Trump blamed foreigners for terror attack. The truth may not matter

It may seem crass for Donald Trump to be using the New Orleans terrorist attack to score political points – but he knows, like every successful politician, that you should never let a good crisis go to waste.

No sooner had Fox News claimed that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect, had entered the country through the Texas border two days ago than the president-elect’s son, Donald Trump Jr, posted on X: “Biden’s parting gift to America – migrant terrorists.”

Donald Trump knows he should never let a good crisis go to waste.Credit: AP

Over on Truth Social, the platform favoured by the president-elect, Donald Trump Sr repeated his previous claim that “the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country”, which he said had been denied by “the fake news media” but had “turned out to be true”.

Democrats will, of course, condemn Trump for shameless opportunism, but they will also know that his comments will cut through with the voting public in America.

As it happens, the Fox News claim about crossing the border turned out to be unsubstantiated. According to investigators, Jabbar was a US citizen – but for many Americans that will be an irrelevant detail now.

Once again, Trump has proved a master of controlling the narrative, however distasteful that may be, and support for his pledge to deport all undocumented migrants has just been turned up a notch.

Just as the first unsuccessful assassination attempt on Trump came at the right time to give his presidential campaign momentum, so the terrorist attack has put wind in the sails of his most controversial policy plan.

He will be inaugurated in less than three weeks, and every opponent of his deportation plan will now have to frame their argument more carefully, knowing that the New Orleans attack will be used as a stick with which to beat them.

The aftermath of the terror attack in Bourbon Street, New Orleans.Credit: Getty Images

In the black and white world of US politics, anyone who speaks out against deporting illegal migrants will now risk being characterised as a friend of terrorists.

If, as suspected, the person who used his pick-up truck as a weapon to kill 10 New Year revellers turns out to have been a supporter of Islamic State, the attack will not have been Biden’s departing gift so much as the terrorist’s gift to Trump.

In the black and white world of US politics, anyone who speaks out against deporting illegal migrants will now risk being characterised as a friend of terrorists.

By talking about an “act of pure evil” in New Orleans and telling the American public that “the crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before”, Trump has made himself the hero of his own story, a crime-fighting crusader who will rid the country of bad guys.

It may be simplistic, and it may be as fake as Trump’s skin tone, but it is also a clear, concise message that the American people will be able to instantly understand.

The Democrats – and Kamala Harris in particular – discovered to their cost that wordy, worthy explanations of policies are no substitute for punchy, straight-to-the-point slogans that even a child could understand. Trump told the American people that he would make food cheaper, and they backed him.

When he says he will stop terrorist attacks by deporting illegal migrants, they will doubtless back him again, and potentially J.D. Vance as his successor when the next elections come around.

Whether the perpetrator is an illegal migrant or born in the US hardly matters now. The Trump family has said this is the work of “migrant terrorists” – another phrase that will stick in people’s minds – and what people want in times of crisis is strong leadership.

No matter how questionable Trump’s methods may be, they have got him this far. He is not likely to have a moral crisis now.

The Telegraph, London

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