Dec. 5, 2025
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
If The January 6 Pipe Bomber Thought The 2020 Election Was Stolen, Why’d He Start Building The Bombs In 2019?
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Brian Cole, Jr., the accused January 6 pipe bomber who planted live bombs at the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee the night before January 6 has been arrested by the Justice Department for his crimes after almost five years as the case went cold. Now, Cole has reportedly confessed to authorities and is claiming to the FBI that he was a Trump supporter who thought the 2020 elections were stolen and that’s why he did it. There’s at least one problem with that story. Namely, if he was “challenging” the election’s outcome in 2020, why did Cole start building the bombs in 2019? According to the Justice Department’s documents charging Cole, “Both pipe bombs were manufactured using ‘end caps,’ which were used to close the ends of the eight-inch pipe. The pipe bombs placed outside the RNC and DNC contained a mix of both black and galvanized end caps. The end caps had markings consistent with Pipe Manufacturer’s product labeling. COLE purchased a total of 12 black end caps and 2 galvanized end caps from four different Home Depots in northern Virginia on or about the following dates: October 22, 2019, and March 10, June 20, July 8, and November 16, 2020.” Look at those dates. The only date after the election was the final visit to Home Depot in November 2020. Every other visit to buy the end caps used for the bombs occurred before the election. So, if his “motive” for building bombs was believing the 2020 election was stolen, why was he already building the bombs in late 2019 and early 2020? He was already thinking about it. Did he build a time machine, too?
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Cartoon: Bloody Sedition
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Sen. Mark Kelly urged members of the National Guard to disobey orders to promote the “No Troops in Our Streets Act”.
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Is Border Security Hurting President Trump With Hispanics And Immigrants? The Data Says No.
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A new survey from the New York Times and the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released Nov. 18 finds that a majority of immigrants support President Trump’s border security policies, while the president’s marks on economic issues are less favorable. The survey results, which are derived from a representative sample of 1,805 immigrants from seventeen different regions including Mexico, Cuba, South America and the Caribbean, make the case that President Trump’s approach to securing the border is supported by a majority of immigrant voters. According to the Times/KFF survey, immigrants who are registered to vote approve of President Trump’s border security policy — which has resulted in the lowest number of illegal alien encounters on the southern border in over 50 years — by 25 points, 62 percent to 37 percent. The largest share of immigrant voters — 38 percent — strongly approve of President Trump’s border security policy. Another 24 percent of immigrant voters somewhat approve of Trump’s border security policy. Thirteen percent somewhat disapprove of the president’s border security policy, and 24 percent strongly disapprove. In other words, by fourteen percentage points, immigrant voters strongly approve of Trump’s approach to securing the southern border.
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If The January 6 Pipe Bomber Thought The 2020 Election Was Stolen, Why’d He Start Building The Bombs In 2019?
By Robert Romano
Brian Cole, Jr., the accused January 6 pipe bomber who planted live bombs at the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee the night before January 6 has been arrested by the Justice Department for his crimes after almost five years as the case went cold.
While it is hard to imagine that Cole somehow had foreknowledge that there would be a riot at the U.S. Capitol that day, by that time, he certainly was well aware that President Trump was challenging the 2020 election and would be giving a speech that day protesting the outcome of the 2020 elections.
Now, Cole has reportedly confessed to authorities and is claiming to the FBI that he was a Trump supporter who thought the 2020 elections were stolen and that’s why he did it.
There’s at least one problem with that story. Namely, if he was “challenging” the election’s outcome in 2020, why did Cole start building the bombs in 2019?
According to the Justice Department’s documents charging Cole, “Both pipe bombs were manufactured using ‘end caps,’ which were used to close the ends of the eight-inch pipe. The pipe bombs placed outside the RNC and DNC contained a mix of both black and galvanized end caps. The end caps had markings consistent with Pipe Manufacturer’s product labeling. COLE purchased a total of 12 black end caps and 2 galvanized end caps from four different Home Depots in northern Virginia on or about the following dates: October 22, 2019, and March 10, June 20, July 8, and November 16, 2020.”
Look at those dates. The only date after the election was the final visit to Home Depot in November 2020. Every other visit to buy the end caps used for the bombs occurred before the election.
So, if his “motive” for building bombs was believing the 2020 election was stolen, why was he already building the bombs in late 2019 and early 2020? He was already thinking about it. Did he build a time machine, too?
A more plausible explanation, given the DNC and RNC targets would have been to simply try and start a civil war. This is what an anarchist would do. He certainly took advantage of Trump’s legal challenges to the elections that were taking place at the time in planning the date, but clearly, he was already intent on making bombs even before the election. After the election, the President’s election challenge just happened to be the big controversy at the time — an opportunity for Cole to cause maximum chaos.
