Fake news about Haitians is stoking more stochastic terrorism
The domestic terrorist in chief is at it again.
Last Tuesday’s presidential debate was an hour and a half well spent witnessing Vice President Kamala Harris peel the bark off the convicted felon and twice-impeached former president.
From the moment Harris walked onto the stage and approached the deranged old man with outstretched hand and introduced herself, to her inviting viewers to attend his rallies so they can witness for themselves the “exhaustion and boredom” causing many attendees to leave, to her getting the wanna-be dictator to admit he does not have a healthcare plan, just “concepts of one,” it was a masterclass in how to expose the former host of Celebrity Apprentice for the fraud he is.
Harris presented policies centered around how government is supposed to work to lift up average Americans, not the morbidly wealthy; her opponent, on the other hand, didn’t or was unable to answer a single question amid lies, incoherent rambling, and shouting.
Perhaps you found yourself laughing out loud at Trump’s appearance and non-sequiturs that all seemed to coalesce around immigration conspiracy theories. One thing he said that was almost risible was the claim, “In Springfield, [Ohio] they’re [Haitian immigrants] eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
The day before, the Trump-Vance campaign issued a press release accusing “unvetted” Haitians of eating domestic animals, and hunting and eating local wildlife like ducks and geese, amplifying the claim the leader of the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe had been spreading.
On its face, this is just absurd, and has, of course, been debunked. VP Harris let out an audible chuckle as the split screen displayed her countenance of disbelief crossed with genuine concern as if for an elderly relative whose driving privileges she’s about to revoke.
In any normal circumstance, the allegation of immigrants abducting local residents’ pets for food might get a round of laughter. But the fallout from this ridiculous dystopic nonsense is no laughing matter.
Once again, the man who ascended to the presidency in 2017 on lies, baseless theories, and scapegoating is responsible for the threats, fear, and racism his comments incite.
Since the man who three years ago attempted to overthrow the government to keep himself in power spewed those three sentences Tuesday night, Springfield, Ohio, the small city about 45 miles west of Columbus, is facing domestic terror threats.
Hours before the debate, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue stated at a city council meeting:
There have not been any credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.
On Thursday, Springfield City Hall closed following a bomb threat “sent to multiple agencies and media outlets.” Mayor Rue explained to The Washington Post the threats “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community.”
On Saturday, two hospitals — Kettering Health Springfield and Mercy Health — were locked down after a bomb threat — the fourth in as many days.
Wittenberg University announced it was closing its campus to all activities on Sunday after it received emailed threats that Haitian immigrants would be targets of “open fire”.
Monday, Simon Kenton and Kenwood Elementary Schools were evacuated. The noted in a statement:
These are the fifth and sixth SCSD buildings to be targeted by recent threats within the last week.
Nearby Clark State College announced it was closing for the week and classes would be held virtually.
All this because the adjudicated rapist doubled down on demonstrable fake news, emboldening neo-Nazi groups to intimidate local residents. Trump has even promised to begin his mass deportation agenda in Springfield if elected.
How did this madness start?
Like countless other conspiracy theories the former pretender to the nation’s highest office likes to promote, it started on social media.
Springfield resident Erika Lee posted on Facebook something her neighbor, Kimberly Newton, told her about Newton’s friend’s daughter who lost her cat and then supposedly found it strung up outside a Haitian family’s home.
While the republican nominee for president and his running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance, are doubling down on the lie, Erika Lee and Kimberly Newton are not. Newton explained:
I’m not sure I’m the most credible source because I don’t actually know the person who lost the cat. I don’t have any proof.
This is what we have come to expect from fake news. It used to be harmless. That was until Donald Trump came onto the scene in 2015 and weaponized it.
Remember “Pizza-gate” of 2016 when a social media post promulgated the lie that Hillary Clinton and other Democratic “operatives” were running a child sex ring out of the basement of the Comet Ping-Pong Pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C.?
To most people, that sounded absurd.
Not to Edgar Maddison Welch, a 28-year-old man from Salisbury, N.C., though.
He drove up from North Carolina and burst into the place demanding workers “release the children” from the non-existent “basement”. Fortunately no one was hurt when he opened fire.
Remember Trump’s shout-out to “second-amendment people” against Hillary Clinton?
Remember January 6, 2021?
Once again, Trump is stoking stochastic terrorism.
If this isn’t a perspective of what America might be like should we suffer under another Trump term, what is?
Things are going to get messy, and it’s only getting started.