It’s been days since a massive bomb went off in Nashville, injuring several and killing one. The only one to die was Anthony Warner, the one responsible for the exploding RV.
While no innocents were killed, it damaged a significant amount of downtown Nashville. The RV was parked on Second Avenue North and debris from the explosion traveled several blocks.
There’s clearly nothing funny about what happened. Well, unless you’re the mayor of Nashville. John Cooper is a Democrat who has been the mayor since last year. When being interviewed about what happened, he talked about how things are being inspected and how the hope is that “this is the only explosion that’s gonna happen in Nashville today.”
Then, he chuckled. He’s talking about his very own city and chuckling at the idea of explosions occurring.
Why is it that Democrats don’t seem to take leadership seriously anymore? He chuckled without remorse. If it had been nerves or stress, he would have apologized for his chuckle. But, he didn’t. Instead, he didn’t skip a beat before moving on to talk about water mains.
Twitter is all fired up about the mayor’s audacity to laugh about the incident. This happened on Christmas, and John Cooper seemed very relaxed about the whole thing. Many commented about how he didn’t seem worried about it at all while others labeled him a “chuckling clown.”
Footage of what Nashville looked like was shown all over social media. Fires and debris were everywhere. The only reason that more weren’t injured or killed is that there was a message that came from the vehicle, telling people that the RV would explode at a certain time. It gave people a chance to flee the area.
Cooper still hasn’t apologized for his chuckling, but he has done another interview – one where he called out the officers in the area – “they are heroes and I am grateful to them.” Well, that’s a little bit better, but still.
This seems to be following a trend – a Democratic city experiences the unthinkable and the leader doesn’t really do anything. Mayor Cooper got lucky – the officers jumped in to take care of the explosion. With only a small number of injuries and no confirmed deaths other than the one responsible for it all, it could have been a lot worse.
What the mayor doesn’t seem ready to talk about is that it wasn’t just an explosion. It was yet another struggle for the residents of Nashville to deal with. They’ve already had to deal with so much of the economy closed down. They’ve been struggling to keep their businesses financially afloat. And now, in addition to the pandemic, they have to deal with the aftermath of a massive explosion.
It’s not fair. It’s a real struggle. And what is the mayor doing to promise that things will get better? He hasn’t made that promise. Instead, he’s chuckling about not having a second explosion. That’s not what people want to hear right now. They need to see a light at the end of the tunnel – but it’s clear that Cooper doesn’t know how to be the leader that the city needs right now.
As for the motive behind the explosion, it’s anyone’s guess. Anthony Warner was 63 years old and was clearly getting his affairs in order to carry out this attack in the weeks before Christmas. He gave away his car, signed over his house, and began shedding other possessions. He parked the RV onto the street in Nashville at 1:22 AM. The speaker played a warning and followed it up with “Downtown” by Petula Clark.
It’s likely a one-off event as no one in Nashville or anyone else needs to deal with a massive explosion on top of the pandemic.
Should something like this happen again, there is a piece of advice for leaders: don’t laugh about the situation when the cameras are rolling.
