Right-wing media weaponize the East Palestine train derailment to claim white conservatives are being persecuted

Right-wing media have used the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, to baselessly claim that the government’s response and lack of substantial media coverage are because the afflicted county is primarily white and conservative. Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk even went as far to say that this incident is proof that there is a “war on white people.” 

On February 3, 2023, a train carrying chemicals and other hazardous materials derailed — and subsequently caught fire — in East Palestine, Ohio. Fearful of a potentially dangerous explosion resulting from “unstable” substances, many residents were...