Trump’s Racist Migrant Theory Keeps Terrorizing Ohio Town

Donald Trump’s and J.D. Vance’s lies about Haitian immigrants have continued to create chaos in the city of Springfield, Ohio.

Two elementary schools in Springfield were evacuated Monday morning in response to bomb threats. Simon Kenton Elementary School and Kenwood Elementary School became the fifth and sixth Springfield buildings to be targeted by bomb threats in the last week.

On Friday, Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary were evacuated and Roosevelt Middle School was closed altogether.

The continued threats are a direct response to the right-wing hysteria around claims of immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets that are being churned out by the Republican ticket. There have been no credible reports of immigrants eating pets, and the racist rumors have been dispelled by Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

The city announced Monday that it would cancel its annual CultureFest for the safety of its residents and visitors.

The FBI is investigating threats of a shooting and a bombing that were sent to Wittenberg University in Springfield over the weekend, which were specifically in response to Republicans’ outlandish claims about the immigrant population. On Monday, the university announced that classes would be held remotely and that all activities and sports were canceled for the day.

“Both messages targeted members of our local Haitian community,” said a statement from the university. “Wittenberg Police are cooperating with the Springfield Police Division and the FBI as they continue to investigate these threats, which follow similar threats made toward city offices, healthcare establishments, local schools, and other locations in the area.”

Clark State College, a nearby community college, also took “proactive measures” to keep its students safe and announced it would be going remote for the week.

The FBI’s Cincinnati field office said in a statement Sunday that they are “working in coordination with the Springfield police department and Wittenberg University to determine the credibility of recent threats, share information, and take appropriate investigative action.”

Over the weekend, two hospitals in Springfield went into lockdown after receiving bomb threats. Vance, who is an Ohio senator, had previously claimed that the city’s health facilities were “overwhelmed” by the city’s population of migrants and that the spread of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV were on the rise. This was after Ohio’s Department of Health director Bruce Vanderhoff said last Tuesday that Springfield has “not seen a measurable, discernible increase in vaccine-preventable illness.”

Despite the fact Vance admitted that he was using claims about migrants eating pets to raise the profile of his and Trump’s favorite bogeyman, undocumented immigration, to a national level, Vance balked at the idea that he was responsible for inciting the bomb threats against his own constituents, calling the suggestion “disgusting.”

In Donald Trump’s first interview following the apparent attempt on his life on Sunday, he blamed the incident on his political rivals, telling Fox News that the would-be assassin “believed” and “acted on” the rhetoric of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country—both from the inside and out,” Trump told Fox. “They do it with a combination of rhetoric and lawsuits they wrap me up in.… These are the things that dangerous fools, like the shooter, listen to—that is the rhetoric they listen to, and the same with the first one.”

Trump assigned particular blame to Biden and Harris for characterizing him as a “threat to democracy,” while painting themselves as “unity” leaders. “They are the opposite,” he said, calling them “people that want to destroy our country.”

Trump went on to accuse his opponents of using “highly inflammatory language.” “I can use it too—far better than they can—but I don’t,” he added.

Critics were quick to note the irony in Trump’s comments, given his history of extreme, incendiary rhetoric. This past week, for instance, Trump said that Haitian residents of Springfield, Ohio, are abducting and eating pets, amplifying a baseless rumor that has resulted in threats against local schools, hospitals, and municipal buildings.

Even while urging Democrats to tamp down their rhetoric, Trump demonstrated his penchant for the inflammatory, describing his political opponents as forces of evil: “These are people who want to destroy our country,” Trump told Fox. “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”

In a post on Truth Social Monday morning, Trump wrote “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!!!” and linked to a statement about the attempt that says “there are people in this world who will do whatever it takes to stop us.”

Postdebate polling has signaled that Vice President Kamala Harris has gained an advantage over Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race—but the shifting dynamic hasn’t thwarted Trump’s campaign, which apparently has zero interest in attracting new voters.

On Sunday, the Republican presidential nominee lashed out online, insisting that Americans who support Harris are “stupid.”

“All rich, job creating people, that support Comrade Kamala Harris, you are STUPID,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “She is seeking an UNREALIZED TAX ON CAPITAL GAINS. If this tax actually gets enacted, it guarantees that we will have a 1929 style Depression. Perhaps even the thought of it would lead to calamity—But at least appraisers and accountants would do well!”

The day before, Trump practically threw away Republican voters who had decided to hop on the Harris bandwagon, suggesting to KTNV-TV that those individuals were “taken care of” by foreign entities such as China.

