One of the ugliest features of Trump-MAGA politics is the use of disasters to spread conspiracy theories, invent new culture-war obsessions, and pit one region of the country against another.
We're seeing that now with the Baltimore horror. 1/
— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) March 30, 2024
One of the ugliest features of MAGA politics is the eagerness to seize on large-scale accidents, disasters, and pandemics to spread conspiracy theories, invent new culture-war obsessions, and pit one region of the country against another…
Now, after the disastrous collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, MAGA figures and some GOP politicians are reviving that playbook yet again, in some cases with hateful, conspiratorial gusto. But this time the absurdities are of a next-level sort. That’s because the disaster, by severely hampering Baltimore’s port operations, is impacting regions and industries that rely on the port to export goods. Those include areas sometimes called “MAGA country,” places in the agricultural and industrial heartland throughout the Midwest.
In short, the Baltimore collapse demonstrates with unusual clarity that when it comes to calamities of this sort, we really are all in it together. That, of course, is exactly what the MAGA worldview seeks to deny at all costs—and is once again trying to do here.
This week, Pennsylvania GOP Representative Dan Meuser slammed President Biden for calling on Congress to fully fund the response to the Baltimore collapse. Meuser insisted it’s “outrageous” that Biden wants to fund repairs in their “entirety,” and even demanded that some of this money must be taken from “ridiculous E.V. expenditures.”
Presto: Meuser—who helped run Trump’s 2020 campaign in Pennsylvania and sowed doubts about Trump’s loss—converted the disaster into a zero-sum culture-war standoff between repairing essential transportation infrastructure and combating climate change…
Some Republicans are arguing that because the collapse wasn’t a natural disaster, we should look to insurance coverage and the shipping company whose cargo ship slammed into the bridge. In fairness, some Democrats have also made similar suggestions. But the Democratic stance is also that new federal funds absolutely should be appropriated, because it’s critical.
Some GOP lawmakers are already treating future funding of the Baltimore response as a future concession on their part. Representative Jeff Duncan says Congress should not spend “one more dime” of additional infrastructure money before a border wall is built, as if the need for disaster relief can be used to extort Democrats into funding MAGA priorities in return.
It should go without saying that Baltimore’s plight does not deserve to be smeared with degenerate culture-warring, demagoguery, and extortive threats. Disasters strike all parts of the country. And in this case, the horror doesn’t only impact the immediate area. It has hamstrung operations at the Port of Baltimore, whose operations are essential to export traffic that comes from other regions, including storied Trump country.
For instance, billions of dollars in autos, coal, agricultural and construction machinery, soybeans, and many other products pass annually through the Port of Baltimore, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. A lot of those products come from states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania (whose western part abuts northern Appalachia and the industrial Midwest), that data shows.
What’s more, the federal aid package that members of Congress are currently drawing up will not merely repair the collapsed bridge. It will also in part replenish the Army Corps of Engineers, which is currently spending money to get the port operational again, a Democratic aide says. In other words, federal funds are essential to enabling the port to function so that those exports from other parts of the country, including from plenty of MAGA-GOP territory, can return to normalcy as quickly as possible.
And some federal aid passed by Congress will also be poured into the federal Emergency Relief Program, according to the Democratic aide, a fund currently undertaking rebuilding projects in response to recent extreme weather destruction in red states like Arkansas, Kentucky, and Montana…
It is not a new thing for Republicans to treat disasters in blue areas as less deserving of our collective attention than disasters in red areas. But Trump supercharged these tendencies. Brian Beutler urges us to remember that during Covid, Trump didn’t merely neglect blue areas of the country; he used the pandemic to actively threaten retribution against parts of the country that didn’t support him.
This kind of thing has become a feature of MAGA politics, as opposed to an incidental by-product of a particular governing vision. Trump flaunted his treatment of blue America as a zone of disease and debauchery that all but deserved to be abandoned to a fate of mass death and suffering by dint of its moral inferiority to MAGA America. Make no mistake: His very public relishing of his power to do this was central to this performance and, one imagines, to its appeal to the MAGA masses…
How long before the GOP suggest the bridge shouldn't be rebuilt because Black people are using it https://t.co/NaBm3PMBBC
— Ragnarok Lobster ?? (@eclecticbrotha) March 28, 2024
If you're going to use DEI as an adjective you might as well just say the n-word. https://t.co/XcASNXPruR
— Enhanced Interrogated Poet (@agraybee) March 26, 2024
Alternatively:
America runs on the work of immigrants like those who died in Tuesday's bridge collapse.
