As the old year ticked off its last minutesfilibet, New Orleans seemed ready for the new one.
The city had gone through a rough stretch, but things were looking up. The gun violence that surged to harrowing levels during the pandemic had fallen off dramatically. The Super Bowl, returning to New Orleans in February after a dozen years, promised an influx of visitors and excitement. And the city’s best season, the exuberant weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, was on its way.
But less than four hours into the new year, a heavily armed man slammed a truck into the celebrating crowds, leaving dozens wounded or dead on the city’s most carefree street.
In the news conferences that followed, the mayor of New Orleans and other leaders in Louisiana praised the city’s residents for their resilience amid disaster. It’s a message they had heard before.
“The word ‘resilient’ has become synonymous with the city of New Orleans,” Lesli Harris, a city councilwoman, said in an interview, acknowledging that the quality was a source of both pride and exasperation. “We are resilient because we have to be.”
The Republican preparations have taken place at Mr. Vance’s home in Cincinnati and in online sessions with members of his own inner circle and Jason Miller, a Trump campaign strategist. Mr. Vance’s team also pointed to his frequent media interactions on the campaign trail as helpful prep for the debate spotlight. Mr. Vance has offered a potential preview of his debate strategy by repeatedly questioning Mr. Walz over his military service and attacking him as an out-of-touch liberal.
More bleak headlines follow: “Bidenomics FAILED.” “Bidenomics is a RECORD FAILURE.” “Americans’ incomes down THREE STRAIGHT YEARS.” “Unemployment RISING.” “America may soon be in a RECESSION.”
Many people in New Orleans have expressed a certain comfort and satisfaction at the strength of the community’s bonds and its collective ability to navigate disaster and hardship. Yet they also wouldn’t mind being able to get by without having to draw on a reservoir of grit and good humor.
slots magicImageMichael Straka of New Orleans leaves out beads and flowers at a memorial on the corner of Bourbon and Canal In New OrleansCredit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.
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