Trump’s reaction to the New Orleans terrorist attack went from bad to worse

As he prepares for his second inauguration, Donald Trump faces many challenges, but responding to the deadly attack in New Orleans should not have been one of them. On the contrary, this could have been, and should have been, incredibly easy.

In the world of presidential politics, there is an obvious script to follow after such a tragedy: Leaders express their condolences, honor the victims and their loved ones, thank first responders, and promise to support the community as it takes action. to recover.

The president-elect apparently prefers a very different script.

When the public began to learn the details of what happened in New Orleans, The first instinct of the republican. was telling Americans how right he was, falsely suggesting that the alleged terrorist (a Texas-born U.S. Army veteran) was an immigrant, followed by some demonstrably false claims about national crime rates. By failing tests of accuracy, decency and credibility, Trump reminded Americans that I just can’t count on him to obtain reliable and trustworthy information after a tragedy.

Some of the Republican’s defenders have suggested that the misinformation he promoted was not entirely his fault: Fox News reported that the suspect had crossed the border from Mexico earlier this week. the network shortly afterward he backtracked on his reportsbut Trump, relying on conservative media rather than intelligence reports, left his original statement intact.

And then he decided to continue with the misinformation, apparently preferring it to reality. NBC News reported:

In the run-up to Election Day 2024, the Republican pushed a final message that was rooted, to a surprising degree, in a fundamentally dystopian vision: United States, Trump insistedwas a “garbage can.” Americans live in a “failed nation” and a “decaying nation,” he declared. When told in October that the United States is a great country, the then-Republican candidate said, out loud and on the record, that he did not agree.

The day after the attack in New Orleans, Trump expressed the same sentiment: telling the public through his social media platform that the United States is “a disaster” and an international “laughing stock.” He added that federal law enforcement agencies, as well as many state and local prosecutors, are “incompetent and corrupt.”

As if this were not enough, in the same letter onlineThe incoming president added that “violent scum” have “infiltrated every aspect of our government” and “only force and powerful leadership will be able to stop them,” the type of rhetoric usually expected from those inherently intent on authoritarian.

Hours later, the president-elect published another messagecondemning “Biden’s ‘open borders’ policy,” even though (a) New Orleans suspect was a U.S. Army veteran from Texas; (b) the border It’s clearly not open.; and (c) there is no apostrophe in the word “borders.”

Trump went on to describe President Joe Biden, who has been nothing but kind to his successor since the election, as “the WORST PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY” and a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER.” The Republican concluded“What he and his group of election-interfering ‘thugs’ have done to our country will not soon be forgotten!”

Something MSNBC’s Chris Hayes told viewers last night continues to resonate: “It gives me chills to imagine what (Trump’s) response will be if we are unfortunate enough to have another major crisis, like another pandemic, financial panic, or massive terrorist attack.”

This should have been a very easy task for the incoming president, but he can’t seem to pass simple tests.