“Nothing is certain,” wrote Andrew Tate on X, about six hours after a container ship collided with the bridge. “The black swan event is imminent!” he added.
“This is a black swan event,” General Mike Flynn, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, also said on social network X. Others, including Benny Johnson, Laura Loomer and some verified QAnon-affiliated accounts, they also linked it to the “black swan event”, with many claiming that the bridge collapse was linked to terrorism.
“It seems deliberate to me. It’s probably a cyber attack. World War III has already begun,” wrote conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of Infowars on X.
US officials, however, do not believe the crash was terrorism-related or intentionally caused, with some claiming the ship “lost propulsion”, causing it to veer off course.
As rescue teams continued to search for victims, on Tuesday morning, the “black swan event” became increasingly circulated on X, and General Flynn appeared on Infowars to elaborate on his theory.
What is a Black Swan Event
The phrase “black swan event” was popularized in 2001 by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a Lebanese-American statistician and essayist, to describe unforeseen events in the financial world with cascading consequences, such as the “dotcom” crash of 2000. Later extended its metaphor in the context of historical or significant national security events.
In recent months, conspiracy theorists have hijacked the concept and turned it into deeply conspiratorial narratives that posit that a clandestine network of powerful individuals secretly runs the US government.
“Alex Jones has been talking about black swan events since at least 2021,” said Mike Rothschild, conspiracy theorist and author of Jewish Space Lasers.
Google Trends reflects growing interest in the phrase, showing some significant spikes in searches for “black swan event” since December.
Rothschild said that, according to conspiracy theorists, the state organizes “black swan events” to distract the public from nefarious plots, such as the mass disarmament of citizens, stealing the election of Donald Trump or the adoption of martial law.
“If the state has to do something to distract us from something else, throw in a black swan,” Rothschild said.
General Flynn began talking about “black swan” events last August, envisioning a scenario where “we don’t have an election in 2024” due to “another black swan event.” He reaffirmed this “prediction” earlier this month.
Last week, former Republican congressman Ron Paul appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show and warned that Americans must prepare for some kind of “black swan” catastrophe. “I believe in the black swan theory. It’s going to come up and it’s not going to be controllable,” Paul told Carlson. “You have to understand what’s going on, you have to know what’s coming, it’s very, very dangerous, and that’s why I like to see smaller units of government.”
Paul and Flynn’s comments ignited conspiracy theorist circles online. “In the last 48 hours, both Ron Paul and General Flynn have warned of an upcoming black swan event,” Jacob Creech, an influential figure in the QAnon community, wrote on X . “The enemy will not change his mind and allow Trump to win. They have something planned.”
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