Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, on Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. | Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, is out here straight up lying to himself and his MAGA constituents about why all of the above are being called racist. During a campaign rally in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Vance was preaching to his Klan-ish choir about how Republicans “get to say whatever the hell we want” but neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor anyone else should be calling them racist — even when they are saying things that are blatantly racist.
“So, I think our message to Kamala Harris ought to be very simple,” Vance said. “Stop calling us racist for saying that we’ve got to close down that southern border!”
“Stop accusing us of being bad people because we have the audacity to say to Kamala Harris that she ought to do her damn job,” he continued. “She needs to look in the mirror and stop attacking the citizens of her own country. And I think that is what has led to the divisiveness in our country.”
After chiding people on the other side of the aisle about speaking their minds about MAGA racism, Vance pledged to “always fight for your right to speak your mind.”
“We may not always agree with one another, but we will fight for your right to speak your mind because this is America, and we get to say whatever the hell we want to!” he said. “Sorry, I got a little fired up there.”
Because it’s hard to know where to start when Vance, Trump and the rest of the MAGA-fied GOP start piling BS on top of more BS in their speeches, let’s just take this one BS statement at a time.
“Stop calling us racist for saying that we’ve got to close down that southern border!”
See, this is why I abhor the manipulativeness of white conservatism.
Vance has to know he and his people are not being called racist simply because they are calling for border security. Vance is being called racist because he spread lies about Haitian migrants abducting and eating pets and Springfield, Ohio, and continued to double down on disparaging an entire ethnic group even after the city’s planners, its police department, its Republican mayor and the state’s Republican governor said repeatedly that there haven’t been any credible reports or 911 calls about immigrants eating pets. Vance is being called racist because he spread the falsehood that Haitian migrants are responsible for a steep increase in HIV cases in Ohio while the data on HIV stats in Ohio shows that is also untrue. Vance is being called racist because he keeps referring to the Haitians in Ohio as “illegal” immigrants knowing the bulk of them are in the country legally.
Likewise, Trump is being called racist, not because he has leaned on the border security issue throughout his campaign, but because he hasn’t managed to do so without spreading hate speech about migrants. Trump is racist because he compares South American migrants to Hannibal Lecter, and calls them “animals” who are “not human.” He’s racist because he dabbled in eugenics-style scientific racism by suggesting migrants have “bad genes” that predispose them to commit violent crimes. Trump is a Nazi-esque racist because he lied about migrants bringing “tremendous infectious disease” to the U.S. and said they are “poisoning the blood” of the country. He’s racist becase he wishes the U.S. received more white immigrants from “nice” European countries. Trump and Vance are racist because they continue to lie about migrants causing a surge in violent crime in America, an assertion that is not remotely supported by violent crime data from any reputable database.
MAGA Republicans like Rep. Clay Higgins are racist, not because they want border security, but because they keep saying and posting racism such as this:
“Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, Vudu, nastiest country in the Western hemisphere, cults, splatstick gangsters… but damn if they don’t feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP.” (Much like Vance, Higgins defended his racist tweet by saying, “We do have freedom of speech; I’ll say what I want.” Apparently, white nationalist minds think alike.)
Look, if you’re going to whine about being called racist, don’t be a coward about it. At the very least, be truthful about why you’re being called what you keep proving yourself to be instead of attempting to strawman your way through the discussion.
Anyway, moving right along.
“Stop accusing us of being bad people because we have the audacity to say to Kamala Harris that she ought to do her damn job.”
Considering the fact that Vance is running for the office of vice president, he should have a better understanding of what the VP actually does than what he’s portraying to MAGA voters.
As vice president, it is not and has never been Kamala Harris’ “job” to secure the border. A VP essentially has two jobs: providing tiebreaking votes during Senate proceedings — which Harris has done more times than any other VP in U.S. history — and taking over as president when the president steps down, is successfully removed from office or dies. VPs don’t make executive decisions. Harris was never appointed by the president to the position of “border czar,” which is an office that doesn’t exist.
Vance and Trump aren’t just lying to their constituents, they’re making them dumber in regard to how their government actually works.
“We will fight for your right to speak your mind because this is America, and we get to say whatever the hell we want to!”
Again, Vance made this statement after scolding people for speaking their minds about demonstrable MAGA racism. No one is stopping conservatives from speaking their minds, and the only time they really care about free speech is when they’re being attacked over what they say. What they fail to acknowledge is that the attacks on their speech also constitute free speech. People, including public figures, indeed, have the right to “say whatever the hell they want.” People also have the freedom of speech (and freedom of peaceful assembly for that matter) to call for boycotts and firings of the people who “say whatever the hell they want.” The gag is that the largely fictitious thing conservatives call “cancel culture” is actually the result of everyone exercising their First Amendment rights.
So, yes Vance, Trump and the rest of MAGA America have the right to say things that are racist — and they exercise that right often and gleefully — and we have the right to call them what they are.
SEE ALSO:
College Student Schools JD Vance On ‘How The Vice Presidency Works’ After Vice Presidential Debate
Haitian Group Files Criminal Charges Against Trump, Vance Over Racist Conspiracy Theory
