By Matthew Gault Published January 2, 2025 | Comments (0) | A Tesla Cybertruck is shown after it caught fire and exploded outside the lobby of President-elect Donald Trump's hotel, on January 1, 2025, in Las Vegas. Photo by WADE VANDERVORT / AFP) (Photo by WADE VANDERVORT/AFP via Getty Images On New Years Day, a rented Cybertruck pulled in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas and seemed to explode. The explosion killed the driver of the Cybertruck and injured seven observers. The hotel was unscathed. Active duty U.S. Army Special Forces sergeant Matthew Alan Livelsberger had rented the Cybertruck earlier that day in Colorado before driving it all the way to Vegas. Footage from security cameras and bystanders showed the explosion. According to authorities and witnesses, the Cybertruck parked in front of the entrance of the Trump International Hotel around 8:30 AM. Smoke poured out of the Cybertruck before it caught fire and detonated a mix of explosive material in its truck bed. Videos of the explosion showed fireworks, smoke, and a huge burst of flame shooting through the glass at the top of the Cybertruck. Photos of the truck shown in the aftermath reveal the accelerants and explosive material in the bed. It was a tumbledown mix of mortar-style fireworks and fuel canisters.In a press conference, Las Vegas PD Sheriff Kevin McMahill praised the build of the truck. The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet because it had most of the blast. Up through the truck and out. Youll see that the front glass doors at the Trump hotel were not even broken by that blast which they were parked directly in front of, he said. NEWS: Law enforcement officials said the Cybertruck actually helped contain the explosion. The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred. It had most of the blast go up through the truck and out. The front glass doors at the Trump hotel were not pic.twitter.com/70tZ8jHm4p Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 2, 2025 On X, Musk and his cronies praised the truck and declared that its build had saved lives. They alsochided media outlets for putting Cybertruck in the headline of a story about a cybertruckexploding. The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards, Musk said in a post on X. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken. The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken. https://t.co/9vj1JdcRZV Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2025 This is stupid. We dont yet know the motivation for the explosion or much about who is behind it. The construction of the Cybertruck didnt save lives and the Trump International Hotel, the poor make of the car bomb did. On a scale of damaging car bomb explosions, what happened in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas is small. A mix of consumer fireworks and fuel canisters riding in the back of a glass-topped vehicle is designed to get attention, not cause damage. If what happened outside of the Trump hotel was, in fact, a car bomb its sub-amateur level. In 2010, a car bomb ignited in Times Square but failed to explode. A 1993 Nissan Pathfinder contained a gun locker full of 250 pounds of fertilizer, fireworks in a metal container, gas cans, and propane tanks. The cops called this failed car bomb amateurish. Whatever had been prepared in the bed of the Cybertruck didnt even meet these amateurish standards.The investigation into the event is ongoing. Livelsberger, a Colorado Springs native, rented the truck in Colorado on Wednesday morning. Surveillance from Tesla charging stations showed the trucks journey from Colorado to Las Vegas. It appears that Livelsberger died in the Cybertruck during the fire. The Pentagon confirmed earlier today that Livelsberger is an active-duty member of the Army Special Forces who was on leave from his post in Germany when he rented the Cybertruck. Livelsbergers LinkedIn profile described him as a Green Beret who served as a communications and intelligence specialist with almost two decades of experience.Authorities are looking into a possible connection between Livelsberger, the Cybertruck, and an attack in New Orleans that killed 15 people. Hours before the Cybertruck caught fire, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a Ford F-150 into a crowd of partygoers in New Orleans and killed 15 people. Jabbar and Livelsberger both used an app called Turo to rent their vehicles. Both were U.S. Army Veterans.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Matt Novak Published December 31, 2024 By Todd Feathers Published December 30, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published December 30, 2024 By AJ Dellinger Published December 27, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published December 24, 2024 By Matt Novak Published December 20, 2024