JD Vance’s memo from Turner’s Diary
This smarmy demagogue can pack a remarkable number of lies into a short racist screed:
"I'm still gonna call them an illegal alien" — JD Vance on Haitian migrants who are in Ohio legally pic.twitter.com/phe5yjiUyd— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 18, 2024
“Illegal aliens” is a lie he openly admits is a lie. “20,000 Haitians” in Springfield is a lie. Calling legal immigrants who have settled in a community “migrants” is the Republican dog whistle lie du jour. And all of this in service of one big racist lie [gift link]:
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.
Heckuva job to every mainstream editor who promoted this asshole by claiming his book argued the opposite of what it did! Just great work all around.