Even as the search continued for survivors, the right-wing ecosystem was using the tragedy to smear immigrants and Black people.
Maria Bartiromo talks to Senator Rick Scott on Fox Business on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.(Fox Business)
For most people, the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday was a shocking disaster. But for many in the conservative world, it was a chance to do their favorite thing: inject racism into the discourse.
Even as first responders searched the frigid waters of the Patapsco River for survivors, the right-wing machine was using the tragedy to fuel its never-ending xenophobic and bigoted campaign against immigrants and perceived “wokeism.”
“The White House has issued a statement on this saying that there’s no indication of nefarious intent in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo told her guest, Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.). “But of course, you’ve been talking a lot about the potential for wrongdoing or the potential for foul play given the wide open border.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, verified right-wing users–boosted by the site’s algorithm—shared videos of Brandon Scott, the Black, 39-year-old mayor of Baltimore, with racist dog whistles.
“This is Baltimore’s DEI mayor commenting on the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge,” wrote one user with over 250,000 followers. “It’s going to get so, so much worse. Prepare accordingly.”
Conservative lawmakers also joined in, hoping to leverage the tragedy to gain cultural and political clout among their rabid base. Phil Lyman, a Republican state representative and current candidate for governor of Utah, responded to a post from the Young Conservative Federation targeting Port of Baltimore Commissioner Karenthia Barber, a Black woman whose professional biography describes her as specializing in “diversity, equity and inclusion audits and consulting,” among other things.
“This is what happens when you have Governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing and security of citizens,” he wrote. In a follow-up tweet he added, “DEI=DIE.”
The governor in question—Maryland’s Wes Moore—is, like Mayor Scott, a young, Black man.
The bridge’s collapse, which officials say occurred after a cargo ship lost power and crashed into a support column, has laid bare the extent to which conservatives will seize any opportunity to warp our collective reality to further their cultural crusade against immigrants and Black people.
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As much as those on the right would like for the general electorate to submit to their narrative that the nation is under siege—if not by undocumented immigrants then liberal bureaucrats pushing an “anti-white” agenda—the reality on the ground does not bear that out.
Setting aside the lie that diversity and incompetence go hand in hand, the notion that, for instance, Scott—who was overwhelmingly elected to lead a majority-Black city after nearly a decade on the city council—is some kind of diversity hire is laughable on its face. But it provides cover for what conservatives really want to say, which is that a young Black mayor is unqualified, ill-equipped, and culpable for any tragedy.
While federal investigators believe the bridge collapse is not the result of terrorism or any intentional act, immigrants are involved in the catastrophe, though just not in a way that serves the narrative of Fox News. Six construction workers, who were working the overnight shift fixing potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed, remain missing and are feared dead. All six are young Latino men originally from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, with families living in Baltimore’s close-knit immigrant neighborhoods of Highlandtown and Dundalk.
“They are all hard-working, humble men,” Jesus Campos, an employee of contractor Brawner Builders—whose workers are among the missing—told The Baltimore Banner through a translator. Campos added that all of them came to the city for a better life—not necessarily for themselves, but for the loved ones they left behind.
“I feel devastated with what happened. They are all my friends, they are coworkers. I feel very sad,” he said.
It is these men’s lives—and their possible deaths—along with the mere existence of a majority-Black city led by Black elected officials, that the conservative media ecosystem so gleefully exploits for their own political gain.
Rebekah EntralgoTwitterRebekah Entralgo is a writer and editor based in Baltimore, Md. Her writing has appeared at CNN, NPR, The New Republic, and Newsweek.