“If there was a Republican for Harris here in the room with us, what would you tell that person in terms of persuading them to vote for you as opposed to voting for Harris?” asked the reporter.

“I probably wouldn’t tell them anything, because usually it would be maybe a personality problem, maybe they don’t like the way I was tough on China,” Trump said. “You know a lot of them don’t want me to be tough on China. A lot of them don’t want me to be tough on anybody because they’re taken care of by people.”

“But for every one they have, I have many, I have so many that have left the Democrats and they’ve come here,” Trump continued, referring to West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, who switched to the GOP in 2017 after being elected as a Democrat.

Rudy Giuliani just struck out again in court.

The former attorney for Donald Trump, ex-mayor of New York City, and conservative gadfly tried to sue President Joe Biden in October last year for defamation for calling him a “Russian pawn” in a 2020 presidential debate against Trump. On Monday morning, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying Giuliani “utterly failed” to carry his burden.

At the time, Giuliani claimed that he lost clients and podcast listeners after Biden said in the 2020 debate to Trump, “Buddy, Rudy Giuliani, he is being used as a Russian pawn, he is being fed information that is Russian that is not true.”

“Four, five former heads of the CIA say that what [Trump] is saying” about the laptop “is a bunch of garbage,” Biden said later in the debate, referring to Giuliani’s purported proof that Hunter Biden was involved in corrupt business dealings in Ukraine. “Nobody believes it except … his good friend Rudy Giuliani.”

Giuliani filed the lawsuit in New Hampshire to take advantage of the state’s defamation laws, and that was why the case was dismissed without prejudice, Judge Paul J. Barbadoro wrote. This means that the former New York mayor can refile the lawsuit in a different court.

But where would he get the money for another frivolous lawsuit? Giuliani was successfully sued for defamation himself by two Georgia election workers last year after he accused them of manipulating ballots, and owes them $148 million as result. He then unsuccessfully filed for bankruptcy, leading to the poll workers suing him again to seize control of his assets, including his real estate holdings.

Giuliani’s financial difficulties are almost too massive to be believed. He lost his accountant over his mismanaged debts, tried and failed to persuade Trump to help settle his seven-figure legal fees (Trump refused), had his WABC radio show canceled for spewing 2020 election lies, and started his own coffee brand, “Rudy Coffee,” in an effort to funnel in some extra cash.

The man simply can’t stop spending money he doesn’t have. His creditors in May called out the disbarred attorney for his “extravagant lifestyle” and “gross mismanagement,” saying Giulani had “accomplished almost nothing” in his bankruptcy case. He still owes money to his former attorneys, who say he only paid them $214,000 of nearly $1.6 million in legal expenses.

Giuliani also has pending criminal cases against him in Georgia and Arizona for election interference and is facing a pending sexual harassment lawsuit from one of his former assistants. Once dubbed “America’s mayor” after the September 11 attacks, Giuliani has ruined his reputation and can’t stop embarrassing himself.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene escalated a conspiracy theory about the presidential debate so blatantly baseless that even she couldn’t back it up.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s disastrous debate performance last week, during which he falsely claimed that immigrants were eating their neighbors’ pets, Republicans have scrambled to create a narrative that might explain away their candidate’s flailing.

Conservatives have begun claiming that there was a so-called “whistleblower” at ABC News who could prove that Kamala Harris had received the questions in advance and had an agreement with the moderators that she would not be fact-checked. Such claims appeared to originate from a few far-right accounts, including someone who participated in the January 6 riot, with absolutely no evidence to support them.

The MAGA Republican representative from Georgia took the outlandish claims a step further Sunday.

“The ABC whistleblower who claimed Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of the debate has died in a car crash according to news reports,” Greene wrote in a post on X.

Four hours later, Greene tried to walk back her claim, without retracting the actual misinformation.

“This story appears to be false, and I’m glad to hear it,” Greene wrote, referring to reports that the so-called “whistleblower” had died. “We need a serious investigation into the whistleblower’s report that Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of time from ABC!”

Greene did not delete her original post, but a lengthy community note appeared beneath it, which clarified that the unverified story had come from a random WordPress blog.

J.D. Vance would apparently rather protect Donald Trump’s decision to pal around with self-described “proud Islamophobe” and 9/11 conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer than stand up for his own wife.

Trump has been seen with Loomer several times over the last couple of weeks, with the pair getting eyebrow-raisingly close (Trump’s hand has been spotted in the small of Loomer’s back) while Melania Trump has largely remained out of the limelight. Loomer attended a 9/11 memorial service with Trump and also accompanied him to the presidential debate.

