The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at 1:28 a.m. on March 26 in Baltimore has had a resounding impact on not only the city, but on national and international trade as the region grapples with the enormous task ahead of rebuilding. The initial tragedy brought a wide range of reactions—from the quick-minded, life-saving cell phone call of the powerless cargo ship Dali pilot to prevent car traffic from crossing the bridge just before impact, to the predictable but somehow still completely outlandish right-wing conspiracy theories.
Right wingnut Lara Logan even said the accident was an “absolutely brilliant strategic attack’” on U.S. infrastructure, claiming with zero evidence that “our intel agencies know” about the attack and that the U.S. has just been divided “along the Mason Dixon line exactly like the Civil War.”
From Covid, Jewish space lasers, cyberattacks, Obama, Israel, outlandish theories raged across the Internet before dawn on the same March 26 , but the most egregious insults came in the form of racism on right-wing social media, as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies were linked to the bridge collapse in arguing that more qualified people were passed over for jobs to hire immigrants, fulfilling mandates which somehow contributed to or caused the accident.
"This is Baltimore's DEI mayor commenting on the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge," one popular account wrote on X, posted with a video of the mayor's speech. "It's going to get so, so much worse. Prepare accordingly."
Ignoring that public officials are elected—not hired—and Brandon Scott won the 2020 mayor's race with 70 percent of the vote, the vitriol playing out in rightwing spaces highlighted growing tensions stemming from efforts to promote fair hiring and labor practices in workforces and higher education.
“What they mean by 'DEI,' in my opinion, is duly elected incumbent. We know what they want to say, but they don’t have the courage to say the N-word,” the mayor told Joy Reid of MSNBC. “And the fact that I don’t believe in their untruthful and wrong ideology—and I am very proud of my heritage and who I am and where I come from—scares them.”
Phil Lyman, a Utah Republican and gubernatorial candidate, broadened his attack to include Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who’s also Black. Lyman wrote: "This is what happens when you have Governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing and security of citizens."
Trump’s response to the bridge collapse has been silence. It’s difficult for him to turn the incident into votes, blame it on Democrats, immigrants, or crooked judges, he has not yet chosen an all-caps rant angle for Untruth Social. He’s forever on the rampage against immigrants, and the six people who died in the tragedy were Latino immigrants.
Listening to the stories of the family members lost in the bridge is about humanity, grieving and loss, and changes the narrative from referring to the victims simply as “immigrants.” What Trump can’t seem to realize and won’t ever choose to remember is that those who died on that bridge filling potholes and those who’ll rebuild it are no different than the people who built our nation: they’re immigrants, just like his mother was a Scottish immigrant and his father was a German immigrant and a few of his wives were Czechoslavakian and Yugoslavian immigrants. In any case, immigrants aren’t the sex workers and drug dealers he’s forever all-capsing about, they’re the fabric and builders and fixers of this nation—and with any luck, the voters.
