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New Year's Day terror attacks highlight America's divisions
Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: A Quick Take for you, a happy New Year, I wish that I could say that 2025 was getting off to a smoother start, clearly not the case, certainly not in my country.
Two terrorist attacks in the early hours of the first day of the year, in New Orleans, back where I went to school, Tulane University. 14 dead, dozens injured in a terrorist attack right on Bourbon Street, as all the revelers were celebrating. And then, hours later, Las Vegas, the Trump International Hotel, a Cybertruck carrying fireworks and gas canisters, essentially a bomb, a driver killed himself before blowing up his truck. Nobody else killed, lots of injuries, could have been a lot worse. Everyone's talking about potential connections, they use the same app to rent the vehicles, they're both US citizens, one's a veteran, one's active, one was active in the US Forces, both served in Afghanistan, were even on the same base.
No evidence at all that they knew each other, and certainly no evidence that the attacks were in any way coordinated. In fact, if you look at some of the posts and other things made by the New Orleans bomber, out of Texas, was thinking about attacking friends and family before he was worried about the media receptivity on that. Far more likely both of these were lone wolf attacks. But there are some important things to point out, like if you're angry and disillusioned with the US, its system, its leaders, its values or lack thereof, and you want to attack the excesses of it, decadence of the United States in your view, and you want to have great symbolism, January 1 gets you there, Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and Las Vegas are pretty much ground zero, so in that regard, not a coincidence at all.
A couple of lone wolves with the same sort of animus, in terms of why they would take their grievances out in the most public way, going after Trump and Elon, ditto, and of course, we've already seen a bunch of this in the most disastrous potential ways with the attempted assassinations against now President-elect Trump, one of which was this close, and almost happened, could easily have happened, and we'd be having very different conversations if that were the case right now. I'm thinking a lot about the symbolism, a lot about the impact, because the coverage in the media and on social media about these terrorist attacks is so overwhelmingly about trying to figure out who's to blame, which team, who's responsible? Is this on the right or on the left? Were these people outraged with Trump or were they Trump supporters? Were they white nationalists? Were they Americans? Were they not Americans? Were they Muslim extremists? All of that.
When, of course, the most important thing to focus on are the victims. The most important thing to focus on is the outrage that these attacks are occurring, and that innocent citizens, civilians are getting killed, are getting injured, that their families are suffering, that the impact on the communities, and that we're not apparently able to prevent them. That is the focus that we should have, and it couldn't be more different in that regard from 911, where the response was to rally around the flag. The response was to rally around the president, who had over 90% approval ratings in the weeks after those attacks, wasn't particularly popular beforehand. And what changed between those days, well, what changed was that the average American felt very patriotic and felt that all Americans were ultimately on the same side, on the same team.
And that is not where we are right now. Right now, the average American feels that the primary enemies are inside the country, supporting their political enemies, whoever they happen to be. And we are seeing this especially on social media, we're seeing this with so much disinformation, we're also seeing it, frankly, with President-elect Trump, who was immediately talking about, well, this was a threat from outside the country, and it's because we're not defending the border, and it's Biden, and he's the biggest disaster, and he's not protecting, as opposed to Biden is the American president, Trump is about to be the American president, they're both the leaders that deserve to be listened to, and need to be rallied behind in a time of crisis. Very far from that, you can't imagine a US really getting over 50% approval right now, with a good percentage of the remaining 50% thinking that that president is a core part of the problem.
And that means, number one, that these attacks are likely to do more to drive Americans apart than to bring them together. Secondly, that there's going to be much more politicization that comes on the back of these attacks, and talking about how certain parts of the US public is not patriotic. So, for example, when the first New Orleans attacks occurred, in New York City, there were some significant demonstrations, obviously completely unrelated, that were pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the US. A lot of response to that was these people need to be surveilled, they're calling for intifada, they are a part of the problem. When, in reality, they're American citizens expressing freedom of speech, just like Trump supporters or American citizens expressing freedom of speech, and they're all the same Americans. But a lot of Americans don't feel that way. And that, I think, is being maximized, it's being, the algorithms are driving more of that hate, more of that anger, more of that anxiety.