In an interview Sunday with NBC News, Vance was asked directly about his and his wife Usha Vance’s opinions on some of Loomer’s overt racism, including her claim that Vice President Kamala Harris’s ascendency to the Oval Office would make the White House “smell like curry.” But Vance wouldn’t take a stand against the alt-right ally.

“Senator, you are married to an Indian American woman. What was your reaction to hearing those comments specifically?” asked Meet the Press’s Kristen Welker.

Vance refused to immediately speak on the topic, sidestepping instead to briefly elaborate on his conspiracy that Haitian migrants are eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio.

“You asked about Laura Loomer. Look, Laura Loomer is not affiliated with the Trump campaign. She said something about curry in the White House that I first read about this morning because I knew you would ask me about it,” Vance said. “Look, Kristen, I make a mean chicken curry. I don’t think it’s insulting for anyone to talk about their dietary preferences or what they want to do in the White House.

“Do I agree with what Laura Loomer said about Kamala Harris? No, I don’t,” Vance continued. “I also don’t think that this is actually an issue of national import. Is Laura Loomer running for president? No. Kamala Harris is running for president, and whether you’re eating curry at your dinner table or fried chicken, things have gotten more expensive thanks to her policies.”

It’s worth noting that not only is Vance’s response pathetic, but he also manages to incorporate racist stereotypes about the food eaten by both of Harris’s cultures: Indian people and Black people.

But even when given a second chance to disavow Loomer’s comments, Vance couldn’t give it up. Instead, the vice presidential pick blamed the drama on chronically online behavior before continuing to attack Harris’s economic policies and jabbing fingers at the media for covering the far-right conspiracy theorist’s influence on the Republican presidential nominee.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Lara Trump, the Republican National Committee co-chair and daughter-in-law of Donald Trump, defended the Trump campaign’s lies about Haitian immigrants abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Given that the rumors amplified last week by the Trump-Vance campaign have been repeatedly discredited by Springfield police and local government officials, Fox News’s Howard Kurtz asked, “Do you now accept, based on what local officials say, that this is untrue?”

“It’s not up to me to decide that,” Lara Trump replied. “This information came directly from the people of Springfield. No one at our campaign—Donald Trump didn’t make this up himself. You heard from people at a city council meeting, I believe, that they were very concerned about what’s going on,” she continued, referring back to rumors roundly debunked by those on the ground in Springfield.

“I think it’s a shame that people are trying to discredit the impact that the illegal immigration in this country has had on towns like Springfield, Ohio,” she added—a sentiment that runs against remarks made by Ohio’s Trump-supporting Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, that same day. DeWine called the smears against the Haitian Springfield residents “garbage,” adding, “They’re here legally, and they want to work, and they are, in fact, working.”

Lara Trump was not the only member of Team Trump asked to answer for the campaign’s lies this weekend. J.D. Vance told CNN’s Dana Bash, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

The demonization of the Haitian residents in Springfield has given rise to threats against government offices, public schools, and hospitals.

Donald Trump’s angry post attacking Taylor Swift is drawing backlash from his own supporters.

On Sunday, in an all-caps post, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” And the convicted felon’s MAGA faithful were immediately concerned.

Even on Truth Social, a platform almost exclusively made up of Trump fans, the comments were negative, with supporters posting, “Why are you doing this” and “This one isn’t going to help much.” Some of them speculated that his account was hacked, and others advised him not to take on the pop star’s numerous and vocal fanbase.

Only three months ago, Trump made some creepy comments praising Swift, saying, “I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually—unusually beautiful.”

Last week, he had a somewhat more muted, although weird, response after the pop star endorsed Harris after Tuesday’s presidential debate, telling Fox News the next morning that he preferred Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, alluding to Swift’s partner, Travis Kelce. (Brittany Mahomes has been perceived to be pro-Trump, while her husband has said he wasn’t endorsing any presidential candidate.)

“She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it at the, uh, in the marketplace,” Trump said of Swift at the time. Does Trump think his post Sunday will hurt her and maybe even draw away her Republican fans? If so, he’d be deluded, and it might even backfire on him. The A.I. images his fans created to make him friendly to Swift fans didn’t work, with Trump even seeing a need to distance himself from them.

Swift’s popularity has driven the right wing mad, with many of them unable to comprehend her popularity. Trump’s post isn’t likely to help him or his campaign, and Swift will let the haters hate, hate, hate and shake it off.

J.D. Vance seemingly admitted that he and Donald Trump have been spreading racist lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

During an interview Sunday with CNN’s Dana Bash, Vance flailed as he attempted to downplay his ticket’s role in spreading completely discredited rumors that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs. With Vance and Trump’s help, the cartoonishly racist lies made their way to the national stage, fueling right-wing hysterics and resulting in multiple bomb threats in the city of Springfield.

