President-elect Donald Trump sharply criticized the Biden administration after two major incidents: a deadly terror attack in New Orleans and a Tesla Cybertruck explosion near his Las Vegas hotel. He described the state of national security as a “disaster” and called the U.S. a global “laughing stock.”
The terror attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day involved Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an ISIS flag-carrying U.S. Army veteran, who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers.
The horrifying act claimed at least 14 lives and left dozens injured. The FBI is investigating the incident as a terrorist act, with suspicions that Jabbar may not have acted alone.
In a separate incident outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks mortars and camp fuel canisters exploded, killing the driver and leaving seven others with minor injuries. Authorities have launched a terror-related probe into the explosion.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to express his outrage, slamming the Biden administration and accusing it of prioritizing political vendettas over the safety of American citizens.
“Our country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the world,” Trump wrote, before lambasting the Department of Justice and FBI as “incompetent and corrupt.”
He accused federal agencies of spending their energy targeting him rather than protecting the nation from threats. “They are 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.
While Trump refrained from directly referencing the terror attack and explosion, his remarks were clear in their intent.
He blamed “ineffective and virtually nonexistent leadership” for the current turmoil, declaring, “The USA is breaking down – a violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation.”
Investigations into both incidents are ongoing, focusing on uncovering the details behind these events and their broader implications for national security and leadership.