The situation in Springfield, Ohio- Haitians, Cats, and High Minded Rhetoric

[Willfully Horn 8017]

18 minutes ago, elfenix said:

I guess my beer mugs are sized for a beer. Add ice, and tomato juice, and there’s more stuff than my beer mug contains. So, two micheladas.

[Captainant 27667]

jeeze that video outlining where this started is crazy and bring the receipts. There's a heartbreaking moment where the parents of the little boy who died spoke at the city meeting and said "I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60 year old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would saysomething so blunt, but if that guy killed my 11 year old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone."

[Dutchrudder 11139]

21 hours ago, Zonahorn said:

 

Never seen this guy before about 2 weeks ago, when he started showing up on some talk shows as a guest. Now we should be hearing his name a LOT as all the Republicans and good Christians come out of the woodwork to denounce him and his obvious racism! 

...

Any minute now...

...

 

Megyn, do you want to go first? No? Oh ok...

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

Lot of those “all the right people” were previously undecided voters. Keep it up, assholes. 

[tx 3 putt 76955]

is all this springfield stuff going to make closer than it should be ?

if those haitians are naturalized, i hope they’re signing up to vote 

[jimmyjazz 45945]

On 9/16/2024 at 4:33 PM, InkaUtexas said:

Now do IT and engineers.

Some professions see black and white. They are taught there is no medium ground at all. A good example is looking at terrorists. They tend to be engineers and doctors. It is the poets and lawyers who may create the vision, but rarely do they implement.

lol wut?  Tell me you haven't ever worked with engineers without telling me, you know . . .

[lemonlime 5503]

 

[Biff Tannen 45683]

12 minutes ago, lemonlime said:

 

It’s more about the dehumanizing process of fascism. They eat pets because they are subhuman. They don’t deserve real food and they should be cast out. 

[Satchel 6938]

I’m not sure why most haven figured out if Haitians really ate pets, they would fly under the radar and feast on the strays in Springfield while leaving family pets alone. Think, people.

[Shut up Lou Holtz 2034]

4 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

It’s more about the dehumanizing process of fascism. They eat pets because they are subhuman. They don’t deserve real food and they should be cast out. 

 Bingo. When it’s subhuman, you don’t feel bad about filling train cars with them.
 

Fuck all of these people. 

[InkaUtexas 25937]

2 minutes ago, Satchel said:

I’m not sure why most haven figured out if Haitians really ate pets, they would fly under the radar and feast on the strays in Springfield while leaving family pets alone. Think, people.

But wait, they also receive government food cards with no limit. So why do they need fluffy?

What if Mericans' are eating the pets since they are so poor and out of work. I mean, all their guvmint money has to go to meth.

[YChang 3444]

Lol, what "conservative values" did Trump ever exhibit?

Houston area Haitians say Trump’s comments about eating pets are leaving those who supported him “embarrassed”

[atomheartbevo 89664]

6 hours ago, chainsaw said:

That polling information plus the "look around you" test tells me there's lagging enthusiasm among Trump 2020 voters, which is why they're pushing their chips in on the ridiculous racist bullhorn agitation propaganda. Aurora, then Springfield, and there will be several more until November.

But like the people in the Salon article are saying, the average person regardless of where they sit on the political spectrum is just EXHAUSTED with this shit. They might not agree about who's responsible for it (Trump? MSM? Dems? All of the above?) but only one political party's viability is completely dependent upon the constant culture war bullshit, and we all know which party that is.

I bet if you talk to the 9% who aren't coming back to Trump, a lot of them will sound like the people in the Salon article, and a lot of them voted Haley in the primaries.

The "look around you" test is most telling to me.  I've finally seen a few signs and flags out in rural areas where there had been none (but had been in 2020), but it's nowhere near 2020 levels or even 2016 levels. I've even seen a few come down for some reason (I'd like to think embarrassment).

What's still more surprising to me is I'm seeing very few MAGA relatives/acquaintances with that stupid fucking hat or other Trump apparel, and they aren't sticking flags or bumper stickers on their cars like they were in 2020, and they aren't being very proactive on their Facebook pages. Occasionally I'll see some anti-Harris stuff, and maybe something that was attributed to Trump, and some thoughts and prayers posts after the assassination attempt and then whatever happened on Sunday.  But I don't seem them rushing out there to social media defend Trump over the blatant racism, I don't see them promoting Vance at all, and it's just not the echo chamber it was in 2020.

Purely anecdotal, but it seems like Trump has changed in the eyes of at least some of them. 

Maybe they will still vote, but if they aren't enthusiastic enough right now, to do as something as simple as repost the latest pro-Trump memes on Facebook,  I can't see them wanting to waste a day of PTO or a long lunch hour to go vote for him..

