Right-wingers blame the Baltimore bridge collapse on everything short of the Mothman

From lax immigration policy to cyberattacks, Tuesday's Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy led to wild finger-pointing

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published March 27, 2024 5:30PM (EDT)

Workers continue to investigate and search for victims at the scene after the cargo ship Dali collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge yesterday causing it to collapse, on March 27, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Workers continue to investigate and search for victims at the scene after the cargo ship Dali collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge yesterday causing it to collapse, on March 27, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Early Tuesday morning, a section of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River after the Dali, a 213-million-pound cargo vessel, lost power and crashed into a structural pillar. As a team from the National Transportation Safety Board is gathering evidence for their investigation and crews search for six members of a construction crew that were repairing potholes on the bridge at the time of the incident — who are now presumed dead — right-wingers are slinging conspiracy theories relating to the collapse and what "really" led to it.

A recent report from Mother Jones runs down the wildest of the finger-pointing, with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo listed at the top, suggesting a “wide open” immigration policy at the border could be a factor. A theory she arrives at due to the fact that the cargo ship had been flying under a Singaporean flag. Also making an appearance on the list is Alex Jones, co-signing a theory from Andrew Tate that the ship was "cyberattacked," to which Jones adds, "WW3 has already started.."

Brigitte Gabriel, Founder & Chairman of ACT For America, weighed-in via a post to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, writing, "The bridge collapse has a lot of the earmarkings of a potential terrorist attack," having placed blame on Pete Buttigieg, United States Secretary of Transportation, in an earlier post.

In the world of reality, investigators are looking into whether or not contaminated fuel had something to do with the cargo ship losing control, with The Wall Street Journal pointing out that such a thing can interfere with a ship’s main power generators.


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