Originally published at: How JD Vance Turned the Conspiracy Machine on Haitians in a Small Ohio City - TPM – Talking Points Memo
For the past day, Viles Dorsainvil has been fielding all kinds of calls: some threatening, some demanding that he leave, others plaintive, still more worried. Dorsainvil has lived in Springfield, Ohio, since 2020, and heads the Haitian Community Help and Support Center there, an organization that assists recent immigrants to the area. He’s part of…
"Local police immediately told media that they had no reports of pets being ‘abducted and eaten,’ and Vance himself followed up by partly doubling down (HIV is on the rise in Springfield, Vance tweeted) while conceding that ‘it’s possible, of course, all of these rumors will turn out to be false’.”
It’s also possible, of course, that rumors of Vance dating davenports will turn out to be false.
Along with rumors of him engaging in infanticide.
And cannibalism.
Or congress with goats.
But is it irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible not to!
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“it’s possible, of course, all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”
but of course spreading lies is what I do, I’m a republican for gawd’s sake.
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Trump will have them all bloodily removed. Then when Trump croaks on a Hamberder President Vance will escalate the pogrom.
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The core allegation that Haitians in Springfield had “abducted and eaten” pets…
“Why WOULDN’T they?!? Some of them taste as good as bear.”
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“But I’m gonna have some fun at someone else’s expense! Whoo hoo!”
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I think we all can agree that this is a guy in peak physical condition, a pristine specimen of health from whom we can take untrained life-and-death medical advice with the utmost confidence!
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Vance knows that’s why the cats of childless cat ladies have been disappearing. Unless it’s just a rumor.
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“crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in"
Meaning, our crime and our savagery will increase because we are mad about letting in the not-whites.
“Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country”
Next let me turn to the baby-eating by that other kind of not-white people who shouldn’t be in the country.
quoted several local businesspeople and local officials detailing how local factories in need of workers drew immigrants, and how the influx of newcomers had strained public services like education and health care.
Wait, we were always told “creating jobs” was a good thing for the local economy. Have we been sold a bill of goods by factory owners?
an Indiana shampoo magnate with ties to the Claremont Institute who Vance follows, wrote the German phrase for “foreigners out,” adding “Using any and all force necessary.”
While there has been racist and xenophobic hate in every language, nothing like using the original German to conjure up the most visceral reaction.
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"The country is not made up of people who believe in the same ideas, and it’s not necessarily open to those who share its values. Rather, Vance said, “‘it’s a people with a common history.’”
I could agree with “it’s a people with a common history” if by that Vance meant (which he does not) that citizens of the U.S., whether naturalized or by birth, are all in some sense responsible for the history of this country and will take it upon them/ourselves not only to benefit from its blessings but also to remedy as best we can its historical imperfections and transgressions, many of them deeply shameful. The whole history of this our country.
As my use of the word “remedy” suggests, I would only agree with this notion of “a common history” with the understanding that our common history, wherever and whenever our blood ancestors were buried, necessitates creating together a common future. The future is finally what matters.
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Seemingly, they didn’t get the memo, or at least one didn’t - the CEO of McGregor Metals, whom the NYT interviewed for their article (linked in the piece) also spoke with PBS for a segment that ran last night. He said ten percent of his workforce was Haitian, about thirty employees, and:
“I wish I had thirty more. Our Haitian associates come to work every day. They don’t have a drug problem, they’ll stay at their machine, they’ll achieve their numbers, they are here to work. And so in general, that’s, that’s a stark difference from what we are used to in this community.”
(Itals mine just to point up a slight difference from his statement to the NYT, specifically, that there’s less “drama” with the Haitians).
Link is here at about 3:20: Ohio city with Haitian migrant influx thrust into political spotlight | PBS News. They also interview a Baptist minister who thanks the Haitians for shoring up a dwindling congregation. If there’s a reference to eating pets, I missed it, but possibly PBS just isn’t asking the right people the right questions.
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“Plus they speak in that Creole French that’s just a delight to listen to” he added, probably.
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In all seriousness, the approximate second half of the piece is directed to the strain on community services (with need for ESL instruction) and the backlash following a collision between an unlicensed Haitian driver and a school bus in which one of the school children was killed)(also covered in the NYT article). The whole piece is worth a watch if you have 20 min.
ETA All too familiar to Upper Midwesterners whose communities received Hmong immigrants starting in the late 1980s.
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There have been rumors that Jd vance’s skull is filled entirely with junebugs and malt-o meal.
It’s possible, of course, all of these rumors will turn out to be false.
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I recently visited my parents who still live in Springfield (I still live in Ohio). Pretty much everything being touted by Trump and Vance is a lie. The school bus accident is an absolute tragedy and my heart goes out to that kid’s family but that accident is the root of the ongoing tensions in the community and has been simmering for some time.
Springfield has been struggling for at least 20 years. It started with the loss of manufacturing in the 80s and 90s and the town has not caught a break since. The downtown is mostly empty storefronts. It was a good place to grow up with lots of nice, salt of the earth folks. These days quite a few of those same people are now bitter and angry. Not surprisingly, Trump is very popular around town. His brand of resentment reinforces the belief that the decline in the city and their individual fortunes are not the fault of the people living there. Haitian refugees are an easy target for low travelers like Trump and Vance. It stuns me that we as a nation have fallen so far that they are seriously considered for the highest offices in our country.
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The post is so offensive, so inappropriate, so evil, that JD Vance should be forced to address it whenever the press encounter him. He absolutely must be made to apologize, or hounded to the point where everybody remembers him as the guy who said something stupid and racist.
This tweet needs to be on his gravestone, or at least in every obituary in every paper.
JD Vance is racist scum.
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“Ausländer raus” has been a campaign cry of the German far right political parties for decades now. I can only assume that the MAGAnazi types are feeling empowered by the recent AfD election win.
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If that’s what whale juice smoothies can do for your skin then sign me up!
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