[chainsaw 9867]

14 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

The "look around you" test is most telling to me.  I've finally seen a few signs and flags out in rural areas where there had been none (but had been in 2020), but it's nowhere near 2020 levels or even 2016 levels. I've even seen a few come down for some reason (I'd like to think embarrassment).

What's still more surprising to me is I'm seeing very few MAGA relatives/acquaintances with that stupid fucking hat or other Trump apparel, and they aren't sticking flags or bumper stickers on their cars like they were in 2020, and they aren't being very proactive on their Facebook pages. Occasionally I'll see some anti-Harris stuff, and maybe something that was attributed to Trump, and some thoughts and prayers posts after the assassination attempt and then whatever happened on Sunday.  But I don't seem them rushing out there to social media defend Trump over the blatant racism, I don't see them promoting Vance at all, and it's just not the echo chamber it was in 2020.

Purely anecdotal, but it seems like Trump has changed in the eyes of at least some of them. 

Maybe they will still vote, but if they aren't enthusiastic enough right now, to do as something as simple as repost the latest pro-Trump memes on Facebook,  I can't see them wanting to waste a day of PTO or a long lunch hour to go vote for him..

This plus Trump himself seems to be phoning it in. He either knows he will lose and is acting like it, or he has lost interest in campaigning.

[StassneyHorn 6575]

Trump is absolutely phoning it in.  Gonna do wonders for the Texas state house

[atomheartbevo 89664]

9 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

is all this springfield stuff going to make closer than it should be ?

if those haitians are naturalized, i hope they’re signing up to vote 

If anything, it's helping Harris.  Trump should be spending 100% of his time attacking Harris and talking about his concepts of plans he has, and instead he and his campaign people are on the defensive and constantly getting asked about this stuff, and he and Vance took the opportunity to double down on the racism with the "animals" and "fried chicken" comments, and Laura Loomer talk is not going away, the the "eating the pets" meme is still going strong (although I wonder if Elmo is pushing it down in popularity).

It's mid-September, somebody may have tried to assassinate Trump again a few days ago (and few seem to care) and Trump does not control the narrative at all.

He's just reacting to all kinds of shit (including his I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT thing which also didn't help him).

He's doing what he needs to do to lose.

[atomheartbevo 89664]

22 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

This plus Trump himself seems to be phoning it in. He either knows he will lose and is acting like it, or he has lost interest in campaigning.

14 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

Trump is absolutely phoning it in.  Gonna do wonders for the Texas state house

It's the opposite of 2016 - he's pulling a Hillary and visiting plenty of safe places rather than hitting the battleground states a lot harder (like Walz and Harris are doing). Yeah, he's doing a "Town hall" in Michigan, but people were tuning in not to hear his policies, but to hear what batshit senile racist  thing he'd say next.

And where he could be hitting 3-4 campaign stops in a day, he's hitting one.

[atomheartbevo 89664]

11 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

is all this springfield stuff going to make closer than it should be ?

if those haitians are naturalized, i hope they’re signing up to vote 

I will say this - I'm enjoying the conspiracy theories that the Springfield stuff is about distracting everybody from Bernie Moreno's shenanigans. The idea that Trump would do something that could hurt his campaign to help somebody else is laughable.

Edit: The idea that Trump would help another Republican is laughable.

Edited September 18 by atomheartbevo

[chainsaw 9867]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I will say this - I'm enjoying the conspiracy theories that the Springfield stuff is about distracting everybody from Bernie Moreno's shenanigans. The idea that Trump would do something that could hurt his campaign to help somebody else is laughable.

Edit: The idea that Trump would help another Republican is laughable.

Yeah, I thought that was unlikely but I do think the original intention behind boosting the hoax, before the Trump campaign had picked up on and run with it, was related to distracting from the Moreno revelation.

[Thatguy 8699]

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTF2uRpd4/

[C-Man 27225]

One other thing I've noticed on our evening walks in the neighborhood. Seems people are tepidly starting to put up their signs. Harris/Walz signs probably outnumber Trump signs by a small margin, which is a pleasant surprise since we're over by Love Field and not Old East Dallas. One additional item of note is that Trump's signs are tiny this go-round.

[C-Man 27225]

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

I’m no forensics expert but that appears to be above ground. 

[Macanudo 12978]

1 hour ago, C-Man said:

One additional item of note is that Trump's signs are tiny this go-round.

They are not large and distinguished?

[Francisco 2.0 32392]

 

 

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

[Francisco 2.0 32392]

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/springfield-ohio-pet-eating-claims-haitian-migrants-04598d48

 

Quote

City Manager Bryan Heck fielded an unusual question at City Hall on the morning of Sept. 9, from a staff member of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance. The staffer called to ask if there was any truth to bizarre rumors about Haitian immigrants and pets in Springfield.

“He asked point-blank, ‘Are the rumors true of pets being taken and eaten?’” recalled Heck. “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.” 

