Imagine deciding to blow up buildings in the nation’s capital, setting timers like you’re baking cookies, only to drive home, grab dinner, and hope it makes the news. That’s the story prosecutors are telling about Brian Cole, the man now charged with planting pipe bombs near both the Republican and Democratic national headquarters on January 5, 2021—the night before the Capitol riot.
According to court filings, Cole admitted to planting the bombs but claimed he wasn’t trying to stop the certification of the 2020 election. No, his motive was far more refined: “I really don’t like either party at this point,” he reportedly told investigators. That’s right—the political equivalent of flipping a table because you hate the menu and the waiter.
Cole, who hails from Virginia, says he got the idea from his “interest in history, specifically the Troubles in Ireland.” Ah yes, the Troubles—a bloody, decades-long conflict involving sectarian violence, terrorism, and guerrilla warfare. Great bedtime reading for a guy with a grudge against both political parties and a garage full of bomb-making materials.
But here’s where the story gets even more twisted. Cole didn’t just want to make a statement. He set 60-minute timers on both bombs, left them at the DNC and RNC headquarters, and drove off to grab some food like it was just another Tuesday night. He later told authorities he was “pretty relieved” when the bombs didn’t go off. That’s comforting. Nothing says “not a threat” like setting explosives and hoping they make headlines.
The FBI had been chasing this shadow for years, and now that they’ve got him, prosecutors want to keep him locked up until trial. Cole allegedly told investigators he wiped his phone nearly a thousand times in the last five years. That’s not suspicious at all. Who among us hasn’t erased their entire digital footprint a thousand times just for fun?
He also claims he never told anyone about his actions and got rid of all the bomb-making materials at a dump after seeing himself on TV in an FBI tip video. So he was scared enough to dump the gear, but not scared enough to avoid planting bombs in the first place.
Now here’s the part that should make every American sit up: this guy allegedly tried to blow up both political parties, and the media is treating it like a curiosity, not a crisis. Imagine if he’d worn a MAGA hat. CNN would still be running 24/7 coverage, Rachel Maddow would be drawing Hitler mustaches on his mugshot, and the DOJ would be rolling out new domestic terror task forces by the hour.
But because Cole’s motives don’t fit neatly into the preferred narrative—because he hated both parties and wasn’t marching in a red hat—he’s portrayed as a lone wolf, a troubled history buff. Meanwhile, grandmas who walked through the Capitol on January 6 still have the FBI knocking on their doors.
Let’s be very clear: this wasn’t a prank. This was a coordinated attempt to detonate real bombs in the heart of American democracy. And yet, the system that spent years screaming about “insurrection” seems oddly quiet about this one.
If the pipe bombs had gone off, we’d be having a very different national conversation right now. Instead, the media shrugs, the bureaucrats yawn, and the public forgets.
Which raises a chilling question: what else are they choosing not to tell us?