'There's Always Going to be a Conspiracy Theory'

"There are plenty of legitimate questions swirling around the devastating flooding in Texas last weekend that left at least 100 people dead. They include questions about emergency alert funding decisions made by Texas’ Republican state legislature and about cuts to federal agencies implemented by the Trump administration that may have affected how the emergency response was handled...But we live in the MAGA era. And despite all these honest questions — about county, state, and federal disaster preparedness, about the increasingly disastrous impacts of climate change — Trump’s allies are coming up with their own conspiracy theories to explain the tragedy."

"They involve anti-DEI vitriol, because of course they do...Charlie Kirk, the far-right online provocateur and conspiracy theorist...is spreading a bizarre claim about the Austin Fire Department...In today’s episode of his podcast...Kirk claimed that the 'DEI' supposedly festering at the heart of the Austin Fire Department was actually to blame for deficiencies in the emergency response to the fatal flooding...Here’s Kirk’s remarks:"

"What you are not being told by the media anywhere is that the death toll likely would not have been as high if it wasn’t for DEI. This Texas tragedy is just the latest example. It’s not just incompetence. This is DEI working to undermine meritocratic institutions, and more people likely died than otherwise would have because of DEI. Let me prove it to you."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/theres-always-going-to-be-a-conspiracy-theory