The claim of migrants killing domestic animals had been thoroughly debunked before it hit Trump’s microphone. One of the debate moderators, David Muir, immediately responded to highlight reporting from his television network indicating Trump’s shocking comments had no basis in reality. But despite the fact checking, Trump’s incendiary statements trended on social media and led some right-wing allies to rush to his defense.
This fear campaign against Springfield’s Haitian immigrants contains echoes of some of the oldest xenophobic stereotypes. And, in this case, it has led to very real threats against the migrant community.
The path the inflammatory rumors took from the fever swamps to the debate stage to an on-the-ground, Trump-fueled furor in Springfield is a new spin through a story arc that has become familiar in the MAGA era: The most out-there right-wing extremists — including, in this case, notorious neo-Nazis — and GOP politicians reinforce each others’ narratives, with real-world ramifications for everyday people.
The trouble first began more than two months ago, when Republicans — including Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) — began zeroing in on the town. Vance began to speak about Springfield in early July, bringing up the immigrants at a Senate Banking Committee hearing featuring Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell. [emphasis added]
Springfield is located 45 miles wst of Columbus and 80 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
Its population peaked at 82,726 in 1960 and has since dropped 30%.. If there has been a corresponding drop in the number of dogs and cats, it's only because few people now live in the city.
And since 2000, the city has not experienced an extraordinary change in its demographics.
Springfield is the government seat of Clark County, where MAGA gained a foothold in 2016 and doubled down in 2020.
3rd party votes: 20.2% in 1992, 13.2% in 1996, 5.4% in 2016
(Alabama segregationist George Wallace
received 12.3% of the vote in 1968)
The mayor of the Ohio city at the center of a firestorm over immigration says that his town needs help — not the hate that has been stirred by politicians and extremists.
“We are hurting,” the mayor of Springfield, Rob Rue, said in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday.
The tensions over the growing Haitian population in Springfield exploded this week after former President Donald J. Trump used the presidential debate to spread debunked rumors that Haitians were stealing pets and eating them.
On Thursday, bomb threats led to the evacuation of Springfield City Hall, two schools and the state motor vehicle agency’s local facility.
Mayor Rue said that the threats, which came by email, were a “hateful response to immigration in our town.”
“Obviously, the negative response and threats are very sad and hard to handle,” he said. “We want to move forward together, and it just makes it more difficult to do that when we have violent actions and threats.”
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