The truck attack that killed 15 and injured dozens in New Orleans' French Quarter early Wednesday morning has cast a ball over the dawn of the new year — but it hasn't deterred President-elect Donald Trump and his sycophants from pushing misinformation to politicize the tragedy.
Trump responded to the attack on Wednesday by suggesting that Shamsud Din Jabbar, the suspect in the mass murder who was killed by New Orleans law enforcement, was an undocumented migrant. Din Jabbar, 42, was a US-born citizen and Army veteran, according to federal investigators.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”
The post followed an erroneous report from Fox News — the right-wing propaganda network that consistently attempts to blame migrants and immigration for all manner of violence and social ills — that incorrectly asserted that the truck driven by Din Jabbar had crossed the Texas border from Mexico two days before that attack. The network corrected the claim later that day, noting that “the identification of the driver that crossed the border does not appear to be the shooter.”
By the time the correction was issued, the claim had already been picked up by Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R.Ga.). “New Orleans terrorist attacker is said to have come across the border in Eagle Pass TWO DAYS AGO!!! Shut the border down!!! Who did our government bomb lately that is taking it out on innocent Americans?” Greene wrote Wednesday in an X post that remains live despite the addition of a community note correcting the falsehood.
The attacker being identified as an American hasn't stopped Trump and his allies from trying to blame the border, though.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Fox News on Thursday morning that it was “obvious” that the Biden administration's border policies had a role to play in the attack. “The Biden administration has a lot to account for here, and we see now in everybody's glaring view that this dereliction of duty has real consequences,” Johnson said of the attack.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), Trump's pick to be National Security Adviser, demanded Thursday morning on Fox News that Republicans “close the border” during a discussion of the attack. “The entire world knows that we have an open border, they intend to hit us, and they are pushing people into our interior to do just that,” he said.
According to a Wednesday report from The New York Times, the truck used in the attack was a rental acquired by Din Jabbar through the personal car rental app Turo. According to Texas' Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, the suspect rented the truck on Dec. 30. In their desperation to connect the attack to immigration, Fox News claimed to have information from sources indicating that the rental truck had been previously spotted at the border community of Eagle Pass, Texas, in November, and that its presence at border crossings suggested “patterns that may be suspicious from human smuggling.”
The president-elect also continued to lambast law enforcement agencies and migrants on social media, despite authorities confirming that the attacker was American. “Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World! This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership. The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job,” Trump wrote in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself,” he added. “Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it. See you on January 20th. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
“TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!” he wrote minutes later.
Authorities have noted that Din Jabbar flew an ISIS flag from his truck when he carried out the attack. “The FBI is working to determine the subject's potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations, weapons, and potential improvised explosive devices,” FBI New Orleans special agent-in-charge Alethea Duncan said during a Wednesday news conference.
But there is no evidence that the massacre that took place in New Orleans had anything to do with unchecked immigration. It doesn't matter to Trump, though. As the city mourns the attack, the incoming president is more focused on squeezing the victims for his own political gain, even if it means recklessly spreading misinformation.
