During a Newsmax hit ... American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp suggested the container ship failure was somehow caused by “drug-addled” employees and covid lockdowns. Fox host Maria Bartiromo, meanwhile, linked the disaster to “the wide open border.”DEI? Yup, they blame everything on DEI now.
... the platform formerly known as twitter was absolutely overrun with racism. A number of users with significant platforms linked the bridge collapse to DEI [and] spread bigoted tropes about Baltimore’s mayor....
This is MAGA pic.twitter.com/RhGfz7ry7s
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 26, 2024
“DEI” is basically just a stand-in for the N word now pic.twitter.com/AfkZygoRe8
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 26, 2024
Berlatsky sees this as strategic:
Conspiracy theories undermine faith in a shared truth or a shared community. MAGA isn’t really trying to get people to believe any one story. They’re just trying to sow doubt. If nobody can be trusted, if everyone is corrupt, then Trump and his ilk are no worse than anyone else....I agree, but I'd add that the reduction of every major news event to hateful memes is a way of saying to fellow right-wingers (and potential right-wingers): Yes, even in this moment, you and I are the people everyone should care about. We're straight white people. We are the center of the universe. All other people -- non-whites, LGBT people, the Democratic politicians we hate -- are inferior. Even in this moment of tragedy, we are still the world's main characters. If we can only drive all liberals and queers and feminists and dark-skinned people from politics, we will rule, as we're meant to. So don't develop feelings for the people who've been hurt. Remain narcissistic and self-focused. It's not only acceptable, it's patriotic -- after all, everyone who's not like us is subhuman and undeserving and ridiculous.
In addition to undermining trust in the political process, conspiracy theories also undermine our trust in each other. This is especially important for MAGA during disasters because, as Rebecca Solnit has pointed out, disasters are often a moment when people demonstrate a great capacity for self-sacrifice, community, and solidarity. Solnit’s 2009 book “A Paradise Built in Hell” discusses how during disasters — such as the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake — people risk their lives for one another, care for each other, cook for each other....
MAGA, in particular, is a movement built on stoking divisions and cultivating paranoid fear of Black people, immigrants, LGBT people, Muslims, Jews, and other marginalized people. Spreading conspiracy theories following disasters is a way to prevent the formation of solidarity, community, and trust.
So we have this:
Guys don’t worry. Mayor Pete is on his way to Baltimore and will get to the bottom of the bridge collapse! pic.twitter.com/7ulHhSZfDy
— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) March 26, 2024
And some attacks on the politicians and policies right-wingers hate, collected here:
Many people ask why Trump voters -- and Republican voters in general -- vote against what would seem to be their own economic intrerests. This is why. Trump and other Republicans tell them they have value and other people don't. They say those other people deserve to suffer, while members of the right-wing tribe don't. They give voters permission to hate, and to reject empathy. That may not win every election for the GOP, but it wins the party more elections than it deserves to win.
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