J. D. Vance, Trump’s 2024 running mate, is asserting he has a right to “tell stories” about Haitian immigrants.
He’s carrying out his party’s campaign strategy, which is what veep candidates typically do. Republicans have made immigrant-bashing a centerpiece of their 2024 election strategy, and the plan is to tell “stories” about the impact of immigration on communities. These stories don’t have to be true to fulfill their political purpose, and Vance’s stories aren’t. He’s the Trump campaign’s storyteller-in-chief and leading creator of fictions.
First he accused Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian community of eating people’s pets. When this lie was shot down by city officials and fact-checkers, he fabricated a new one: Haitians are spreading HIV and tuberculosis. That’s a lie, too (see story here). So is his claim that Springfield’s Haitians caused a crime wave (see story here). He also called Springfield’s Haitians “illegals,” even though they’re not. That’s four claims, and all are lies.
These aren’t honest mistakes. Vance knows he’s lying and defaming an innocent group of people, justifies it as a way of getting a point across (see story here). He and his party are waging a calculated campaign to demonize Haitians that has deep roots in history (see articles here and here) and serves to divert voters’ attention from unpopular Republican positions on issues like abortion (see story here).
What do Republicans have against Haitians who are bothering no one? Their race and culture. Republicans believe all that’s “good and strong” in America derives from northern European Anglo-Saxon cultures. They also believe in Aryan superiority and supremacy, and envision creating a society with no room for anyone else. What does that remind you of?
And what about Vance? His lies spurred bomb threats that closed Springfield’s schools, has city residents on edge, forced the governor to divert state police resources from other duties to send them there, and are inciting racism. Instead of apologizing, he’s doubling down with more lies. As a Yale-educated lawyer, he knows better. Even by gutter politics standards, what he’s doing is low. The only thing that really can be said about him is that he’s unethical, racist, and a liar.
Related story: Vivek Ramaswamy is calling his party’s Haitian lies a “mistake” (no, it’s deliberate) and the media’s focus on the fallout (i.e., bomb threats and school evacuations) “fringe reporting” (read story here), but it’s not the media who’s fringe and makes you cringe.