By then, Vance had already posted about the rumors to his 1.9 million followers on X. Yet he kept the post up, and repeated an even more insistent version of the claim the next morning.

 

Quote

That night, former President Donald Trump stood on a Philadelphia debate stage and shot the rumor into the stratosphere. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” he said to 67 million viewers. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating, the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in this country.”

In an instant, the everyday struggles of a typical American city grappling with an influx of immigrants were transformed into a bombshell political message laser targeted at voters distressed by immigration.
 

 

Quote

It was the culmination of a spectacular collision of forces that thrust Springfield into the heart of the U.S. presidential election. Over the summer, outside neo-Nazi groups—which specialize in exploiting local controversy to foment outrage about migrants—had seized on a local controversy and fanned the narrative of pet-eating Haitians.

Then the Trump campaign blasted those rumors to the world—and kept pushing them even after they were exposed as lies. The Trump campaign continues to run hard at the controversy. Trump last Friday said he planned “large deportations” from Springfield—whose Haitian community is overwhelmingly in the country legally. Trump campaign surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy plans to host a town hall in Springfield this Thursday. Vance said on Tuesday that Trump would like to visit Springfield, too, at some point. 

 

Spoiler

Attempts to contain the damage in Springfield were quickly overwhelmed despite city leaders’ racing from meeting to meeting trying to stem the tide. The Ohio state police were called in to protect local children as they returned to school. A security tower with cameras was erected outside City Hall. Thirty-six bomb threats had been logged as of Tuesday evening.

“It induces panic and fear and depletes resources,” said Heck, the city manager. “We’re living the danger that misinformation and created stories leads to.”

“We have told those at the national level that they are speaking these things that are untrue,” added Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, a registered Republican. But he said claims have been “repeated and doubled down on.” 

Vance insisted on CNN this past Sunday that he had firsthand accounts of the incidents from constituents, but the media had paid no attention to migrant problems in American cities “until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes.” He added, “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.” 

Ripe for exploitation

Springfield was a community that had all the ingredients to be exploited in a close, fiercely fought national election.

It’s in the middle of the middle of the U.S., with a name so generically American it was used in the classic sitcoms “Father Knows Best” and “The Simpsons.” The town sprung up along the Old National Road, the first highway built by the federal government. From the beginning, it was a place of immigrants: first the Irish, who traveled the road westward in the early 1800s, then the Germans, who founded the town’s flagship Wittenberg University in the 1840s, and eventually a wave of Black Americans fleeing the South in the mid-20th century. 

This recent wave of Haitian immigrants was initially welcomed. The town’s fortunes had declined alongside those of the rest of the Rust Belt, with the population dropping from 83,000 in 1960 to 59,000 in 2020. The pandemic created a crunch in the available labor force as many workers stayed home out of choice or necessity, collecting stimulus checks. 

Haitians were fleeing danger in their increasingly lawless country, particularly after the assassination of their president in 2021. In Springfield, they were welcomed by evangelical groups and employers alike. Friends and family members followed loved ones there. 

Estimates of the number of immigrants vary, but Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday that roughly 15,000 Haitians immigrated to Springfield over the past four years. They were able to immigrate legally under a Biden administration policy granting Temporary Protected Status to Haitians as part of a program created by Congress in 1990 to protect immigrants from countries deemed too dangerous to return to.

The local economy boomed. Business owners said they were grateful to have workers eager to work long shifts and do what it took to meet production goals. New subdivisions sprung up in the cornfields outside town. New restaurants opened. The Haitian flag flew at City Hall. 

Growth came with growing pains. The number of non-native English speakers in the public schools quadrupled to more than 1,000 children. The local clinic and hospital were overwhelmed with people fleeing a country where healthcare had been scant. Traffic increased, as did frustration with drivers more accustomed with the chaotic streets of Port-au-Prince than the orderly grid of Springfield.

Then tragedy struck at the start of school in 2023. A minivan driven by a Haitian immigrant crashed into a school bus, injuring 20 children and killing Aiden Clark, who was thrown from a window. The man didn’t have a driver’s license that was valid in the U.S.

Aiden was memorialized in an obituary as a kid who loved gardening with his father, snuggling with his mother and playing with his siblings, and overall was “one of the most awesome and exceptional 11-year-olds in existence.” 

His death brought out conflict about immigration. City commission meetings once dominated by zoning petitions became extended public comment sessions on immigration. Suspicions grew about who might be benefiting from the migrant wave.

After one city commission meeting, an evangelical pastor named Carl Ruby, who ran an “immigrant integration” not-for-profit organization, sought out a local GOP leader who had criticized him online. Ruby said he shook the hand of Mark Sanders, who had become a leading critic in town of the influx of immigrants—and wouldn’t let go until he agreed to meet. 

They met and drank coffee at Panera for an hour and a half. Ruby offered to share tax documents for his organization that would dispel rumors he was getting rich from his nonprofit. He also said he didn’t own rental properties or benefit from a local employment agency that has employed Haitians, as had been rumored.