“Why have I talked about some of the things that I’ve been talking about?” Vance said. “My constituents have brought approximately a dozen separate concerns to me; 10 of them are verifiable and confirmable. And a couple of them I talk about because my constituents are telling me, firsthand, that they are seeing these things.”

Vance seemed to want to push the blame away from himself and onto his favorite punching bag: the media.

“Many of the things that the media says that are completely baseless have since been confirmed,” Vance continued. “For example, I was told, Dana, by the American media, that it was baseless that migrants were capturing the geese from the local park pond and eating them.”

Vance claimed that there were “911 calls” from well before he had chosen to elevate the claims to national scrutiny that proved these things had taken place.

“So my attitude is, ‘Listen to my constituents.’ Sometimes they’re going to say things that people don’t like. But they’re saying things that people don’t like because their town has been overwhelmed,” Vance said, claiming he was “protecting” them by elevating these claims without ever actually confirming that they were true. An important difference between the media and Vance, however, is that news outlets actually bother to confirm their stories.

“Senator, I have to go through several things you just said,” Bash replied.

“First of all, the Clark County Sheriff and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reviewed 11 months of 911 calls; they only identified two instances of people alleging Haitians were taking geese out of parks. They found zero evidence to substantiate those claims,” Bash explained.

Bash said the rest of his “alleged evidence” was “unsourced social media videos from a different city. Apparently no connection to Haitians.” She also noted that people had been paid to drum up so-called “proof.”

“Nobody is disputing that the town of Springfield, Ohio, needs help. But, you’re not just a bystander,” Bash said. “You’re the senator from Ohio, so instead of saying things that are wrong, and actually causing the hospitals, the schools, the government buildings to be evacuated because of bomb threats, because of the cats and dogs thing, why not actually be constructive, in helping to better integrate them into the community? Because there are a lot of employers there who say that the Haitians workers are helping fill jobs that they need desperately filled.”

Rather than take any ownership of his role in spreading false claims and incendiary rhetoric, Vance recoiled, saying that any suggestion that he’d been responsible for inciting the bomb threats in Springfield was “disgusting.” The Ohio senator scolded Bash for sounding like a “Democratic propagandist” as she called him out on his reckless lying.

“There is nothing that I have said that has led to threats against these hospitals. These hospitals, the bomb threats and so forth. It’s disgusting. The violence is disgusting. We condemn all violence,” Vance said, downplaying his obvious role in inciting the violence.

Faced with Bash’s evidence, though, Vance struggled to keep up his story. Bash tried to give him an out, asking him whether he could “affirmatively say” that the story about migrants eating their neighbors’ pets was “a rumor that has no basis with evidence.”

Vance again said that he was describing the “firsthand account” of his constituents, before finally showing a crack in his week-long farce.

“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,” Vance said.

“But it wasn’t just a meme,” Dana replied.

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana,” Vance said, before trying to pivot to complain about Harris’s preferential treatment in the media and her public policy.

“You just said that you’re ‘creating’ a story,” Bash said. Vance fell silent for a moment.

“You just said that this is a story that you created,” Bash said.

“Yes!” Vance replied, not getting it.

“So the eating dogs and cats thing …” Bash asked.

“We are creat—we are creating … Dana,” Vance said firmly, obviously frustrated. “It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we’re ‘creating a story’ meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it.”

Billionaire X owner Elon Musk went a little too far with an assassination conspiracy over the weekend, but his attempt to walk it back made him seem even more callous.

Following a second assassination attempt on Donald Trump Sunday, Musk issued an alarming tweet questioning why the MAGA conservative had been targeted several times while there had been no such attempt to attack Vice President Kamala Harris.

“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” Musk wrote.

Musk deleted the tweet after it received widespread backlash, with X users torching him for “inciting violence.”

By Monday, Musk had issued a couple of new tweets to explain away the atrocious comment. Apparently, he considered the violent invitation just a bad retelling of a “hilarious” joke.

“Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on 𝕏,” Musk wrote in a post on X. “Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”

But the nonapology wasn’t enough for Musk, who has been promised a seat in a potential second Trump administration. An hour after trying to brush off his own poor remarks, Musk shared a video that claimed to depict Democrats “calling for” political violence, including snippets of Nancy Pelosi referring to the 2020 fake electors as “enemies of the state” for undermining the last presidential election, as well as a clip of actor Robert de Niro sharing that he’d like to punch Trump “in the face.”