It turns out the boat parade disaster some Donald Trump supporters endured on a Texas lake on Saturday was a mishap of their own making. Word that several boats had sank and needed assistance during a Trump boat parade quickly lit up social media, as images of crafts on rough-looking waters or sinking to a watery grave made the event national news.
As some parts of social media celebrated the disaster with the hashtag #Dumbkirk, others wondered what actually happened to cause several boats to sink. Some conservatives actually wondered if foul play was involved, which only led to more jokes. But on Sunday, as the total number of confirmed boats sank was confirmed to be five, officials also made it clear that the cause of the boat parade disaster was… the boat parade itself.
According to Axios, the Travis County Sheriff Department said Sunday that it responded to 15 “distress calls” related to the boat parade, giving full details about not only the nature of those calls but also revealing that they came soon after the parade got underway.
Almost immediately upon the parade going into motion, TCSO began receiving distress calls from boaters. The first call came in at 12:15 pm, and the last distress call associated with the parade came in a 1:53 pm. The distress calls varied and included: boats taking on water, stalled engines, capsized boats and boats sinking. TCSO responded to 15 distress calls and received three additional reports of boats taking on water from a local towing company.
According to the department, three of the boats that sank were towed out of the water, but as of Sunday, another two apparently remained below the depths. There were also other boats that were able to be saved. And despite some speculation that Antifa had somehow caused the accidents, the report indicated that not only was the weather fine, there were no outside agitators involved.
Weather conditions on Lake Travis were calm. When the large number of boats began moving together, the wakes generated large waves in areas where participating boats were dense. TCSO has found no evidence of foul play associated with any of the incidents.
In other words, the Trump boaters did this to themselves, almost right away and in what appears to be as embarrassing a fashion as it initially sounded when reports first circulated on Saturday. Perhaps this wasn’t the best way to spend a holiday weekend , but at least it gave the rest of us a good laugh.