"The path the inflammatory rumors took from the fever swamps to the debate stage to an on-the-ground, Trump-fueled furor in Springfield is a new spin through a story arc that has become familiar in the MAGA era:"

~ Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/2

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/how-jd-vance-and-a-virulent-neo-nazi-group-inflamed-tensions-over-migrants-in-springfield

How JD Vance And A Virulent Neo-Nazi Group Inflamed Tensions Over Migrants In Springfield

It was one of the most shocking and disturbing lines in the...

^TPM

"The most out-there right-wing extremists — including, in this case, notorious neo-Nazis — and GOP politicians reinforce each others’ narratives, with real-world ramifications for everyday people."

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/3

Heather Cox Richardson summarizes Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky' findings:

"More than two months ago, they wrote, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who is Trump’s vice presidential running mate, began to speak about Springfield at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, trying to tie rising housing prices to immigrants."

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/4

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-13-2024

September 13, 2024

After bomb threats today, officials had to evacuate two elementary schools in Springfield, Ohio, and move the students to a different location.

^{Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American)}

"The next day, at the National Conservatism conference, Vance accused 'illegals' of overwhelming the city.

On August 10, about a dozen neo-Nazis of the 'Blood Tribe' organization showed up in Springfield, where one of their leaders said the city had been taken over by 'degenerate third worlders' and blamed the Jews for the influx of migrants."

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/5

"The neo-Nazis stayed and, on August 27, showed up at a meeting of the city council, where their leader threatened council members. On September 1, another white supremacist group, Patriot Front, held its own 'protest to the mass influx of unassimilable Haitian migrants' in the city. Right-wing social media posters pushed the story, usually with 'witnesses' to events in the city coming from elsewhere."

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/6

"In late August, posting in a private Facebook group, a resident said they had heard that Haitian immigrants had butchered a neighbor’s cat for food. Vance reposted that rumor to attack Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, on whom he is trying to hang undocumented immigration although it was Trump who convinced Republicans to kill a strong bipartisan border bill this spring."

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/7

"Springfield police and the city manager told news outlets there was no truth to the rumors.

Nonetheless, on September 10, Vance told his people to 'keep the cat memes flowing,' even though—or perhaps because—the rumors were putting people in his own state in danger."

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/8

And why are Trump and Vance doing this?

"The widespread ridicule of Trump’s statement has obscured that this attack on Ohio’s immigrants is part of an attempt to regain control of the Senate. Convincing Ohio voters that the immigrants in their midst are subhuman could help Republicans defeat popular Democratic incumbent senator Sherrod Brown, who has held his seat since 2007."

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/9

"I’s important to see that what they are doing follows a strategy.

It’s the exact same pattern we’ve witnessed in recent cycles. And it ties directly into Donald Trump’s killing of the immigration bill in the Senate earlier this year."

~ David Pepper

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/10

https://davidpepper.substack.com/p/the-sick-gop-strategy-re-springfield

The Sick GOP Strategy Re. Springfield

The Same Tactic Every Two Years--and How We Respond

^{David Pepper (Pepperspectives)}

"Fully aware that most of what they stand for is deeply unpopular (think abortion bans, Project 2025, and most everything Trump and Vance talk about), what’s happening around Springfield and Haitian migrants is now their playbook come election time....

To advance an agenda that most of the population disagrees with—to 'shape' the electorate in your favor—you need to divide that otherwise united majority over something else.

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #hate #violence
/11

"And the candidate for 'something else' too often turns out to be race. So time and again, the far right’s attack on democracy comes wrapped in an unvarnished appeal to racial prejudices, stereotypes, fear, and outright racism."

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/12

"Two schools in Springfield had to be evacuated today because of your bullshit. This has gone way beyond offensive. You’re literally endangering people’s lives with your dishonest rhetoric. How do you sleep at night?"

~ Rex Huppke quoted by Greg Dworkin

#Trump #JDVance #Springfield #Ohio #Haitians #NeoNazi #hate #violence #xenophobia
/13

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/14/2270133/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-An-unhinged-Trump-week-ends-with-a-bang

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: An unhinged Trump week ends with a bang

Matt Gertz/ Media Matters: Why the MAGA movement can’t cut loose toxic liabilities like Tucker Carlson and Laura Loomer What it takes to get kicked out of the MAGA movement Right-wing media ...

^{Daily Kos}