And the media coverage, which is so divided, is also driving that, depending on what and who you're watching and focusing on ensuring that the views that you bring into this are only going to be strengthened, and the enemy's views are going to be disparaged. That's where we are, that's how we're responding to tragedies, two tragedies, as we kick off 2025. I'd like to believe that these are solvable, addressable problems, and that we can create more of a community, create more of a civil society in the United States, but in the near term, the trend is not in that direction, the trend is indeed very far in the other direction.
And that's something that I think we're going to be paying attention to and talking about for some time to come. So, I hope that you and your families had a restful and peaceful and Happy New Year, but we've got a lot of work to do, and we'll do our best to honestly and without fear or favor, continue to analyze that for you, and talk about it, and focus over the course of the year. And that's it for me, and I'll talk to you all real soon.
A member of the National Guard Military Police stands in the area where people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year's celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Jan. 2, 2025.
Deadly attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas open new year
The US opened in the New Year with a pair of deadly attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas. Early on Jan. 1, 14 people were killed and more than two dozen were injured after a pickup truck ran down a crowd in Bourbon Street. The FBI is treating the incident as a terror attack and has identified the suspect, who was shot dead by police, as Texas Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar. Before the attack, Jabbar posted on social media saying he had joined Islamic State; investigators found the flag of the terror organization in the truck and now believe that Jabbar acted alone.
Later yesterday morning, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, injuring seven and killing one person inside the vehicle. The Cybertruck was rented in Colorado by Army veteran Matthew Alan Livelsberger, who served on the same base as Jabbar and was the man killed inside the Cybertruck when it exploded. Reports suggest the explosion was deliberate, and while police are investigating whether there was a link between the New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks, the FBI says there is currently “no definitive link.”
A view down Bourbon Street shows a crashed white pickup truck after an apparent attack during New Year's Eve celebrations in New Orleans.
Terrorist targets New Orleans in vehicle attack
New Orleans is in mourning after a man drove a rented pickup truck into a Bourbon Street crowd early Wednesday, killing at least 14 and injuring dozens. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old realtor and Army veteran from Texas, plowed into revelers and fired on police before being killed. Officials are calling the incident a terrorist attack despite an earlier statement to the contrary, provoking criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, who called the attack ”pure evil” and linked it to rising crime and illegal immigration, even though Jabbar was born in the US. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, said there was “no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation's communities.”
Authorities found an Islamic State flag in the attacker’s truck, but it is not clear whether Jabbar was formally connected to an organized terrorist group. FBI Assistant Special Agent Althea Duncan confirmed that Jabbar did not act alone, citing surveillance footage showing other individuals planting explosive devices nearby. A detonator was found in Jabbar’s truck and two pipe bombs were defused. Investigators are piecing together his motives and searching for other suspects.
Security fail? While New Orleans had security barriers in place, they were not functioning because they were being transported to secure the Sugar Bowl, a college football game, which was scheduled for Wednesday. The game between Georgia and Notre Dame was postponed until Thursday.
The incident comes just a week after a similar attack by vehicle at a Christmas market in Germany, raising fears that such attacks could further proliferate – as well as fears over law enforcement’s ability to defend against them.
Will immunity lead to greater inequality?
As discussions turn to "immunity passports" and antibody testing in the COVID-19 pandemic, could an "immunoprivileged" class emerge? Will people who are not immune face greater barriers in the workforce and elsewhere?
On the latest episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, our team talks with Stanford University historian Kathryn Olivarius about lessons learned from the yellow fever outbreak in 19th Century New Orleans, when 150,000 died from the mosquito-borne disease, and "unacclimated" people had difficulty finding a job. She sees striking parallels to pressures from the modern coronavirus, interest in "immunity passports", and government considerations in today's pandemic. There's already a lot of inequality, and Professor Olivarious warns against the formation of an invisible hierarchy, in which the most vulnerable people are punished twice over.