‘It Is Racist. It Is a Clear Threat to People’: Trump, Vance To Continue False Attacks
Republican may actually visit city at center of his false pet-eating claims
Far from being contrite about spreading false stories about Haitian migrants in Ohio eating their neighbors’ pets, Donald Trump and his running mate intend not only to keep pushing the pretend narrative — but amp it up, as well.
Trump running mate, Republican Sen JD Vance of Ohio, essentially admitted Sunday on national TV that he fabricated racist claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pet dogs and cats.
Trump, himself, has insisted on spreading those falsehoods, even after the moderators during last week’s presidential debate warned him that his allegations simply were not true.
Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, has said, flatly, that there is no truth to the rumors.
“This is something that came up on the Internet, and the Internet can be quite crazy sometimes,” he said. “And look, the mayor — Mayor [Rob] Rue of Springfield — says, ‘No, there’s no truth in that. They have no evidence of that at all.’ So I think we go with what the mayor says. He knows his city.”
Vance admitted that he created the pet-eating stories because he was frustrated by what he considers an insufficient toughness on the part of the news media towards Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
The false claims about the migrants have prompted multiple bomb threats and other direct threats against Haitians in Springfield.
Despite that, Trump refused to denounce such threats when asked about them.
“He would not say those words. He moved on to focus on what he claimed was the problem, these migrants being there,” said Jonathan Lemire, a co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “He touted his deportation plan, saying we’d get them back there and send them back to Venezuela when, of course, earlier in the week, talking about Haitian immigrants. It’s all been racist, the rhetoric is there.
“As further evidence as to how they’re not backing down from this, campaign sources tell me and others that Trump is actually weighing a visit to Springfield in the next week or two,” he added.
Civil-rights leader, Rev Al Sharpton, outlined the harm Trump and Vance are causing by repeating what they know to be false.
“They have literally had to close the schools and cancel town hall meetings because of these threats. And when you look at the fact that [Vance] is now admitting they made up a story, as you say, quoting him, that the media wouldn’t cover, maybe the media didn’t cover it because there was no story,” Sharpton said. “It didn’t exist. But again, this is consistent with Trump’s campaign. Let’s not forget Donald Trump as president called Haiti and several African countries ‘s-hole’ countries.
“You also have to put into the factor in that if you are someone that is anti-Haitians in Springfield or coming in to think you’re defending the people of Springfield whose pets are being eaten up, any Black walking around Springfield looks Haitian,” he added. “I mean, it is racist. It is a clear threat to people.”
Please support our work…
Please subscribe…