Terrifying Video Shows the Christmas Explosion in Downtown Nashville
By: Joe Duncan
Tags: United States, Coronavirus, Crime, Politics, Criminal Justice

America feels like she’s holding her breath. Between a ruthless and bitterly contested election between President Trump and President-Elect Joe Biden, a global pandemic that’s ramping up for a brutal winter, and a series of disgraceful pardons issued by President Trump in the week leading up to Christmas, Americans are already tired. We’re exhausted. We’re collectively experiencing the dense mental fog of overwhelm and the burnout of never-ending news cycles that perpetually leave us feeling hopeless and powerless. You’d be excused for feeling this way, even before the events that unfolded in Nashville on Christmas morning.

Nashville police were called at approximately 5:30 a.m. on the morning of December 25th, a time when most Americans were celebrating Christmas or sleeping and dreaming of the gifts they would be tearing into. The caller reported gunshots in the downtown Nashville area. And when the police responded to the scene, the found something terrifying that would soon tear into the surrounding infrastructure of downtown Nashville.

An R.V. was slowly cruising down the street. From a loudspeaker, it relayed a haunting message that can be heard below, saying the words:

“Evacuate now. There is a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and will explode.” The message warned that the bomb would go off in fifteen minutes.

Windows were shattered. Buildings were shaken to the foundation. People saw a flash of light and heard a loud blast in the early morning darkness. The sound of the voice relaying over the speaker below sends chills down the spine.

Officers alerted the bomb squad and immediately began clearing the already-sparsely populated area. A man walking his dog was moved to safety. Six officers scrambled and evacuated residents in the vicinity. While the bomb squad was on their way to the scene, the R.V. detonated. The moment of explosion can be seen in the clip above.

The explosion was vast and rocked several city blocks, knocking officers to the ground. Only three people were injured, and nobody has been found dead from the blast a day and a half later, though it is believed remains were found at the site.

“The damage is shocking, and it is a miracle that no residents were killed,” said Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, as he asked the Trump administration to declare Tennessee in a state of disaster.

I think the question lingering in everyone’s mind is why? Why cause so much destruction? Why the elaborate scheme to blow up a city center, meanwhile you’re warning the people there to get out so you could spare their lives?

Why cause so much destruction? Why the elaborate scheme to blow up a city center, meanwhile you’re warning the people there to get out so you could spare their lives?

Some people are recalling the eerie similarities to nineties action movies. Others are harkening back to the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, a terrifying act of terrorism that sent shockwaves around the world.

Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe said of the investigation, “I would expect that the FBI is treating this presumptively as an act of terrorism.” But still, we don’t know for certain quite yet, though it seems to fit the FBI’s definition of terrorism.

While domestic terrorism has shot up in recent years, with the new phenomenon of social media inspiring real-world acts of violence, it’s anyone’s guess who could be responsible for this tragedy. Or what they want.

While the FBI have identified a person of interest through the location of a remarkably similar R.V. that was parked behind a residential home, as seen on Google Maps, extraordinarily little information has come out yet that points toward who might be responsible.

And the waiting is one of the worst parts. The uncertainty looms as we find ourselves nervously unsure if the current outgoing President, Donald Trump, will succeed in his quest to steal the election, or what’s in store for us with the pandemic that’s deepening every single day.

One person dies every ten minutes of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County alone. It seems like everywhere we turn, there are death, chaos, lies, and destruction. And these are the exact things that terrorism tries to sow the seeds of. The timing couldn’t have been worse for a population already dealing with a pandemic and an attempted military coup.

I seriously hope we don’t look back on the events in Nashville someday and realize that it was Trump’s version of the burning of the Reichstag, an excuse to illegally seize power as dictator perpetuo.

And my main takeaway is this: please hold off on pointing fingers and blaming people for whatever happened in Nashville until we have evidence. It’s unbecoming to do a political song-and-dance on the rubble and ashes of destruction in order to demonize our political enemies and further our political ends.

If you know anything, the FBI and Nashville Police are seeking information on the operator or owner of a recreational vehicle linked to an explosion on December 25 at 5:30 a.m. CST in Nashville, Tennessee. Visit http://fbi.gov/nashville to submit a tip.