Azzarello set himself on fire outside the Trump hush money trial in New York City on Friday.
There has been speculation over whether or not the man who set himself on fire outside Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial on Friday in New York City is a supporter of the former president.
According to a manifesto posted online and other apparent writings from the man, identified by police as Max Azzarello of St. Augustine, Florida, it seems that he neither backs Trump or President Joe Biden.
He also does not seem to be identified with any major U.S. political party. Instead, Azzarello claims that the U.S. is a « secret kleptocracy » made up of Republicans and Democrats who are pretending to be rivals.
Multiple witnesses and television news cameras saw Azzarello go up in flames after dousing himself with a flammable liquid in a protest area that had been reserved for Trump supporters near the courthouse on Friday afternoon.
According to Newsweek reporter Katherine Fung—who was at the courthouse—a sign that Azzarello was carrying before self-immolation included a link to a Substack post with the title, « I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial. »
Azzarello, who described himself as an investigative researcher on the post, wrote in the manifesto that his « extreme act of protest » was meant « to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery » that involves Trump only tangentially, claiming that cryptocurrency is a « Ponzi scheme » run by the world’s wealthiest people and powerful figures in the government.
