Vice Presidential nominee Senator JD Vance (R-OH) at a campaign event in Big Rapids, Michigan, on August 27, 2024. | Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Updated: Sept. 11, 2024
On Tuesday, the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group for fair and humane immigration policies, posted to its Instagram account that “VP candidate J. D. Vance, falsely and offensively claimed Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio,” adding, “These inflammatory remarks dangerously stigmatize and already targetted population.”
“The Haitian Bridge Alliance urges him to retract,” the organization continued.
Listen: I might believe, for at least a millisecond, that the MAGA concern regarding migrants crossing the border into America was about practicality, national security and the rule of law as opposed to racism and xenophobia — if the MAGA attacks on migrants weren’t always so racist and xenophobic. It might also be plausible to accept that MAGA America’s anti-immigration stance is about border security, not hate, if Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, the GOP and the rest of white conservative America were capable of getting their point across without flat-out lying about the migrants they never pass up a chance to vilify.
But Trump and his Trump-humpers have normalized propaganda to the extent that internet randoms can start rumors that don’t even remotely sound true and Trump, Vance and many of the most prominent Republican lawmakers in the federal government will happily help spread the factless misinformation without hesitation.
And that’s why Vance is out here citing non-existent reports about Haitian migrants abducting people’s pets and eating them.
“Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio,” Vance wrote. “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?”
First of all, there are no actual “reports” about illegal immigrants stealing and eating pets. The Springfield Police Division confirmed Monday morning they have received no reports of any such thing happening. Secondly, the Haitian migrants Vance referred to are not in the country illegally and have been here for more than a decade. So, where did Vance get his “news” from regarding pet-eating Haitians who “shouldn’t be in this country?” What are these trusted sources of information — which they would have to be if they’re being cited by the potential vice president of the potential leader of the free world, right?
From the Jabberwocking.com:
The Springfield in question is Springfield, Ohio, about 15 miles from Dayton. Something like 15,000 Haitian refugees have resettled there recently, and a year ago one of them ran into a school bus and killed an 11-year-old student. J.D. Vance made hay with this and everything spiraled from there. A few days ago someone in a Springfield Facebook group claimed that Haitians were catching and butchering local ducks and cats. America 2100, an anti-immigrant organization, followed up with a Twitter thread about the horrors of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, which was then picked up by Benny Johnson, Breitbart, Elon Musk, the GOP, and a vast host of others. Within a couple of days it had all gone viral.
So, when Vance said, “Reports now show” that Haitians are kidnapping cats and ducks and eating them, what he really meant was, “People who don’t know things and hate brown people are saying it so that totally counts as a ‘report.’” And before you accuse me of putting words in Vance’s mouth, it’s actually his own campaign that is saying it.
From NBC News:
After NBC News asked the Vance campaign about the lack of evidence for his claim, a spokesperson said that the senator had received “a high volume of calls and emails over the past several weeks from concerned citizens in Springfield” and that “his tweet is based on what he is hearing from them.” The spokesperson did not say, however, whether any of those calls or emails had included evidence of violence against pets, and did not offer proof of Vance’s statements.
There you have it, folks — the man who wants to hold the second highest office in America is out here getting his “reports” from Trust Me, Bro Twitter, and his campaign wants us to believe he’s doing right by his constituents by reinforcing their delusion as opposed to alleviating their concerns by pointing out that they are baseless.
But, honestly, this is all just par for the MAGA course.
Since the beginning of the Biden administration, Republicans have promoted the propaganda that illegal immigrants are causing crime to rise in America because they know their constituents won’t do the bare minimum research it would take to know there haven’t been any surges in crimes in the cities most migrants have come to, and, in fact, in many of those cities, crime rates have fallen. They lie about massive numbers of non-citizens voting in American elections while the data indicates nothing like that is currently happening or has ever happened in such significant numbers that any election has been remotely impacted by it. Trump keeps comparing migrants to Hannibal Lecter and calling them “animals” who are “not human” while his campaign shares racist images of Black migrants to scare white America into believing Kamala Harris’ administration would ruin the lily-white suburbs of America.
But, please, tell us more about how Trump, Vance and the rest of “Build That Wall” America is all about border security, not racism.
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