Sanders, who has likened Ruby to a “coyote” who makes money from helping people cross into the U.S. illegally, agreed to take down some of his online posts but the two men haven’t spoken since. 

“I think he believed me, but I don’t think it fits his narrative,” Ruby said. He’s not interested in another get-together. “Logic and truth just don’t matter at this point to that group.” 

Sanders, a retired engineer, had started working as a school bus driver to comfort his daughter, who had been scared to get back on the bus after Aiden Clark’s death. He said he would be open to another meeting because he believes he can show ways that the Haitians have hurt the city. “I can show you the detriments,” he said. “Show me the benefits.” 

White supremacists arrive

Springfield’s growing tensions caught the attention of outside hate groups, seeking division to exploit.

White supremacist groups have been active in towns across the U.S. this summer, inserting themselves into hot-button debates over immigration, Gaza and gay rights, according to the Anti-Defamation League. These groups rallied in places like Tallahassee, Harrisburg, Pa., and Nashville, at times calling for deportation of immigrants.

On Aug. 10, a group wearing ski masks and carrying swastika flags and rifles marched in Springfield. The ADL identified them as Blood Tribe, which it describes as a growing neo-Nazi group claiming to have chapters across the U.S. and Canada.

On Aug. 27, during the routine public-comment portion of the Springfield City Commission meeting, a man identifying himself as a Blood Tribe member said: “I’ve come to bring a word of warning. Stop what you’re doing before it’s too late. Crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in.”
Rue, the mayor, interrupted him, saying “You sound threatening to me,” and asking police to peacefully remove him.

And recently, roughly 20 individuals claiming to represent the Proud Boys marched in the town. 

Springfield NAACP President Denise Williams said residents are on edge from visits by the groups. “I’m saying to our people near and far to please stand down and don’t approach these guys—they are armed,” she said. “It’s quite dangerous.”  

It goes national

Much of this had gone on without the rest of the U.S. noticing. That was about to change.

The cat-eating rumors, started with a post by a Springfield woman on a private Facebook page, turned out to be third-hand and were subsequently disavowed by the original poster, according to NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation.

After Vance’s tweets on the morning of Sept. 10, Springfield Mayor Rue called a press conference that afternoon to try to contain the damage.
He also was faced that evening with the pain that Vance’s tweet was causing locally. Along with promoting the pet-eating rumor, Vance’s post had said a Springfield “child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here.”

That night, Nathan Clark—the father of Aiden, the boy who had been killed in the bus crash—spoke during the public-comment portion of the Springfield City Commission meeting. Visibly shaking, he referenced GOP politicians, including Vance, and said they had used his son’s death “for political gain.”

“I wish that my son Aiden Clark was killed by a 60 year-old white man,” he said. “I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt.” 

Hours later, Trump uttered the line that launched countless memes. He was called on it in the moment, when ABC debate moderator David Muir said his outlet had checked with Springfield’s city manager and found there were no credible reports of pets being harmed by immigrants. Trump responded that the city manager would be expected to say that, but he’d seen people saying the opposite on TV.  

“It is depressing as a fact checker,” said Bill Adair, founder of the fact-checking website PolitiFact and a professor at Duke University. “We like to think that fact-checks will stop elected officials and candidates from repeating false claims or at least persuade people that these false claims have no truth to them.” 
But, he noted, “lying is really an economy. Politicians lie because they think it pays off.”

The fallout
 

The morning after the debate, parents in Springfield kept their children home en masse. Several schools, City Hall and the state motor vehicle offices in Springfield were forced to evacuate after receiving bomb threats. The city canceled its two-day CultureFest celebrating diversity, arts and culture “in light of recent threats and safety concerns.”

Blood Tribe took a victory lap for its presence in the town, boasting on Sept. 11, “We are on the ground in Springfield weekly—we even showed up to their City Council Meeting.” 

Vance, meanwhile, has continued to defend his claims.

A Vance spokesperson on Tuesday provided The Wall Street Journal with a police report in which a resident had claimed her pet might have been taken by Haitian neighbors. But when a reporter went to Anna Kilgore’s house Tuesday evening, she said her cat Miss Sassy, which went missing in late August, had actually returned a few days later—found safe in her own basement. 

Kilgore, wearing a Trump shirt and hat, said she apologized to her Haitian neighbors with the help of her daughter and a mobile-phone translation app.
Vance has also added to his claims about Haitians, saying on social media that communicable diseases have been on the rise in Springfield because of the Haitian migration. 

Information from the county health department, however, shows a decrease in infectious disease cases countywide, with 1,370 reported in 2023—the lowest since 2015. The tuberculosis case numbers in the county are so low (four in 2023, three in 2022, one in 2021) that any little movement can bring a big percentage jump. HIV cases did increase to 31 in 2023, from 17 in 2022 and 12 in 2021. Overall, sexually transmitted infection cases decreased to 965 in 2023, the lowest since 2015.

