos) The perp reportedly had a number of violent relationships with women, PTSD, probable traumatic brain injury. He also had a couple of short manifestos on his iPhone. Huh. Josh Marshall: > Those documents denounce Democrats and demand they be “culled” from Washington, by violence if necessary, and express the hope that his own death will serve as a kind of bell clap for a national rebirth of masculinity under the leadership of Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Bobby Kennedy Jr. > Did you miss that stuff? > Yeah, me too! The perp also explains his use of fireworks: > As a final point, let me return to the question we’ve discussed over the last few days: what was the political message of torching a Cybertruck in front of a Trump hotel? He actually answers that more or less clearly in the second minifesto: “This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake up call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives?” So we have a terrorist or maybe an attention seeker or maybe a very frustrated comedian who used fireworks because he didn’t want to kill people. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/137 "2025-01-06T17:56:55Z")
Yeah. Taking his life in a cybertruck would have made the news. Doing it with a big fiery (but relatively safe) boom in front of a Trump property and we’re still talking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/138 "2025-01-06T18:02:49Z")
Letters from a loony loser: [https://www.jezebel.com/cybertruck-bomber-manifesto-masculinity-tk](https://www.jezebel.com/cybertruck-bomber-manifesto-masculinity-tk) ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/139 "2025-01-07T00:45:43Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > …or maybe a very frustrated comedian who used fireworks because he didn’t want to kill people. Credit where credit is due: I have often felt that we’d have fewer murder-suicides in this country if we started calling them suicide-murders. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464/140 "2025-01-07T01:10:39Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > a national rebirth of masculinity under the leadership of Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Bobby Kennedy Jr. I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cybertruck-explodes-outside-trump-hotel-in-vegas-one-dead-2025-01-01/1012464.md?page=6)