MAGAs Exploit Atrocity to Incite Hatred

The backlash to the horrific New Orleans massacre is already demonizing immigrants, American Muslims, and all Muslims globally — and corporate media remains complicit

The New Year began with tragic news out of New Orleans, where a U.S. Army veteran drove his truck into a crowd of celebrants, killing at least 14 people. It is a horrific act of violence, one that should unite us in grief and a search for justice. Instead, it has become yet another opportunity for right-wing media and politicians to fan the flames of division with misinformation and bigotry. Sadly, corporate media is piling on, adding to the uncertainty and disinformation. It is imperative we clarify the facts at hand, and move forward united against injustice. Let’s Address This.

The False Narrative Is Born

Before any facts were confirmed, Fox News and other right-wing outlets immediately blamed immigrants, pushing a false narrative to stoke outrage. For example, this statement, “The truck used in the New Orleans terrorist attack entered the U.S. through the southern border in November, 2024” is complete propaganda. Not one word of it is true. Yet, Fox News ran with it anyway.

And while Fox finally retracted their false statement several hours later, the damage was done. Donald Trump had latched on to the lie, claiming it vindicated his claims about immigrants over the past several years. He amplified the disinformation to his massive platform.

The facts didn’t matter to Trump, and still do not matter as he has refused to retract his statement. What mattered was weaponizing the tragedy to fuel anti-immigrant hysteria. As a result, Trump sycophants with millions of followers piled on, claiming the attack was due to our “open border.” Never mind that undocumented crossings are at 4-year-lows, and are lower now than at the end of Trump’s term. The below tweet was deleted with no retraction, apology, or acknowledgment that he flat out lied.

As an aside, this is also why I detest when Democrats try to ‘out-Republican’ Republicans. Despite the Biden administration restricting immigration and preventing undocumented immigration more effectively than did Trump, the narrative from the right is still “Democrats have open borders.” Instead, Democrats should lead from the front with a productive immigration policy that makes immigration easier, more streamlined, and more economically beneficial to everyone. But I digress. Soon, propaganda notwithstanding, the facts did eventually come to light, and the right wing narrative had to find a new target.

The False Narrative Finds A New Target

We soon learned that the attacker was not an immigrant. He did not enter from the southern border. He was not foreign to the United States. He was a U.S. citizen born and raised in Texas. What’s more, he was an Army veteran, having served 10 years.

Thus, when the anti-immigrant narrative fell apart, the right’s narrative shifted seamlessly to blaming Muslims, deploying Islamophobic tropes to maintain their manufactured outrage. Trump, who falsely blamed immigrants at on January 1, now less than 24 hours later suddenly falsely blamed Muslims and Islam on January 2.

And Trump’s lackeys, likely knowing Trump would shift with the wind, had already followed suit. Known racist, Trump ally, and MAGA politician Randy Fine described it as a “worldwide Muslim problem.” Suddenly, one person’s violent acts represent 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide. Imagine the rightful outrage of someone described it as “the worldwide Jewish problem?” We would rightly condemn such grotesque antisemitism. But when it comes to similar anti-Muslim bigotry, it is celebrated.

Joining Fine was Trump policy crony Stephen Miller, whose own uncle has well described his extremism:

These are the people writing America’s domestic and foreign policy over the next for years, with an impact that will no doubt last for decades. Fortunately, we have a free press, with the Constitutionally protected right to hold those in power accountable. Indeed, we would hope that legacy media would stand as the fourth estate against this misinformation, disinformation, and outright bigotry. Unfortunately, the harsh reality demonstrates to the contrary, as legacy media piled on to the disinformation.

Corporate Media Remains Complicit

Legacy media, including outlets like The New York Times, joined the fray, amplifying the right-wing pivot instead of holding Trump and his allies accountable for their lies. For example, rather than having the courage to call out Trump’s lie as a flat out lie, the New York Times uses the sanitized “falsely suggested” phrase. Apparently, New York Times editors don’t know the word “lie” exists.

Not content with refusing to hold Trump accountable for dangerous lies, the New York Times piled on with actual disinformation. For example, they added that officials are trying to determine if the New Orleans suspect had ties to terrorist groups. To be sure, investigating potential motivations is important. However, the sub headline highlighted below then alleges this attack is connected to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Lebanon—a completely unsubstantiated claim.

The entire article discusses Russia, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan — but provides zero evidence of anything to do with Gaza or Lebanon. Yet, if one were to only read the headline, they would walk away with the assumption that somehow Palestinians and Lebanese are responsible for this attack. This dehumanization is devastating, especially from an outlet as massive as the New York Times. Unsurprisingly, right wing propagandists quickly latched on to this unverified conclusion and openly aligned Palestinians with ISIS—again, without any evidence. This will only result in more disinformation and hate against American Muslims.

The deliberate move by western media to lump all Muslims together as one big group—despite vast differences in nationality, ethnicity, politics, and geography—is another form of accepted casual racism that leads to ignorance, disinformation, and bigotry.

Sadly, this cycle of propaganda is depressingly familiar. A tragedy occurs, facts are ignored, and the right-wing outrage machine kicks into high gear, targeting marginalized groups for political gain. When the truth emerges, the goalposts shift, and the blame is redirected to a different marginalized—but never toward their own narrative of division, and never towards finding actual solutions to the problems we face.

We Can Counter This Disinformation

It is important to understand two things.

One, we are witnessing a snapshot of what we will see with increasing regularity over the next four years at least. This disinformation makes us less safe, less secure, and less united. And the capitulation of corporate media further undermines our democracy and national security.

And two, we are not helpless to stop this disinformation. A counter narrative based on facts and truth exists—if we invest in it. This is why independent voices are critical. In the face of propaganda and misinformation, we need voices that prioritize facts, accountability, and justice over sensationalism and fear-mongering. The right-wing media complex thrives on manipulating tragedies for its agenda, but we must refuse to let lies and bigotry overshadow the truth. This is why I launched Let’s Address This, and why I hope to continue to earn your trust and support.

Conclusion

This horrific attack in New Orleans is a tragedy. My deepest prayers for the families of the victims, and my sorrow for the harm caused to our country. I am hopeful the authorities are able to thoroughly investigate the circumstances leading up to this atrocity, and work to prevent future such attacks by holding all those potentially responsible accountable.

But just as no honest person would blame all Christians for Timothy McVeigh’s horrific Oklahoma City bombing that killed 169 innocent people, no honest person can blame all Muslims for the New Orleans attack that killed 14 innocent people. Indeed, using this tragedy to spread hate against immigrants and Muslims dishonors the victims and perpetuates the cycles of division and misinformation that tear our communities apart. Let us demand better—from our elected officials, our media, and ourselves. Truth matters, and we cannot let it drown under the noise of hate and propaganda.

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