The Bridge, The Governor, And The Three Stooges

I mused briefly yesterday on why the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse seems to have captured media attention well beyond similar episodes like the Sunshine Skyway bridge collapse of 1980, in which 35 were killed, amd the 2007 Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse, in which 13 were killed. In contraast, only 6 are missing and presumed dead in Baltimore, while a potential story of competence by law enforcement, which was able to close the bridge to traffic within minutes' notice of the runaway container ship, is lost in the shuffle.

Instead, the story from Tuesday is still trending today, and not only that,

Even before most Americans woke up Tuesday morning to news of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, wild conspiracy theories about what supposedly had “really” happened were running rampant online.

The claims ranged from a cyber-attack or a ship captain impaired by side effects from Covid-19 vaccines being responsible for the crash – to claims that Israel, or even the Obamas had something to do with the bridge’s collapse.

All of these claims are entirely baseless. Officials investigating the crash said early on that there was no indication it was a deliberate act.

Rampant conspiracy theories seem to surface only around the most consequential events, like 9/11 or Kennedy's assassination. Why is this happening around the Key Bridge collapse, whose overall social impact appears to be mild? At worst, highway traffic will need to route itself the long way around the Baltimore Beltway, while other East Coast ports may each need to take up about 10% of the overflow from Baltimore's closure.

In fact, my wife and I have insurance backgounds, and the most interesting aspect of the incident for us is the insurance claims, which could bankrupt whichever marine insurer is involved, as well as putting the shipping company out of business. Almost nobody, as far as I'm aware, has mentioned this, which could well be the single greatest impact of the disaster:

The tragedy could lead to up to $4 billion in insurance claims, Morningstar DBRS said.

It was too soon to put a figure on the total insurance loss, Bruce Carnegie-Brown told Reuters, but he said he would be "very surprised" if the event did not result in a multi-billion dollar loss, adding that "the tragedy has the capacity to become the largest single marine insurance loss ever".

So why is the reaction so out of whack? I think this goes to the visuals.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott appeared on CNN on Tuesday, and while being interviewed, CNN showed dramatic video of the bridge collapsing over and over.

During the interview, Scott said, “I’m going to be the first to ask that CNN and everyone else stop showing the video. No one needs to see … a possibility of their family member being severely injured or otherwise, over and over and over again because it’s just traumatizing our community.”

The problem is that the videos aren't "just traumatizing our community", the problem is that they're reflecting the national mood. Something beyond a bridge collapsed here, and indeed, something beyond the insurance industry. The coverage of the bridge pretty much obscured the Biden fundraiser with Clinton and Obama Thursday night, but the problem with the fundraiser video just reinforced the national discomfort:

Never Trumper Bill Kristol lamented the bad optics for Democrats as President Joe Biden chose to go to a multi-million dollar fundraiser in New York City hosted by Hollywood celebrities while former President Donald Trump attended a wake for a young New York City police officer killed on duty.

“An unfortunate day politically for the Democrats,” Kristol posted on X.

. . . A former Obama adviser, David Axelrod, agreed with Kristol, but added that the money would “probably mean more” than the look.

“Not wrong. But in the big scheme of things, the $25 million will probably mean more than the look,” Axelrod responded to Kristol’s post on X.

New York Gov Hochul, in an incredibly tone-deaf gesture, decided to insert herself into those bad optics in the worst possible way, grandstanding into the officer's wake without anticipating the consequences:

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) was not a welcome sight at the wake for fallen NYPD officer Jonathan Diller.

Hochul reportedly left Friday’s reception within 10 minutes after she was greeted by a shout of “Get her out of here.” As she walked back to her car, Hochul was confronted by a man who sources said was speaking to her while gesturing with emotion.

. . . In a statement to the Washington Examiner, a spokesperson for the governor’s office would not confirm or deny the claim that Hochul was asked to leave.

The exact circumstances that led to her sudden departure are unclear, but

She was only there for about 10 minutes before she abruptly left after being confronted, sources told the Post.

One man, dressed in a black suit, appeared to yell at the governor as he was seen speaking animatedly and gesturing boldly as she entered her car on the way out, the Post reported.

Several cops were seen applauding the man after he confronted her, the source told the Post.

In contrast,

A spokesperson for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who leads the county where Officer Jonathan Diller lived, confirmed he extended the invitation to the former president and spoke with him on Tuesday.

In other words, the constituency of Officer Diller's suburban county welcomed -- indeed, invited -- Trump to the viewing, but representatives of that same community requested the New York governor leave when she imprudently showed up. Biden at least had the sense to stay away, though his antipathy to the actual working class represented in part by police officers is clear in any case -- it's not as if he would have wanted to go even if he were welcome, and it's hard to understand why Hochul wanted to attend at all, either.

In the midst of this visual, we have Trump staffer Steven Cheung coining the phrase "the Three Stooges" to refer to Biden, Obama, and Clinton at the Manhattan fundraiser. And as all this takes place, the nation continues to be fixated on images of the Baltimore bridge collapse.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen anything quite like this constellation of seemingly minor but somehow consequential events.