During the pandemic, I introduced the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act with @SenWarren, @SenAlexPadilla & @tedlieu. Essential workers deserve better than our broken immigration system. https://t.co/PqZYQEI5VO
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) March 28, 2024
Former @GovLarryHogan now running for US Senate, was warned that Baltimore bridges could collapse if he allowed bigger cargo ships and a bridge was hit.
Hogan blew off the advice, big news broken by @LeverNews a small nonprofit news outlet in Denver.https://t.co/JQ4bx6dmAl
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) March 31, 2024
If we’re gonna get all sniffy about ‘facts’ and ‘data’, here’s a starter…
Baltimore bridge collapse: Who will pay for the destroyed bridge, harmed businesses and lost lives? https://t.co/WosThrrs3h
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 30, 2024
Baud
That’s correct. It’s called subrogation in insurance. Doesn’t mean you wait to pay to rebuild.
Ned F
I have a question, won’t the harbor reopen once the debris is cleared? I don’t think the entire channel would be closed during reconstruction.
NotMax
It’s Bigfoot Visibility Day again!
Good times, good times.
;)
Another Scott
@Baud: +1
The bridge will be rebuilt quickly. Going after others for the money will come later because, among other things, the courts are really, really slow.
Everyone who thinks about this for more than 3 seconds knows it.
When they’ve got nothing, they bring up bad faith reasons.
And the press rarely pushes back….
Grr…,
Scott.
waspuppet
This is standard GOPism:
Democratic-leaning areas deserve to suffer;
if Republican-leaning areas also suffer, well, that’s just more evidence that life sucks so keep complaining and vote Republican;
if someone warns you about a potential safety hazard, you don’t do anything about it, because if something happens it’ll be so big that it feels like a natural disaster that no one is really responsible for. (Cf. the climate.)
At best, they’re the ice-cream-for-dinner party. At worst, they want us to die.
p.a.
The bridge carried an interstate highway, so someone is arguing for no fed involvement? It’s blocking interstate and international transport and threatening the regional (at least) economy, and someone is arguing for no fed involvement?
Mike in NC
Another of the ugliest features of MAGA politics is Marjorie Taylor Greene. Christ, what an asshole no matter what the subject.
columbusqueen
How like a Republican, to put profit ahead of safety & then squeal like a stuck pig when disaster strikes. Hope Hogan gets clobbered by these ugly facts.
RevRick
@Ned F: That’s what they’re trying to do right now, opening up a channel ASAP.
RevRick
@p.a.: Meuser represents a neighboring district so I’m aware of his bog standard GOP asshole voting record.
Brachiator
@p.a.:
The GOP is working overtime to be short-sighted, venal and evil.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Waiting on a Texas judge to declare the entirety of the interstate highway system unconstitutional.
//
lowtechcyclist
@columbusqueen:
You remember how every stupid thing was supposedly going to be “Obama’s Katrina”? I really think this is going to be Larry Hogan’s Katrina.
You can’t win statewide in Maryland without a lot of Dem votes, so his candidacy is very much dependent on a lot of normie Dems voting for him because of leftover good vibes about his governorship. This is going to make it a lot harder for those normie Dems to consider voting for him.
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
You just think you’re being facetious.
Anne Laurie
Looking on the bright side: I consider it my own version of a wellness check for the Blogmaster.
Rusty
The reason ships are flagged with weird countries (some even without coastlines), manned by sailors from the third world, owned by layers of shadow companies and managed by yet more distant companies is to minimize cost and avoid liability. People are delusional if they think there will any meaningful payout. It will me minimal amd long coming.
Dan B
@Rusty: I thought the ship was operated by Elaine Chao’s sister, the one who drowned.
JustRuss
FTFY
Jackie
@columbusqueen:
It’s amazing how many GQPers running for office have their own actions and words to write negative campaign ads AGAINST THEMSELVES!!
Ruckus
@p.a.:
You seem amazed that rethuglicans would fight to withhold federal money to repair a major piece of infrastructure because it will in not in any way help them. At least not obviously help them……in the next 15 minutes. Were you expecting actual intelligence from them? I mean they did elect ShitForBrains.
CarolPW
@RevRick:
They have a channel now big enough for barges and tugs. So some relatively local stuff can move.
Jeffro
I love how, for Meuser, spending money to repair a vital bridge (and reopen a vital port for our country) is “outrageous”.
You know what’s outrageous, Rep Meuser? Supporting the presidential run of a dementia-addled spite clown who’s ALREADY TRIED TO OVERTHROW OUR GOVERNMENT.
Spare me, dude.
RevRick
Tomorrow, J and I will be going to our CPA to find out how much we owe in federal and state taxes. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it’s about $5 k. And it’s all good.
Jeffro
I will be keeping this pair of lines handy going forward – very on-point! Thanks.