On Monday, Rue and DeWine appeared together on the heels of a roundtable at which other Ohio mayors appeared in solidarity with Springfield.

The governor said some of the bomb threats were clearly meant to sow division, and originated from a foreign country, he didn’t name. DeWine also said he has great affinity for the people of Haiti, which he has visited at least 25 times, most commonly in support of a school for poor children named after his late daughter Becky DeWine, who died in a car crash at age 22.

In recent days, many in Springfield have gone out of their way to show support for their Haitian neighbors, including by frequenting Haitian-run restaurants. Still, the local Haitian community is on edge. 

Stanley Thelusma, 24, who arrived in Springfield in July from Haiti, sought a peaceful spot at Snyder Park on Tuesday afternoon, studying a biology textbook on his iPad while people played pickleball and kids ran through a splash park nearby. He wasn’t far from a pond where Haitians had been rumored to have taken some of the park’s geese and slaughtered them, a rumor the state wildlife division found no basis for. Similarly, the mayor said the sheriff had checked 11 months of 911 calls and found no evidence of animal abuse among the Haitian community.

Thelusma said he had hoped to continue his medical studies in Port-au-Prince but that he and his parents decided to come to Springfield because of the threat of gang violence. Now he is in a nursing degree program part-time at Clark State College and works four days a week as a forklift driver at an Amazon facility 30 minutes away, earning $19.50 an hour.

“I don’t know why people are talking about immigrants eating cats, some pets,” he said. “It’s totally false.” 

 

[Brisketexan 105139]

54 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/springfield-ohio-pet-eating-claims-haitian-migrants-04598d48

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Attempts to contain the damage in Springfield were quickly overwhelmed despite city leaders’ racing from meeting to meeting trying to stem the tide. The Ohio state police were called in to protect local children as they returned to school. A security tower with cameras was erected outside City Hall. Thirty-six bomb threats had been logged as of Tuesday evening.

“It induces panic and fear and depletes resources,” said Heck, the city manager. “We’re living the danger that misinformation and created stories leads to.”

“We have told those at the national level that they are speaking these things that are untrue,” added Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, a registered Republican. But he said claims have been “repeated and doubled down on.” 

Vance insisted on CNN this past Sunday that he had firsthand accounts of the incidents from constituents, but the media had paid no attention to migrant problems in American cities “until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes.” He added, “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.” 

Ripe for exploitation

Springfield was a community that had all the ingredients to be exploited in a close, fiercely fought national election.

It’s in the middle of the middle of the U.S., with a name so generically American it was used in the classic sitcoms “Father Knows Best” and “The Simpsons.” The town sprung up along the Old National Road, the first highway built by the federal government. From the beginning, it was a place of immigrants: first the Irish, who traveled the road westward in the early 1800s, then the Germans, who founded the town’s flagship Wittenberg University in the 1840s, and eventually a wave of Black Americans fleeing the South in the mid-20th century. 

This recent wave of Haitian immigrants was initially welcomed. The town’s fortunes had declined alongside those of the rest of the Rust Belt, with the population dropping from 83,000 in 1960 to 59,000 in 2020. The pandemic created a crunch in the available labor force as many workers stayed home out of choice or necessity, collecting stimulus checks. 

Haitians were fleeing danger in their increasingly lawless country, particularly after the assassination of their president in 2021. In Springfield, they were welcomed by evangelical groups and employers alike. Friends and family members followed loved ones there. 

Estimates of the number of immigrants vary, but Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday that roughly 15,000 Haitians immigrated to Springfield over the past four years. They were able to immigrate legally under a Biden administration policy granting Temporary Protected Status to Haitians as part of a program created by Congress in 1990 to protect immigrants from countries deemed too dangerous to return to.

The local economy boomed. Business owners said they were grateful to have workers eager to work long shifts and do what it took to meet production goals. New subdivisions sprung up in the cornfields outside town. New restaurants opened. The Haitian flag flew at City Hall. 

Growth came with growing pains. The number of non-native English speakers in the public schools quadrupled to more than 1,000 children. The local clinic and hospital were overwhelmed with people fleeing a country where healthcare had been scant. Traffic increased, as did frustration with drivers more accustomed with the chaotic streets of Port-au-Prince than the orderly grid of Springfield.

Then tragedy struck at the start of school in 2023. A minivan driven by a Haitian immigrant crashed into a school bus, injuring 20 children and killing Aiden Clark, who was thrown from a window. The man didn’t have a driver’s license that was valid in the U.S.

Aiden was memorialized in an obituary as a kid who loved gardening with his father, snuggling with his mother and playing with his siblings, and overall was “one of the most awesome and exceptional 11-year-olds in existence.” 

