By Michael Woyton
It sickens me that the convicted felon and the hillbilly senator have targeted a group of immigrants in their quest to recapture the White House and possibly hold it forever.
Despite being debunked, the rumor that members of the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, were killing and eating dogs and cats in the community.
Never mind that the city manager of the community said there was no credible evidence, former president Donald Trump chanted “They’re eating the dogs … they’re eating the cats … they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
Not surprisingly, Trump veered off of a response to crowd size at his rallies to the madness about pets on the dinner menu in Springfield.
Debate moderator David Muir of ABC News said that the network had contacted Springfield’s city manager who said there was no substance to the rumor, but that didn’t make a difference to the convicted felon.
He replied that he had seen someone on television talking about it.
NBC News called it “the airing of a claim worthy of a chain email” and said the unsubstantiated and racially charged rumor had been thriving on the internet in its right-wing corners and was fomented by Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate who lives in Ohio.
Blood Tribe, a national neo-Nazi group, according to reporting by NBC News, was among the early spreaders of the rumor in August, publishing the claim on social networks popular with extremists.
Can this country — or our fragile political psyches — take another four years of waking up wondering what some bizarre QAnon or extreme right-wing nut will say that will be amplified by Trump’s inner circle that will make it to his desk?
Horse paste or injecting bleach to cure COVID, anyone?
Also worrisome is having conspiracy theorist (she called the September 11 attacks an “inside job”) and racist Laura Loomer spending time with the former president — even being invited to a sacred 9/11 ceremony Tuesday at Ground Zero. What a slap in the face of all those who lost and continue to lose loved ones from that tragic day.
Don’t discount for a moment that a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for horrible people like Loomer.
But the final say for today will be from Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, who wrote an op-ed Thursday called “White People Have Never Forgiven Haitians for Claiming Their Freedom.”
Mystal, who is of Haitian descent, said that facts don’t matter to “vile and racist Republicans like JD Vance and Donald Trump, who spread lies and misinformation about immigrants.”
He said the people pushing the false claims long ago gave up any grasp on reality.
“The goal — their only goal — is to hurt people,” Mystal wrote. “It’s their kink” and makes them feel powerful and important.
The results of the lies — people afraid to send children to school, bomb threats being called in, damage to immigrants’ property — make them feel strong.
I believe the message in all this is that this kind of behavior cannot be rewarded with another term — or longer if Project 2025 gets implemented — as commander in chief.
Lead art: Screen grab from Today.
On Second Thought 