In the wake of the deadly truck attack on New Year’s Day in New Orleans, Donald Trump seized the tragedy to fuel his narrative about “criminals” crossing the U.S. border. Despite early reports suggesting the truck involved came from Mexico, it was later revealed the suspect was a U.S. citizen from Texas. Trump, undeterred by this revelation, doubled down on his claims, stating that his previous warnings about criminal threats from abroad were true.
In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect reiterated that the crime rate in the U.S. had reached unprecedented levels, offering his condolences to the victims and expressing full support for the ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, Fox News initially reported that the truck had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, only to retract the story after further investigation revealed the truck had been driven into the country earlier by someone else.
The suspect, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Texas, drove the vehicle into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 15 people and injuring many others. While Jabbar’s identity as an American citizen was confirmed, Trump and other Republicans, including Senator Josh Hawley and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, continued to push their anti-immigration rhetoric, using the attack as a political tool.
Despite the facts, Trump continued to attack U.S. law enforcement and the Biden administration, pointing to the tragedy as evidence for his claims about the dangers posed by open borders.
