2025 Opens with Terror in New Orleans & Las Vegas

I began 2025 with a day full of laughter attending the New Year's Day Marx Brothers Movie Marathon at the Brattle Theatre.  

But amid the laughter, 2025 got off to a terrifying start in New Orleans and Las Vegas.

First came the terrorist attack during New Year's celebrations in New Orleans. A man in a vehicle drove onto Bourbon Street ramming down people while shooting others before authorities gunned him down. In all, 15 people were killed and 35 were injured. 

The assailant was identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an American born former U.S. Army specialist who converted to Islam and had recently pledged allegiance to ISIS. While it was initially thought that Jabbar acted in concert with others, the FBI has concluded that he acted alone. It was the deadliest act of Islamic terrorism committed on U.S. soil since the attack at the Orlando nightclub which killed 49 people in June 2016. 

President-elect Trump did not help matters when he claimed the perpetrator had entered the U.S. through the Southern border. This is bound to get worse when returns to the White House in 18 days.

Speaking of Trump, news then came of a truck explosion in front of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. The driver of the truck evidently committed suicide before the explosion. Seven people were wounded in the attack. 

Given the attack occurred only hours after the ISIS inspired attack in New Orleans, it was not unreasonable to consider the possibility of another ISIS inspired attack or at the very least an attack directed (however indirectly) at President-elect Trump. The man responsible for the explosion was an active-duty U.S. soldier named Matthew Livelsberger who was on approved leave from his base in Germany. 

Livelsberger reportedly left his home in Colorado Springs around Christmas time over a domestic dispute. It has also been reported by acquaintances of Livelsberger that he was a Trump supporter. Even if this is the case, the fact that this act took place in front of a Trump property isn't likely to quell speculation. Indeed, there has been speculation about an old photo of Livelsberger wearing a pro-Ukraine t-shirt.

I will say that if Livelsberger's motivations had nothing to do with Trump it is awfully peculiar to commit this kind of act in front of a property bearing Trump's name. Perhaps he thought it would draw more attention to himself. I mean how many people outside of Nashville remember the RV explosion on Christmas Day in 2020? 

Whatever the motivation, the fact this happened only hours after the New Orleans attack will not lend itself to sober second thought. Attempts to link the two attacks are continuing given that both men served at Fort Bragg and in Afghanistan. However, this hardly means these two men knew each other.

This country is not in an age of reason. We proved that by giving a man who tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power access to our nuclear codes once more.

Welcome to 2025. It is going to be a long, long year. Perhaps all we can do is try to stay out of its way.