No real "supporter" of Trump would blow up the RNC and DNC and then say “Trump made me do it.” That would hurt Trump, not help him. And that’s the point. The election was just an excuse. This was to cause a wider conflict.
Neither the President nor his supporters will ever believe Cole’s story. And neither should you. Sure, plead guilty. Confess. But expect no leniency.
The President argued his case challenging the election in courts and to Congress and then after those arguments failed, power was peacefully transferred on Jan. 20, 2021. At the Jan. 6 rally on the national mall, Trump told his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”. Because if there was violence it would hurt him, them and the country.
It’s a miracle nobody got killed by Cole. As is the case with any radical extremist terrorist, everyone in the civil society should condemn and disavow Cole’s actions. Trump supporter or no, he belongs in jail. The government doesn’t need to prove what he was thinking, or why he did it, just that he did it.
Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/12/if-the-january-6-pipe-bomber-thought-the-2020-election-was-stolen-whyd-he-start-building-the-bombs-in-2019/
Cartoon: Bloody Sedition
By A.F. Branco
Click here for a higher level resolution version.
To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/12/cartoon-bloody-sedition/
Is Border Security Hurting President Trump With Hispanics And Immigrants? The Data Says No.
By Manzanita Miller
The mainstream media has been relentlessly driving home the narrative that the gains President Donald Trump made with Hispanics in the 2024 election have been erased due to his strong border security stance, but is that true? While President Trump’s historic margins with Hispanic voters may be difficult for Republicans to achieve in the midterms in the current economic environment, the GOP’s border security stance is not the problem.
A new survey from the New York Times and the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released Nov. 18 finds that a majority of immigrants support President Trump’s border security policies, while the president’s marks on economic issues are less favorable. The survey results, which are derived from a representative sample of 1,805 immigrants from seventeen different regions including Mexico, Cuba, South America and the Caribbean, make the case that President Trump’s approach to securing the border is supported by a majority of immigrant voters.
According to the Times/KFF survey, immigrants who are registered to vote approve of President Trump’s border security policy — which has resulted in the lowest number of illegal alien encounters on the southern border in over 50 years — by 25 points, 62 percent to 37 percent.
The largest share of immigrant voters — 38 percent — strongly approve of President Trump’s border security policy. Another 24 percent of immigrant voters somewhat approve of Trump’s border security policy. Thirteen percent somewhat disapprove of the president’s border security policy, and 24 percent strongly disapprove. In other words, by fourteen percentage points, immigrant voters strongly approve of Trump’s approach to securing the southern border.
On issues such as the implementation of tariffs and handling of inflation, President Trump’s approval rating has slumped among immigrants and other swing voters. Immigrant voters disapprove of President Trump’s handling of tariffs by 41 points and of his handling of inflation by 44 points. While it is true the president’s approval rating has taken a beating on cost-of-living issues, immigrant voters largely support President Trump’s approach to securing the border.
That said, President Trump’s approval rating among immigrant voters is nearly identical to his approval rating among the population as a whole. The Times/KFF survey shows 40 percent of immigrant voters approve of President Trump while 60 percent disapprove. Trump’s approval rating among immigrants is just a few points below the president’s average approval rating of 42.4 percent from Real Clear Polling.
Deportation of illegal immigrants receives mixed reviews in the survey, but a majority of Republican immigrants (80 percent) and independent immigrants (53 percent) as well as 17 percent of Democrat immigrants support the deportation of illegals.
The survey also shows that while Democrats may be hoping to increase their margins among immigrants by using President Trump’s border security stance to dissuade support for conservatives, far fewer immigrants identify as Democrats than might be expected. Among immigrants as a whole, only 29 percent identify as Democrats, with the vast majority (40 percent) identifying as independent and 20 percent identifying as Republican. Among immigrants who are registered to vote, 36 percent identity as Democrat, 34 percent as independent and 25 percent as Republican.
The latest The Economist/YouGov survey also shows that while President Trump’s approval rating has dipped compared to last year, his approval rating among Hispanics has remained remarkably resilient. 35 percent of Hispanics hold a favorable view of President Trump according to the latest Economist/YouGov survey from Dec. 1, 2025. In an Economist/YouGov survey from last year in October 2024, President Trump’s approval rating was also 35 percent. While President Trump’s approval rating on economic issues is slipping among swing voters including Hispanics, he remains net positive on securing the border. The president’s border security stance and commitment to exposing the impact of illegal immigration is something conservatives should be willing to embrace and speak about in the midterms, even in immigrant-heavy congressional districts.
Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/12/is-border-security-hurting-president-trump-with-hispanics-and-immigrants-the-data-says-no/
