Friday afternoon, internet activist Max Azzarello self-immolated as an act of protest outside former-President Donald Trump’s trial. He remains in critical condition.
Headlines and news stories branded Azzarello, a Florida man who set himself ablaze in front of a New York City court house, a “conspiracy theorist” who suffered from mental health issues. He had been arrested in his home state three times for erratic public behavior such as throwing a wine glass at an autographed photo of Bill Clinton, according to the New York Post.
“This extreme act of protest is to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery: We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup,” he wrote in a Substack published on Friday.
The manifesto-type document titled “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump trial,” accused billionaire Peter Thiel of starting a run on Silicon Valley Bank last year and made a multitude of unverified claims. Among them, Azzarello accused the government of being involved in a “totalitarian con.” He named Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Epstein, Hilary Clinton, George Bush, and many other political figures in the manifesto.
Azzarello also randomly called out writers for The Simpsons, calling out its creators’ Harvard education which he described as “one of the largest organized crime fronts in history.” He said that the show was effectively hiding the American truth in plain site.
“And so, we realize the criminal truth of The Simpsons: Our elites are telling us that our eroding collective circumstances are our own fault, and we can’t do anything about it, while they steal the American Dream from us. It is, for lack of a more elegant word, brainwashing.”
The man also spoke out against cryptocurrency and “Ponzi schemes,” saying they will soon collapse the economy.
Despite the outlandishness of many of his claims, such as that COVID-19 was a pre-planned pandemic, some have taken to social media to rally behind the man and his messages.
Azzarello posted various pamphlets to his Instagram account, which boasts more than 9,000 followers as of Friday night, that espoused his theories and beliefs.
In one titled “The True History of The World,” he branded America’s government “fascist” and called for it to be abolished. The pamphlet was featured on his last post to the website before self-immolating.
“Does anyone else think he kind of has a point or am I stupid?” one user wrote in the comments section.
“For anyone that read this post and all it’s contents, please tell me where he is wrong?” user Zpurpz commented. “No I’m not asking about his mental health, I’m asking for fact checking on his writings.”
“Start a “f****** revolution,” he repeatedly sang on Instagram in January. “You’ve got nothing to lose.” Another Instagram post that read “I want you to tear down a haunted carnival,” showed him posing as an Uncle Sam-inspired character.
Azzarello also used the account to pay tribute to his mother who died in April 2022.
“I am immensely proud to say that she navigated the awful challenges of this disease with strength, dignity and spirit through the very end,” he wrote on Instagram.
A year later, in 2023, he disclosed that he spent 3 days on a psych ward on his Facebook page.
“Three days in the psych ward and all I got were my new favorite socks,” he joked.
In the aftermath of Azzarello’s self-immolation, one argued the man’s entire manifesto points to him having mental health issues.
“This is a mental health crisis…” user @irishrygirl tweeted along with snapshots of the manifesto.
