Sometimes in American politics, chaos erupts, but it’s generally very controlled chaos. But a Thad Cochran conference call today really went off the rails in such a strange way, there is only one word that can describe it: a sh*tshow.

To put it bluntly, according to several people who tweeted details about the call, someone hijacked the call to ask a unique question: why Cochran is “harvesting black votes like black people harvesting cotton.”

(Remember, this is the Thad Cochran who beat Chris McDaniel in the Mississippi runoff last week after reaching out to black voters and, according to some reports, attacking McDaniel as a racist.)

Now, no one quite knows how this happened; however, Holmes, I think this may be an important clue:

Press conference details… Crash it with me in fifteen minutes? Call is 3 PM CST Tuesday Call in number: 530-881-1000. PIN: 287517# #mssen — Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) July 2, 2014

How bad was it? Reporters listening in used lots of words synonymous with “bonkers” and “nightmare scenario”:

Cochran campaign conf call turning into a mess. Questioner: "If black people were harvesting cotton, why is it OK to harvest their votes?" — Jonathan Weisman (@jonathanweisman) July 2, 2014

This Cochran press conference call has turned into a disaster — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 2, 2014

And the Cochran press conference devolves into lunacy… Sadly reflects most of #MSSen — Sam R. Hall (@samrhall) July 2, 2014

This #MSSen Cochran press call is totally bizarre. — Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) July 2, 2014

From there… well…

Aaaaaand the Cochran campaign conference call is now over. Now those on the call are yelling at each other. — Jonathan Weisman (@jonathanweisman) July 2, 2014

People on the Cochran press call just yelling at each other now — Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) July 2, 2014

Really enjoying the people arguing on the line of this Cochran conference call that ended already — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 2, 2014

Of course, people wondered who asked that really crazy question:

People on the line now suggesting that it was a Cochran campaign plant who ended the call or "maybe Obama" — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 2, 2014

Now whoever is left on the Cochran call says the person asking about harvesting cotton says it was a Cochran plant. #MSSen — Sam R. Hall (@samrhall) July 2, 2014

@BuzzFeedAndrew @jlrussell31 Yes, I did but I didn't ask any questions. I bet it was a Cochran plant. #mssen — Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) July 2, 2014

Oh, and to cap things off, for some weird freaking reason, the call continued with… go ahead, guess. You’ll never guess. All right, here ya go. RACIST SOUNDBOARDS:

what the… RT @Bencjacobs: And Cochran conference call is now Obama soundboard and someone playing clips from Dean Wormer from Animal House. — Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) July 2, 2014

And Cochran call now has Dick Cheney soundboard going too . . . — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 2, 2014

The Obama soundboard on what remains of this Cochran conference call is super super racist #mssen — Colin Diersing (@cdiersing) July 2, 2014

Cochran call now has a clip of an Obama impersonator talking about white people — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 2, 2014

Well done, everyone. Round of applause.

[featured image via U.S. Senate]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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