His death brought out conflict about immigration. City commission meetings once dominated by zoning petitions became extended public comment sessions on immigration. Suspicions grew about who might be benefiting from the migrant wave.

After one city commission meeting, an evangelical pastor named Carl Ruby, who ran an “immigrant integration” not-for-profit organization, sought out a local GOP leader who had criticized him online. Ruby said he shook the hand of Mark Sanders, who had become a leading critic in town of the influx of immigrants—and wouldn’t let go until he agreed to meet. 

They met and drank coffee at Panera for an hour and a half. Ruby offered to share tax documents for his organization that would dispel rumors he was getting rich from his nonprofit. He also said he didn’t own rental properties or benefit from a local employment agency that has employed Haitians, as had been rumored.

Sanders, who has likened Ruby to a “coyote” who makes money from helping people cross into the U.S. illegally, agreed to take down some of his online posts but the two men haven’t spoken since. 

“I think he believed me, but I don’t think it fits his narrative,” Ruby said. He’s not interested in another get-together. “Logic and truth just don’t matter at this point to that group.” 

Sanders, a retired engineer, had started working as a school bus driver to comfort his daughter, who had been scared to get back on the bus after Aiden Clark’s death. He said he would be open to another meeting because he believes he can show ways that the Haitians have hurt the city. “I can show you the detriments,” he said. “Show me the benefits.” 

White supremacists arrive

Springfield’s growing tensions caught the attention of outside hate groups, seeking division to exploit.

White supremacist groups have been active in towns across the U.S. this summer, inserting themselves into hot-button debates over immigration, Gaza and gay rights, according to the Anti-Defamation League. These groups rallied in places like Tallahassee, Harrisburg, Pa., and Nashville, at times calling for deportation of immigrants.

On Aug. 10, a group wearing ski masks and carrying swastika flags and rifles marched in Springfield. The ADL identified them as Blood Tribe, which it describes as a growing neo-Nazi group claiming to have chapters across the U.S. and Canada.

On Aug. 27, during the routine public-comment portion of the Springfield City Commission meeting, a man identifying himself as a Blood Tribe member said: “I’ve come to bring a word of warning. Stop what you’re doing before it’s too late. Crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in.”
Rue, the mayor, interrupted him, saying “You sound threatening to me,” and asking police to peacefully remove him.

And recently, roughly 20 individuals claiming to represent the Proud Boys marched in the town. 

Springfield NAACP President Denise Williams said residents are on edge from visits by the groups. “I’m saying to our people near and far to please stand down and don’t approach these guys—they are armed,” she said. “It’s quite dangerous.”  

It goes national

Much of this had gone on without the rest of the U.S. noticing. That was about to change.

The cat-eating rumors, started with a post by a Springfield woman on a private Facebook page, turned out to be third-hand and were subsequently disavowed by the original poster, according to NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation.

After Vance’s tweets on the morning of Sept. 10, Springfield Mayor Rue called a press conference that afternoon to try to contain the damage.
He also was faced that evening with the pain that Vance’s tweet was causing locally. Along with promoting the pet-eating rumor, Vance’s post had said a Springfield “child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here.”

That night, Nathan Clark—the father of Aiden, the boy who had been killed in the bus crash—spoke during the public-comment portion of the Springfield City Commission meeting. Visibly shaking, he referenced GOP politicians, including Vance, and said they had used his son’s death “for political gain.”

“I wish that my son Aiden Clark was killed by a 60 year-old white man,” he said. “I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt.” 

Hours later, Trump uttered the line that launched countless memes. He was called on it in the moment, when ABC debate moderator David Muir said his outlet had checked with Springfield’s city manager and found there were no credible reports of pets being harmed by immigrants. Trump responded that the city manager would be expected to say that, but he’d seen people saying the opposite on TV.  

“It is depressing as a fact checker,” said Bill Adair, founder of the fact-checking website PolitiFact and a professor at Duke University. “We like to think that fact-checks will stop elected officials and candidates from repeating false claims or at least persuade people that these false claims have no truth to them.” 
But, he noted, “lying is really an economy. Politicians lie because they think it pays off.”

The fallout
 

The morning after the debate, parents in Springfield kept their children home en masse. Several schools, City Hall and the state motor vehicle offices in Springfield were forced to evacuate after receiving bomb threats. The city canceled its two-day CultureFest celebrating diversity, arts and culture “in light of recent threats and safety concerns.”

Blood Tribe took a victory lap for its presence in the town, boasting on Sept. 11, “We are on the ground in Springfield weekly—we even showed up to their City Council Meeting.” 

Vance, meanwhile, has continued to defend his claims.

A Vance spokesperson on Tuesday provided The Wall Street Journal with a police report in which a resident had claimed her pet might have been taken by Haitian neighbors. But when a reporter went to Anna Kilgore’s house Tuesday evening, she said her cat Miss Sassy, which went missing in late August, had actually returned a few days later—found safe in her own basement. 

