During the debate, creepy Donald Trump lied about many things but the only time that I actually slapped my forehead in astonishment was when he brought up the story about Haitian immigrants eating the pet cats and dogs of people in the small town of Springfield, Ohio. There are some wild things that he regales his followers at his rallies that are utterly preposterous (windmills causing cancer, children being given gender changing surgery in schools without their parents’ knowledge, talking of Hannibal Lecter as if he were a real person, being forced to choose between being electrocuted by the batteries in electric boats or being eaten by sharks) that I felt that even he would not bring up at the debate as being too nutty for anyone but his devoted cult.
I had heard about this Springfield rumor that had been debunked even before the debate and I placed it in the category as too extreme for prime time and could not believe that he would bring it up during the debate. But he did. Clearly the moderators had anticipated that he might do this and immediately fact-checked him, saying that the city manager had said that there was no credible evidence of this. But that did not stop weird JD Vance from doubling down and saying that his office had received calls from people asserting this. Since anyone can call and say anything, that is an extremely low bar for spreading such malicious and dangerous rumors that could well result in crazy people harming Haitians, not just in Springfield but across the country.
Today, even the Republican governor of Ohio Mike DeWine debunked the story and praised Haitian immigrants.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, distanced himself from former President Donald Trump’s false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating people’s pets.
“This is something that came up on the internet, and the internet can be quite crazy sometimes,” DeWine told CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett on Wednesday.
DeWine said he trusts city officials, who have said they have not received any credible reports of such conduct.
“Mayor [Rob] Rue of Springfield says, ‘No, there’s no truth in that.’ They have no evidence of that at all. So, I think we go with what the mayor says. He knows his city, ” DeWine said.
…DeWine defended the thousands of Haitian migrants who are living in Springfield, but noted there are challenges that come with 15,000 migrants settling in city with a population of less than 60,000 in the last couple of years.
“These Haitians came in here to work because there were jobs, and they filled a lot of jobs. And if you talk to employers, they’ve done a very, very good job and they work very, very hard,” he said.
Creepy Trump and weird JD Vance are being dangerously racist in spreading such a rumor about a minority community because there are many crazy people out there who may take it upon themselves to ‘solve’ this non-existent problem by attacking Haitians, or indeed any immigrants of color, since they will not be able to distinguish between them. And sure enough, a bomb threat closed the Springfield city hall today.
The bomb threat “was issued to multiple facilities throughout Springfield,” the city said.
We ask the community to avoid the area surrounding City Hall vicinity while the investigation is ongoing and to report any suspicious activity to the Springfield Police Division.
The city’s mayor, Rob Rue, indicated that the threat included complaints about Haitian migrants in the city, according to NBC News.
So how did this story get into the head of creepy Trump? Fingers are being pointed at Lara Loomer who is a close confidante of his.
Loomer flew with Trump on his private plane to Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia and has been identified as a key promoter of the pets rumour, which has been dismissed as false by authorities in Springfield, Ohio, where the practice was alleged to have been taking place.
…Trump this year proposed giving Loomer an official role on his campaign, but the idea was resisted by staffers.
Loomer, who styles herself as an “investigative journalist”, last year promoted a conspiracy theory alleging that 9/11 was an”inside job”. On Wednesday she posted an unfounded allegation that Harris had worn earphones disguised as earrings during the debate.
How racist is Loomer? So racist that even Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling her out.
In a sign of resentment among Trump loyalists over her supposed influence, the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked her as “racist” on Wednesday over an earlier post in which she had said the White House would smell of curry if Harris – who has Indian heritage – was elected.
“If @KamalaHarris wins, the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center and the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call that nobody will understand,” Loomer wrote.
“This is appalling and extremely racist,” posted Greene, who herself has faced past accusations of racism. “It does not represent who we are as Republicans or MAGA. This does not represent President Trump.”
It may be that Greene is not so much concerned with Loomer being a racist as being racist towards the wrong people, in this case South Asians. This group is not politically powerless like the Haitians. South Asians are quite numerous, occupy prominent positions in business and academia and public life generally, and have financial clout. The dirty secret is that there is considerable anti-Black racism in this community, because they see themselves as superior to other immigrants and people of color. Thus they do not feel that creepy Trump’s xenophobia and racism is aimed at them and can sign on to it and Republicans and creepy Trump have been successful in garnering support among them. If creepy Trump, influenced by Loomer, goes on a rant against them, that would undercut that support and the GOP is naturally alarmed.
That is the problem with espousing xenophobic racist rhetoric. It tends to spread and encompass more and more groups, going well beyond what was originally intended.
Aw c’mon, if they couldn’t hate on the Haitians, they’d have to hate on, say, left-handed Lithuanian lesbians.
Why do you hate left-handed Lithuanian lesbians?
