DEI
2024 March
2024-03-27 After the Francis Key Scott bridge collapse, numerous fake videos and conspiracy theories spread on social media. Some suggested explosives were intentionally detonated, some claimed it had to do with DEI, some suggested it was an attack perpetrated by Israel. News outlets reported several of these unfounded claims came from verified right-wing accounts on Elon Musk’s platform X.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/27/1241001030/-baltimore-bridge-collapse-conspiracy-theories
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-conspiracy-theories-online-rcna145105
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/26/francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-reasons-conspiracy
2024-03-28 After the Baltimore bridge collapsed, Phil Lyman posted an unfounded claim that the crash was caused by DEI, writing “This is what happens when you have Governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing and security of citizens”. He also shared a post from the Young Conservative Federation featuring a dossier of Karenthia A. Barber.
https://x.com/phil_lyman/status/1772647920124211378
2024 July
2024-07-19 Elon Musk fueled the conspiracy DEI caused by CrowdStrike by responding to a Bright Network DEI banner on social media, “Not very “bright” right now, is it?”. Interestingly timed, the conservative group America First Legal filed a civil rights complaint on CrowdStrike for discriminating against white males. Steve Guest posted “Equity is nobody in the world being able to get on an airplane simultaneously. Thanks CrowdStrike”.
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1814252636855500948
https://x.com/SteveGuest/status/1814282729317421310
2025 January
2025-01-30 During a press conference, Trump blamed DEI, Biden and Pete Buttigieg for the Potomac place crash. During that same press conference Trump listed off disabilities, claiming those disabilities were threatening safe air operations as though the FAA did not properly vet its employee pool. After his address he signed an executive order demanding an end to DEI hiring practices.
2025 February
2025-02-04 Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas publicly claimed DEI hiring policies at the FAA contributed to the Potomac crash. He stated, quote, “Well, I think diversity issues did contribute to this accident, and what we know for sure is that under Joe Biden that they lowered the standards for people getting into air traffic control. And with that, the number of near misses increased 70% a year”. The Senator went on to say, “What I think you’re gonna find out is there were a lot of qualified white men that they were not hiring because they were holding spots for DEI hires”.