Kilgore, wearing a Trump shirt and hat, said she apologized to her Haitian neighbors with the help of her daughter and a mobile-phone translation app.
Vance has also added to his claims about Haitians, saying on social media that communicable diseases have been on the rise in Springfield because of the Haitian migration. 

Information from the county health department, however, shows a decrease in infectious disease cases countywide, with 1,370 reported in 2023—the lowest since 2015. The tuberculosis case numbers in the county are so low (four in 2023, three in 2022, one in 2021) that any little movement can bring a big percentage jump. HIV cases did increase to 31 in 2023, from 17 in 2022 and 12 in 2021. Overall, sexually transmitted infection cases decreased to 965 in 2023, the lowest since 2015.

On Monday, Rue and DeWine appeared together on the heels of a roundtable at which other Ohio mayors appeared in solidarity with Springfield.

The governor said some of the bomb threats were clearly meant to sow division, and originated from a foreign country, he didn’t name. DeWine also said he has great affinity for the people of Haiti, which he has visited at least 25 times, most commonly in support of a school for poor children named after his late daughter Becky DeWine, who died in a car crash at age 22.

In recent days, many in Springfield have gone out of their way to show support for their Haitian neighbors, including by frequenting Haitian-run restaurants. Still, the local Haitian community is on edge. 

Stanley Thelusma, 24, who arrived in Springfield in July from Haiti, sought a peaceful spot at Snyder Park on Tuesday afternoon, studying a biology textbook on his iPad while people played pickleball and kids ran through a splash park nearby. He wasn’t far from a pond where Haitians had been rumored to have taken some of the park’s geese and slaughtered them, a rumor the state wildlife division found no basis for. Similarly, the mayor said the sheriff had checked 11 months of 911 calls and found no evidence of animal abuse among the Haitian community.

Thelusma said he had hoped to continue his medical studies in Port-au-Prince but that he and his parents decided to come to Springfield because of the threat of gang violence. Now he is in a nursing degree program part-time at Clark State College and works four days a week as a forklift driver at an Amazon facility 30 minutes away, earning $19.50 an hour.

“I don’t know why people are talking about immigrants eating cats, some pets,” he said. “It’s totally false.” 

 

The entire GQP is of the "ready, fire, aim!" school of thought.  Dumbest fuckers around.

Oh, and when you find yourself singing in flawless, perfect harmony with FUCKING NAZIS, you should probably stop singing.  

There is no distinction or daylight between the GQP and its supporters and fucking nazis.  None.  Zero.  If you support Trumpism, you support nazis.  Godwin's law has been repealed.  Godwin himself said so.  So, fuck off, you nazis.  My grandfather shot you in the fucking face with an M-1 carbine.  Because you fucking deserved it.  You did then, and you do now.  So choose a different path: stop being fucking nazis, you fucking assholes.

[atomheartbevo 89664]

45 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

The entire GQP is of the "ready, fire, aim!" school of thought.  Dumbest fuckers around.

A lot of those in leadership positions are not dumb - they know exactly what they are doing, and they are relying on other Republicans (such as the Ohio Governor and Springfield Mayor) not to rat them out. In this instance, Trump needs a group to demonize, that can't fight back, and after a lot of workshopping, they cobbled together an strategy.

The "dumbest" part is the Republican voters who buy into this shit.

Well, it is possible that Trump believes this shit, but the people around him most likely don't.   And even Vance said they created stories like this to focus the media.

They are evil and self-serving, not dumb.  Abbott knows exactly what he's doing when he gins up border emergencies or Venezuelan gang emergencies.

[royiv 9315]

1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Thelusma said he had hoped to continue his medical studies in Port-au-Prince but that he and his parents decided to come to Springfield because of the threat of gang violence. Now he is in a nursing degree program part-time at Clark State College and works four days a week as a forklift driver at an Amazon facility 30 minutes away, earning $19.50 an hour.

“I don’t know why people are talking about immigrants eating cats, some pets,” he said. “It’s totally false.” 

American dream right here. Working a menial job at Amazon and studying to become a nurse, a profession in short supply in this country. Examples 1-100 of why immigration is a good thing.

[Brisketexan 105139]

4 minutes ago, royiv said:

American dream right here. Working a menial job at Amazon and studying to become a nurse, a profession in short supply in this country. Examples 1-100 of why immigration is a good thing.

As a metric shitton of Trump voters sit at home and bellyache about him "taking their job"....when they never even applied for that fucking Amazon job, and never even applied to a college program.

The WORST of America, demonizing the BEST of America.  Yeah, that checks out perfectly for this timeline.

[royiv 9315]

3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

As a metric shitton of Trump voters sit at home and bellyache about him "taking their job"....when they never even applied for that fucking Amazon job, and never even applied to a college program.

