ROD DREHER: What the San Diego Mosque Shooters Believed.
According to the 75-page unfinished manifesto left behind by Caleb Vazquez, 18, and Cain Clark, 17, the pair hated Muslims, Jews, blacks, legal migrants, illegal migrants, Latinos, Asians, industrial society, gays, trans people, Donald Trump, “MAGAtard boomers,” liberals, conservatives, moderates, and women.
Oh boy, did they hate women. “After the Jew the most evil creature in this world is the woman,” wrote Vazquez, in his contribution to the two-part document. He identifies himself as a short man on the autism spectrum. This, he believed, is why women ignored him.
“Being short, especially now more than ever, is nothing short [of] a torturous humiliation ritual. As someone who’s been short my whole life, trust me, I know from experience and they’ve never let me forget it.”
“When a girl is shy or introverted it’s cute, but I, as a guy, for being the exact same, am seen as weird and awkward,” he continued. “When a girl is autistic it is seen as quirky, but I, being an autist as a guy, am treated like a retard.”
The manifesto reads like what you might expect teenagers marinated 24/7 in intersecting currents of internet hate to produce: crude, stupid, self-pitying, and overflowing with rage at all the people these self-described National Socialist Ecofascists identify as the Enemy. Clark calls himself a Christian, but Vazquez, who is Latino, said, “my religion is the white race.” In fact, Vazquez acknowledges that some will consider him a Latino who pretends to be white, “but that’s honestly fine and I could care less.”
The family recognized the attack caused devastating and irreversible pain for the victims, their loved ones and the broader Muslim community, adding that no apology could ever make up for the loss and trauma inflicted by Vazquez.
“We reject hatred, extremism, bigotry, and violence in every form. We stand firmly against the ideology and actions that led to this tragedy. These actions do not reflect the values we raised our family with or the beliefs we hold in our hearts,” Vazquez’s family said.
The Vazquez family added that their son’s beliefs and actions are completely at odds with the values they raised him with, emphasizing their family’s diverse background and longstanding belief in acceptance, compassion and respect for people of all cultures and religions.
“Our son was on the autism spectrum, and it is painfully clear to us now that he struggled not only
with accepting parts of his own identity but also grew to resent them,” they said.Vazquez and Clark released a manifesto, obtained by The California Post, before the shooting in which they shared hateful imagery and messages — campaigning for a race war. The weapons they used in the attack were covered in racist messages, including “Race War Now.”
Exit quote from Dreher:
The Clark-Vazquez manifesto is the logical extension of the antisemitism that has been normalized in these circles of “educated” Zoomers of the left and the right. Last fall, I asked a group of U.S. college students why so many of their generation are antisemitic. One young man told me that it’s not through reading, but through relentless social media exposure to memes.
Clark understood this. In his part of the manifesto, Clark urged would-be imitators to take up memeing and shitposting, which “has done more to radicalize the masses than any book or manifesto ever could. . . . This is how we win.”
This is happening all over with Generation Z, the first generation to grow up fully immersed in digital culture, which simplifies and amplifies the passions as radically as that new technology, radio, once did. And we older people barely notice it.
QED:
“WhAtEvEr ThAt iS” https://t.co/yjw3F6cyJt pic.twitter.com/IrlTrABd9d
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) May 22, 2026