Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has become more prevalent in the lives of ordinary Americans through mask mandates and lockdown measures. Thus, many individuals have lashed out at governmental institutions in protest. One such individual was Anthony Warner, the suicide bomber responsible for the Christmas day bombing in Nashville, Tennessee.

Warner drove a bomb-laden RV outside an AT&T transmission building. Although no one was seriously injured, forty-one businesses suffered significant damage. However, unlike most terrorist attacks, the target appeared to be the infrastructure, not the local residents. Warner even broadcasted an ominous message warning people in the buildings to evacuate so that they could survive. While the motivation behind the attack is unclear, investigators believe Warner had a sincere hatred towards government institutions and their role in everyday life. In a briefing, Nashville police chief John Drake told reporters that Warner was “anti-police and anti-government.” 

There have also been reports that Warner believed in conspiracy theories about voter fraud and 5G technology. Conspiracy theorists claimed that the AT&T building at the sight of the explosion tainted the nearby voting machines, causing Joe Biden to win the 2020 election. Federal agents have also investigated the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 spread as a result of the new 5G cellular network, which medical professionals say is completely false. 

According to documents provided by the Nashville Police Department, Pamela Perry, a woman who claimed to be Warner’s girlfriend, told police last year that he was making bombs in his vehicle. Police state that Warner frequently talked about explosive construction, and they suspect he had the ability to make a bomb.

Although we may never know his true intentions, the Christmas day bombing in Nashville Tennessee manifests a troubling ideology that puts the safety of the American people in jeopardy.