The WORST of America, demonizing the BEST of America.  Yeah, that checks out perfectly for this timeline.

Yep, and to add that nursing is a pretty easy ticket to upper middle class income and you’ll never have a difficult time finding a job unless we start minting a fuck ton more nurses.

[Js1 85334]

2 minutes ago, royiv said:

Yep, and to add that nursing is a pretty easy ticket to upper middle class income and you’ll never have a difficult time finding a job unless we start minting a fuck ton more nurses.

We can invite him to post on Surly and up our average income once he's a nurse.  What's Haitian Creole for "ballgame?" 

[wood 11225]

8 hours ago, Thatguy said:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTF2uRpd4/

Holy fucking shit. That's absolutely glorious. The Daily Show nails it yet again.

"Haitia". LMFAO.

[Chuckie Finster 22694]

One part of this whole thing that has gone woefully under-discussed is the fact that there were never any rumors of Haitians eating dogs before the debate!  It was, and has been, only cats.

DONALD TRUMP WAS SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THIS STORY THAT HE BLURTED OUT THE WRONG ANIMAL.  MOTHERFUCKER HAD A 50/50 CHANCE AT NAMING THE CORRECT COMMON HOUSEHOLD PET AND BLEW IT!

Edited September 18 by Chuckie Finster

[Pods 7552]

Hard to beat dogs on a train. 

Edited November 6 by Pods

[GenXer 2877]

I think he added dogs into the mix because he saw how Kristi Noem got vilified for shooting her dog.

[miguelito 11266]

Person.  Woman.  Cat.  Dog.  Pet.

[Chuckie Finster 22694]

"They're illegal because I say so" is quite the message.

 

 

[Biff Tannen 45683]

Just now, Chuckie Finster said:

"They're illegal because I say so" is quite the message.

 

 

Black!!!!!!

[Sawbonz 27561]

13 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

"They're illegal because I say so" is quite the message.

 

 

And no one in the msm will call him on it

[atomheartbevo 89664]

1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

Black!!!!!!

[Born to Run 6569]

4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

The entire GQP is of the "ready, fire, aim!" school of thought.  Dumbest fuckers around.

Oh, and when you find yourself singing in flawless, perfect harmony with FUCKING NAZIS, you should probably stop singing.  

There is no distinction or daylight between the GQP and its supporters and fucking nazis.  None.  Zero.  If you support Trumpism, you support nazis.  Godwin's law has been repealed.  Godwin himself said so.  So, fuck off, you nazis.  My grandfather shot you in the fucking face with an M-1 carbine.  Because you fucking deserved it.  You did then, and you do now.  So choose a different path: stop being fucking nazis, you fucking assholes.

The worst part is they label those trying to do the right and decent thing as enemies of the state, communist etc and millions of people believe it.

We like shit talk Russians for getting duped by denazification bullshit.

We the people aren't any better.

[Born to Run 6569]

2 hours ago, Chuckie Finster said:

One part of this whole thing that has gone woefully under-discussed is the fact that there were never any rumors of Haitians eating dogs before the debate!  It was, and has been, only cats.

DONALD TRUMP WAS SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THIS STORY THAT HE BLURTED OUT THE WRONG ANIMAL.  MOTHERFUCKER HAD A 50/50 CHANCE AT NAMING THE CORRECT COMMON HOUSEHOLD PET AND BLEW IT!

Blew it like a dog!

[InkaUtexas 25937]

6 hours ago, royiv said:

Yep, and to add that nursing is a pretty easy ticket to upper middle class income and you’ll never have a difficult time finding a job unless we start minting a fuck ton more nurses.

According to this 21% of Haitians are in Healthcare.

https://www.cepr.net/haitian-americans-a-socioeconomic-snapshot/

 

My mom broker her him visiting friend in family requiring surgery and long term care there. She said the majority of the nurses and techs were haitian. Mom spoke creole (served in Haiti for three years) and always loved their way of being. She always said she would not have traded those medical personnel for anyone.

[Pods 7552]

Yes, but they went to a Caribbean med school. 

Edited November 6 by Pods

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

If you aren’t supposed to hate them, why do they call them Haitians instead of Likeians? /kbanya

[safe sex 11725]

37 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

According to this 21% of Haitians are in Healthcare.

https://www.cepr.net/haitian-americans-a-socioeconomic-snapshot/

 

My mom broker her him visiting friend in family requiring surgery and long term care there. She said the majority of the nurses and techs were haitian. Mom spoke creole (served in Haiti for three years) and always loved their way of being. She always said she would not have traded those medical personnel for anyone.

Met and worked with a few experienced traveling Haitian nurses during COVID. Fantastic people and wonderful nurses all.

[tx 3 putt 76955]

7 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Black!!!!!!

 

[Pods 7552]

Now I want some duck. 

Edited November 6 by Pods