March 26, 2024

A List of Weird Stuff the Right Connected to the Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Covid lockdowns?

Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday after a support column was struck by a vessel.Karl Merton Ferron/The Baltimore Sun/ZUMA

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Early Tuesday morning, a massive cargo ship struck a structural pillar of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, collapsing the 1.6-mile-long bridge into the Patapsco River. The stunning collapse shut down the Port of Baltimore, one of the country’s busiest, and launched a search for at least six construction workers believed to be missing. 

Amid the frantic rescue mission, Fox News, similarly aligned conservative news outlets, and fringe characters wasted no time tying the collapse to some of their favorite right-wing talking points. Here are a few.

Border “crisis”

In an interview with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fl.), Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo appeared to suggest a “wide open” immigration policy at the border could be a factor here. Her rationale? The cargo ship had been flying under a Singaporean flag.

Drug-addled employees

Over on Newsmax, Conservative Political Action Conference chairman Mike Schlapp invoked everything from “drug-addled employees” to Covid lockdowns while discussing the collapse. “We have to wake up as a country and realize that we have too many people who aren’t ready to do these jobs,” Schlapp, who conceded that he was not an expert on the situation, said.

Cyberattack

In a crossover that no one asked for, Alex Jones repeated a post from accused human trafficker Andrew Tate to speculate, without evidence, that foreign agents deliberately launched a cyberattack targeting US infrastructure.

“Everything so far indicates that this was a terrible accident,” President Biden said in a brief this afternoon. “At this time, we have no other indication—no other reason to believe there was any intentional act here.”

DEI

This succinct message, from a man running for Congress in Florida, is not parody. It is a conservative obsession.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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