Two events unfolded in stunning succession tonight: First, an explosion in a dumpster in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City caused around two dozen people to suffer minor injuries. Second, Donald Trump decided to exploit that explosion to incite fear in people. Enough fear, he hoped, to get voters to mute their misgivings and vote for him under the premise that he would go after Muslims.
Needless to say, nobody is happy with the irresponsible way Trump handled things.
At a rally in Colorado, Trump told the crowd that a “bomb” had exploded in New York City and remarked that “we’ve got to get tough” - alluding to his plans to ban Muslims from the United States and beat ISIS (by way of a secret strategy that he won’t tell us about until he’s elected). The problem for anyone with even a speck of decency was that Trump was irresponsibly speculating about a serious situation that he knew nothing about. The New York Police Department had yet to release any information about a bomb. Nor was any motive apparent. Trump was stoking fears for its own sake.
Trump just called early reports of an explosion in New York a "bomb." No confirmation of that yet. "We've got to get very tough," he says
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) September 18, 2016
Amid reports of explosion in NYC - which Trump called, w/o confirmed reports, a "bomb" - Trump doing usual political attacks against Clinton
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) September 18, 2016
New Yorkers, however, were characteristically calm in the face of the fear Trump had hoped to drum up. Rather than give into paranoia, the city that knows full well the dangers of terrorism, began tweeting their reactions to the explosion. No fear. No hysteria. Just courage and energy. And just a dash of humor.
New Yorkers on the actual scene of the explosion on West 23rd St. are more chill about it than Trump is in Colorado. pic.twitter.com/pxzfqLOQmV
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) September 18, 2016
True, it's pretty mellow https://t.co/Pw25ZJAHGl
— Patrick LaForge (@palafo) September 18, 2016
Seriously, I have friends playing trivia a block away from the scene at #Chelsea, reporting in. If they can be calm, you can, too. #nyc
— Jennifer Morrow (@jenniferemorrow) September 18, 2016
Some even had a joke or two.
Was just offered Molly a half block away from Chelsea explosion site. Proud of NYC's resiliency.
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) September 18, 2016
Thankfully, NYPD sources have told reporters that none of the 25 injured in the explosion have sustained anything more than minor injuries. It’s still unclear what led to the explosion or whether it was a malicious act or something else. Whatever the details, it’s clear that the people who Trump had hoped would cower in fear are courageous enough to take his fear-mongering and tell him where to shove it.
You gotta love New York City.
A few updates:
Mayor de Blasio described the incident as likely “intentional” but with cause unknown.
New York is still extremely pissed with Trump.
On behalf of my fellow New Yorkers, fuck you Donald Trump for hoping that terror struck my great state so you could gain politically from it
— Jesse LaGreca (@JesseLaGreca) September 18, 2016
Featured image via Andrew Burton/Getty Images
