Vance amplified a white supremacist conspiracy theory that Haitian migrants in Ohio are kidnapping and eating cats, but also said “it’s possible” that “all of these rumors will turn out to be false.” Cool.
For years now, there’s been no practical difference between the mainstream Republican Party and a sampling of the most deranged, racist users on 4Chan. But even for a party led by a man who won the 2016 presidential election by smearing Mexican migrants as “rapists,” the events of this week have still somehow managed to shock me.
On Monday, Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance amplified a rapidly spreading, white supremacist conspiracy theory that supposedly undocumented Haitian migrants in the small town of Springfield, Ohio, are kidnapping and eating people’s cats. Vance’s Monday tweet claims “Haitian illegal immigrants” are “draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio,” and cites nonexistent “reports” that “show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” The post, which includes a clip of him railing against the rising population of Haitian migrants in Springfield from July, has effectively brought a baseless right-wing smear campaign into the mainstream.
Just 24 hours after his original post, Vance wrote in a lengthy follow-up tweet that “it’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.” Nonetheless, he doubled down on his racist fearmongering, baselessly blaming Haitian migrants for violent crime and the spread of diseases like HIV, and even heartlessly attacking young migrant schoolchildren for not knowing English:
But I want to return to the line that “it’s possible” that “all of these rumors will turn out to be false”—Vance knows he’s pushing neo-Nazi-level bullshit that carries the potential to subject vulnerable communities to violence and harassment. He just doesn’t care. And to be clear, it’s not just “possible” that these rumors are “false”—they are.
***
As recently as Friday, Trump, who’s accused immigrants of “poisoning the blood” of the nation, baselessly claimed immigrant gangs are invading apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, and that immigrants in Wisconsin will drive residents out of their homes; the Republican Party itself is largely running this election cycle on a racist, mythical “migrant crime wave.” Vance and the right’s “Haitian migrants are eating cats” bullshit is disgusting—and it’s the tip of the iceberg of the GOP’s simmering, violent xenophobia.
