BOB BRADY

The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 shattered Americans’ sense of security and ushered in an era of nebulous threats, hidden enemies and a seemingly never-ending war on terror.

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)PHILADELPHIA – When President Donald Trump told the world that “bad things happen in Philadelphia,” it was, in part, a blunt assessment of his party's struggles in the nation's sixth-most populous city. “Trump is right, ‘bad things happen in Philadelphia,’ especially for him,” Philadelphia’s Democratic Party chair, Bob Brady, said. Trump's campaign, meanwhile, opened offices in heavily Black west Philadelphia and in heavily white northeast Philadelphia. In northeast Philadelphia, Trump saw unexpectedly strong support from an area with a reputation for being home to unionized building trades members, police officers and firefighters. He recalled a paper-shredding event his office last fall, attended by hundreds in the parking lot of the plumbers’ union office in northeast Philadelphia.