Donald Trump muddied the waters in New Orleans
Donald Trump wasted little time this week trying to use the deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans as an opportunity to promote his tough border policies — even though the suspect The killer, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was a native of Texas, born in the United States. “When I say that the criminals coming here are much worse than the criminals we encounter in our country, that statement is constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media quit,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday, as details of the incident emerged. truck attack leaving 15 people dead and dozens more injured in the still sparsely populated French Quarter. “But it turned out to be true.”
Trump added: “The crime rate in our country is at a level that no one has ever seen before.”
The implication that the alleged attacker — a 42-year-old Army veteran who appeared to be inspired by ISIS but who authorities said acted alone — was from outside the United States is false, even Fox News is the same. point out. But Trump continued to push this narrative on Thursday: “This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDER, with weak, ineffective and virtually non-existent leadership,” Trump posted. “With Biden’s ‘Open Borders Policy,’ I have said, repeatedly in rallies and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism and other forms of violent crime will become so bad in America that it’s hard to imagine or believe.”
His MAGA allies followed suit, blaming Democrats’ immigration policies for the domestic attack: “Open borders, our last America’s legal immigration system, and the Congressional inaction has created a perfect storm that endangers Americans in many ways,” Arizona Congressman Eli Crane wrote. “With weak policies that put the safety of Americans first, it’s not a matter of if but when.”
Of course, Trump has always been a sucker for lies, distortions, and other bullshit falsehood serves his political agenda. But in just over two weeks, he will once again be speaking from the most powerful office in the country, where his words will have wider reach and carry greater meaning. His misinformation is bad enough on its own — corrosive to our civic life and a danger to our democracy. But Trump’s indifference to reality and evasion are especially dangerous in times of crisis, as we saw when the COVID pandemic began in the final year of his first term.
Trump’s opportunism after the terrorist attack in New Orleans is a reminder of that chaos and confusion — and a preview of what’s to come when he returns to office at the end of the month This.
