Of a presidential debate and a racist lie

Springfield Ohio has a large Haitian-American immigrant population, overwhelmingly legal immigrants. Recently after a non-Haitian woman killed and ate a cat, the right-wing noise machine began shrieking that Springfield faced a plague of cat-killing Haitian illegal immigrants. Sen. J.D. Vance then claimed his office had received constant calls about the supposed crisis. When people pointed out the police say it ain’t happening (why would Springfield residents call their senator instead of the cops?), Vance told people to keep repeating the lie, and besides, Haitians have caused lots of problems for Springfield including supposedly murdering a kid.

(J.D. Vance, in case you’re curious, identifies Southern slaveholders as preferable to Woke Yankees).

Then Trump mentioned it in the debate and suddenly the mythical cat-eating Haitians were proven fact to countless right-wing pundits and politicians. Right-wing agitator Chris Rufo is offering $5,000 for proof, though as LGM says at the link, his standards for conclusive proof will doubtless be … flexible. Newsmax host Chris Plante likewise lies that the claim is 100 percent true. Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is outraged Democrats are ignoring Springfield’s eyewitness testimony — which doesn’t exist. She also lies that eating pets is part of voudou religious practice. Donald Trump Jr. goes with a classic: Haitians are mentally inferior to whites.

Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia just had a school shot up in his district. He’d much sooner talk about threats to cats. Right-wing xenophobe and Trump toady Laura Loomer is not only amplifying Trump’s lies, she’s claiming the Haitians are cannibals. Even MTG is calling her out, though that’s probably more Loomer’s currently more on the inside with Trump than Greene is.

As Public Notice says, this insistence Yes It’s True sounds bizarre to anyone outside the right-wing echo chamber. The WaPo makes the same point. That doesn’t mean it’s harmless. Bomb threats. More bomb threats. And the “murdered” kid’s father reminds us his boy was killed in a road accident involving a Haitian driver and the father is sick of him being used as propaganda. The Haitians are sick of it as are the Haitians outside Springfield.

The people who claim to believe this are angry too, angry anyone dares debunk them: “after reporters spoke with Springfield law enforcement, the mayor’s office, pet shelters and the local SPCA, confirming that no pets are missing and no one is eating cats in Springfield, none of the people supposedly believing this lie were relieved. They were, instead, angrily disappointed at responsible journalists and fact-checkers who were ruining their game by debunking their racist fantasy.”

Vance, a Catholic, is violating one of the cardinal Christian tenets: do not bear false witness against your neighbor. His defense (and Trump’s to at times) is that it gets attention for his other complaints about immigration. Which is like me saying that claiming Vance is a member of the American Nazi Party is a legitimate way of drawing attention to his fascist views.

As for the debate itself, Trump was a mess. It’s the first time in a long time he’s faced a seriously adversarial situation and couldn’t just whine his way out. Kamala Harris spoke passionately, including about abortion rights. So of course he’s lying that he won. And that the moderators should be criminally charged, which Fox News supports.

Fox’s Greg Gutfeld insists the moderators were totally unfair to Trump. Matt Taibbi argues that just because “conventional wisdom” says things like “Haitians aren’t eating pets” and “schools don’t perform gender surgeries on kids” doesn’t mean Trump’s wrong (spoiler: he is). Religious zealot Lance Wallnau’s saying Harris used witchcraft. Right-wing troll Brendan Dilley screams that Harris is a bitch. Congressional Republicans are ducking the subject.

Oh, and after Taylor Swift came out for Harris, Elon Musk and right-winger Dave Rubin both started making creepy threats.

None of this makes a Harris victory a slam-dunk. A chunk of the electorate will never abandon Trump. And courts and red-state governments will do what they can to tip the scales, whether in North Carolina or Florida or elsewhere. If you’re doing anything to push back against fascism, keep doing it. A Trump win will be a nightmare.