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
Trivia:
I-878 in Queens, NY is the shortest interstate, so much so there is not a single sign identifying it as an interstate along its length of just 7/10 of a mile.
Fake Irishman
@RevRick:
congrats on you short-term no-interest loan from the Feds! (Balloon payments aren’t fun, but still)
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Jeffro: What’s really outrageous is that just two weeks ago he bragging about getting $2.7 million in FEDERAL FUNDS to rebuild a bridge in his home district in Susquehanna County PA. So it’s OK to use federal funds to rebuild bridges where he lives, just not where he doesn’t live.
Baud
LOL Buttigieg, via reddit.
Geminid
@Rusty: Well, a former US Navy Captain and current law professor discussed this on WTOP a few days ago and he said the insurance payout would be substantial. He did not sound delusional.
Jeffro
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: are you serious???
That level of disconnect qualifies him for being pitched into the nearest volcano. Sorry Rep Meuser, you’re obviously irredeemable, enjoy the brief flight!
Hoppie
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: That would be money from the infrastructure bill he voted against, right?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Hoppie: Probably, though I haven’t dug deeply enough to say for sure. But it would certainly fit his MO if that were the case.
catclub
Speed limits and yield signs unconstitutional on the federal Interstate system.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Hey, mister! We don’t use that kind of language here!
catclub
@NotMax: On Interstate 10 in west texas I drove for two minutes before meeting a second oncoming car.
This implies the cars were 4+ miles apart. but that was in 1997. Probably only 90 second gaps now.
Scout211
@Baud: I used to be able to read the Reddit links that you post here but now I get this:
😟
Baud
@Scout211:
Weird. I am on my phone and my link works. I’m not signed in or anything.
Betty
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: There are very few of those people in Susquehanna County.
Betty
@Baud: I personally see nothing wrong with landlines, but I get his point. Rapid technological isn’t so easy for us old folks, you know.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: I was able to get right to it on my laptop. No reddit account.
You know what you did!!! //
Anotherlurker
As a survivor of Superstorm Sandy I vividly remember republican scum demonizing people like me who were severely damaged and PTSd by that storm. We needed help but those assholes talked about offsets and withholding aid.
I despise all Republicans. They should all foad.
Let them suffer like they wish on victims of disaster.
NotMax
@Betty
After the last big quake here on Maui, with power outages widespread (lasting for up to a week in some areas) landlines still functioned as expected once the generators at affected phone company facilities kicked in.
Scout211
@WaterGirl: @Baud:
Doing more research, Reddit bans by IP address and my internet provider is a local guy who set up a line-of-sight internet for many of us out here in the boonies with no access to wired internet. IIRC, we all have the same IP address, so someone (not me!) got banned and now we all are blocked. But I’m just guessing here.
wjca
Oh, they do! The almost unimaginable pain of thinking (correctly or not) that somebody different might be doing well. You just don’t appreciate their agonies.
/s
Rusty
@Geminid: Your comment made me poke around. While there are marine insurance groups that potentially could cover up to multi billions, this from a Bloomberg article (I’m lousy at figuring out links) I think will prove my point.
“But an 1851 law could lower the exposure to tens of millions of dollars by capping the ship owner’s liability at how much the vessel is worth after the crash, plus any earnings it collected from carrying the freight on board, said Martin Davies, the director of Tulane University’s Maritime Law Center.”
Tens of millions is a drop in the bucket for replacing the bridge plus other life and economic losses. Time will prove which is right.
kma815
Isn’t this going to destroy Larry Hogan’s chance of winning the senate race?
lurker
@catclub: there is a significant interstate in Hawaii, goes for miles … no other state to connect that road to there … and it does not just trail off into the water (thankfully) …
the main interstate does eventually get to a base some have heard of called Pearl Harbor, but there are interstate spurs and loops as you would see in any other state as well …
Always seemed funny, even if we figured it was at least partly about the state and its senior senators getting Federal transportation dollars
trnc
@Scout211: Try clearing your browser cache and cookies. If that doesn’t work, try a different browser. If that works, there’s probably a setting in your preferred browser that needs to be changed.
Geminid
@Rusty:
@Rusty: It comes down to what you meant in your first comment by “meaningful” and “minimal.” I differed with your first comment, where you said people were delusional if they believed there would be more than minimal recovery, and that word is basically why I objected. I felt like you would have done better to express your general cynicism without sneering at other people who didn’t share it.
The Bloomberg article you cite said the 1851 act could lower recovery to $10s of millions but did not say it would. The law professer/Navy Captain I heard on WTOP also discussed the 1851 act but still saw a substantial payout coming, particularly from insurance required for oil pollution.
I considered noting that the payout would likely fall short of actual damages, but that seemed so likely and so obvious that I did not bother.