(Not hating on somebody is not an option.)
The others catch up to find the pair held at gunpoint by unknown uniformed militia who are burying civilians in a mass grave. Sammy stays behind as the other three approach to attempt to negotiate their release, but the leader of the militia executes both Bohai and Tony for not being “American”.
I found this to be one of the most disturbing scenes in the movie “Civil War” and also one of the most believable.
These are the people that Trump is speaking to and these people just can’t wait for some ethnic cleaning.
There are levels and levels of lies going on. First, the Haitians in Springfield are in the USA legally, with permission to live and work in the USA. Also, business owners say they love having them because they show up to work on time and sober--meth and alcohol addictions are rampant in the native-born there, and it’s hard to find sober native-born workers. And just like immigrants transformed Rust Belt city Utica, New York, immigrants in Springfield are working (and paying taxes) and paying rent on otherwise-vacant buildings, and buying groceries and otherwise adding to Springfield’s bottom line.
Second, the immigrants *might* be raising their own chickens (there are Haitian immigrants in my community and they all seem to raise chickens for their own consumption), but it’s ridiculous that they’d be chasing cats (that run fast and can climb!) and dogs to butcher.
It’s an American fantasy that immigrants eat pets--they said it about the Vietnamese, they said it about the Chinese, they’ve said it about many different waves of immigrants. It’s ugly racism.
By the way, there are windmill farms nearish to where I live. Once out of curiousity I visited the bases of 4 windmills. First off, they’re fenced. So I had to look carefully for signs of dead birds among the heaps of bird carcasses. Just kidding. I didn’t see any. I did find empty beer cans, one of which had been jury rigged into a pot pipe, and some empty condom packets. No dead birds, which is kind of good, but I bet they taste like chicken.
Second, the immigrants *might* be raising their own chickens (there are Haitian immigrants in my community and they all seem to raise chickens for their own consumption)
Out here in Clearfield Pennsylvania, I know people who have chickens, cows, pigs, and goats -- grown for consumption or the eggs. And they’re all white (the people, not the goats). The goat eggs fetch a high price.
steve oberski@#2:
these people just can’t wait for some ethnic cleaning
Yup, because they can’t wrap their brains around what another round of ethnic cleaning, W. T. Sherman style would be like; they want another.
@ 5 Marcus Ranum
Surely egg of pig is the most prized? Bacon and eggs in one convenient container?
Apparently, spewing this racist nonsense was part of a planned sequence of moves Trump was supposed to carry out, leading to an attack on Harris over immigration -- but Trump failed to get beyond the “Haitians are eating pets” part. Unfortunately I’m by no means sure this filth (which I’ve seen reported somewhere has already led to threats against Haitians in Springfield) will damage Trump’s campaign, such is the breadth and depth of American racism. Many will have a “no smoke without fire” reaction or an “OK, maybe they’re not eating pets, but…” -- although I hear that Loomer has gone on to claim that Haitian immigrants are eating people. As for MTG, I suspect her reaction is motivated by jealousy of Loomer’s influence on Trump rather than any feeling he or she has gone too far. Anti-Haitian racism in particular has a long history in the USA, going back to the Haitian independence struggle (and the only successful revolt of enslaved people known to history) in the 1790s. Rather than welcoming the appearance of another independentrepublic in the Americas, leading Americans feared the example it gave to enslaved people in the USA.
Further to #8, note that Republicans are already using a “jokey” version of the racist lie in ads: “Eat less [sic] kittens, vote Republican”.
It is reportedly Laura Loomer who told Trump to bring up the eating pets claim (originating with J D Vance) at the debate.
After the debate Lindsay Graham dared state the debate was a disaster. Trump decided to make an example of him and let Laura Loomer out Graham as gay on social media.
Trump and his goons are trash.
@5, Marcus Ranum: yes, white people around me also have chickens, etc. My point was that people do keep chickens for the eggs and meat. If you have your own chickens in your own back yard, you’re not running around town chasing down someone else’s pets.
But the point of Trump and Vance’s noise is racism and riling up the base, not the truth.
DeWine is MAGAt trash, but I’m not surprised he broke ranks on this, since he’s from Springfield. Ironically, so is John Legend, whose wife Chrissy Teigen gave Trump the epithet “pussy ass bitch.”
My next door neighbor and another across the street raise chickens. They are not Haitian. They gift me eggs sometimes. They are good eggs. So are the neighbors.
I grew up on a farm with chickens and cows. I do not recall eating cats or dogs. That sounds like the kind of slurs the National Front in UK would say about Pakistanis.
Really, the MAGA crowd and their leaders have somehow crawled out of an episode of South Park into reality. Next episode: Mel Gibson throws feces around. Cartman tricks somebody to eat his parents, then holds a nazi rally.
(Those are real plot elements)