Finally Friday Reads: MAGA and Domestic Terrorism

“For those who missed it. The childless cat lady won.” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

I’ve been out of the national news loop the last few days since I’ve been fixated on the local news station’s continuous reports on Hurricane Francine.  My immediate neighbors and I were fortunate. The electricity/WIFI glitched as the eyewall came over the city like a CAT 1 hurricane. We actually had the city’s largest rain levels coming in at 6.8 inches per minute, but our pump had been fixed recently, the electric lines had been up-armored, and the main pipes on my street were replaced a few years ago.  You may recall I called the Tom Joad Memorial Dust Bowl construction site.  All that mess must have paid off, as the drains and pump cleared the water when I went out around midnight with Temple.  There were a lot of leaves and a few small, dead branches around, but everything was lit up and standing. Others were not so fortunate.

Just think.  Trump wants to get rid of the National Weather Service. He probably hates them since they shut down his little act with the black Sharpie. He wants to get rid of FEMA. He wants to get rid of the folks in the EPA working diligently to stop the encroachment of the Gulf waters, making the Louisiana coastline and the textbook Louisiana Boot impossible to see in reality because a lot of it is gone.  I’d rather make him Impossible.

This morning’s check of social media, headlines in legacy media, and television news reporting in cities that usually do not garner headlines has led me to conclude that the MAGA movement is a Domestic Terrorist Organization as well as an Insurrection movement.  You may recall in December 2022, that DonOld called for the termination of the U.S. Constitution in a Truth Social post. This was definitely a harbinger of things to come, including Project 2025. This is from the files of CNN.

Former President Donald Trump called for the termination of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election and reinstate him to power Saturday in a continuation of his election denialism and pushing of fringe conspiracy theories.

“Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote in a post on the social network Truth Social and accused “Big Tech” of working closely with Democrats. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”

Trump’s post came after the release of internal Twitter emails showing deliberation in 2020 over a New York Post story about material found on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Saturday that Trump’s remarks are “anathema to the soul of our nation, and should be universally condemned.”

“You cannot only love America when you win,” Bates said in a statement. “The American Constitution is a sacrosanct document that for over 200 years has guaranteed that freedom and the rule of law prevail in our great country. The Constitution brings the American people together – regardless of party – and elected leaders swear to uphold it. It’s the ultimate monument to all of the Americans who have given their lives to defeat self-serving despots that abused their power and trampled on fundamental rights.”

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, an outspoken Trump critic, denounced the former president’s Truth Social statement on Sunday. Cheney, who serves as vice chair of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, tweeted that Trump’s statement “was his view on 1/6 and remains his view today.”

“No honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution,” she said.

“Dick Cheney has entered the chat.” John Buss, @repeat1968

That belief is shared by Cheney’s father and many of Trump’s former staff and an increasing number of Republicans who have announced they’re voting for the Harris/Walz ticket.  DonOld has become increasingly unhinged after his sorry performance in the Debate on Tuesday. It also appears that the notorious Laura Loomer has become a major influence on him.  She has been traveling with him everywhere and parked in his Florida Bunker.  News film has shown hints of more familiarity than we’d think possible, given his physique and everything accompanying it.  So, rumors now abound.  But, it’s likely she has less venial interest in him than monetary ones.  This is from The Bulwark, the major source of Never Trump Republican thoughts.

A failed congressional candidate with a penchant for conspiracies and pot-stirring, Loomer has long been viewed by a faction of Trump land as a Rasputin-like figure. Last year, Trump offered her a job on the campaign, but her internal critics ultimately persuaded him to withdraw the offer. At issue was the controversy that surrounds her. Loomer has called Kamala Harris “a drug using prostitute.” As for why Harris doesn’t have biological children, she once said: “I’m willing to bet she’s had so many abortions that she damaged her uterus.”

A more recent Loomer tweet said that the White House would smell of curry if Harris, who is of Indian-American descent, won the election. This week’s 9/11 commemorations led to the resurfacing of past posts made by Loomer in which she questioned whether the U.S. government had a role in, or forewarning of, the attacks on that day.

Loomer insists that she wasn’t questioning whether the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job,” noting that she never actually used that phrase (she shared a video in a lengthy post on X that did use the phrase). A self-identified Islamophobe (she was kicked off Twitter for it years ago before Elon Musk reinstated her), she re-stated her belief that al Qaeda was to blame for the attack.

But the rap sheet of Loomer’s controversial posts extends well beyond the aforementioned topics. And in comments on Wednesday and Thursday, Greene said that Trump was better off ditching Loomer, whose congressional campaign she had supported.

“I don’t think that [Loomer] has the experience or the right mentality to advise a very important president,” Greene said. “To me, many of the comments that she makes and how she attacks Republicans like me, many other Republicans that are strong supporters of President Trump, I think they’re a huge problem.”

Shortly thereafter, Graham weighed in too, telling HuffPost on Thursday that he believed Loomer was “just really toxic.”

Loomer was removed from Twitter in 2022 and other social media until Elon Musk bought the now-beleaguered social media platform. Her incendiary remarks, along with the Russian Limbaughs and other MAGA provocateurs led by Trump’s outraged public comments, have led to what can only be referred to as a massive Domestic Terrorist network.  If you haven’t read the news about the terror inflicted on the small city of Springfield, Ohio, you will read about it here. If you’ve followed any recent rallies or appearances on FOX or News Max, you will observe that Trump is living on the Dark Web now. His talk is riddled with whacko, hateful conspiracy theories.

I know that it’s fun to watch these videos of cats and dogs attacking the TVs while Trump announces that Haitian immigrants in the small city are feasting on pets and park birds, but I’m not going to put up anything reinforcing the stereotypes.  I’m also avoiding the memes and cartoons because we don’t need anything egging these folks on.  It seems weird and funny to us, but it’s a full-on terror attack on that small town and everyone who lives there.  It’s gone beyond making fun of a very damaged, aging, bigoted idiot whose biggest routine is angrily belittling others.

There’s a Bomber in Springfield. Public buildings and elementary schools have been shut down. The source of this untrue story is what NewsGuard’s Reality Check calls ” Triple Hearsay'”

In just days, a bizarre and baseless claim accusing Haitian migrants of eating pet cats in Springfield, Ohio, went from an obscure Facebook post in a private group to a talking point by Republican Donald Trump during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.

The journey of the viral claim from vague, third hand gossip among Ohio neighbors to the presidential debate stage — where it was broadcast to 67 million people — is as stunning as the claim itself, according to those who started it all.

NewsGuard identified and tracked down the two people central to the claim: Erika Lee, the Springfield resident who wrote the original Facebook post, and Kimberly Newton, the neighbor who had provided her with a third-hand account of the rumor, making Lee’s social media post a fourth-hand account: the alleged acquaintance/cat owner; Newton’s friend; Newton; and Lee, who posted it on Facebook.

In exclusive interviews, NewsGuard spoke both with Lee, a 35-year-old hardware store worker who has lived in Springfield for four years, and Newton, her neighbor and a 12-year resident of Springfield. The interviews reveal just how flimsy and unsubstantiated the rumor was from the beginning — based entirely on third hand hearsay. Yet it quickly gained traction and, remarkably, found its way to Trump’s lips on a national stage.

“I’m not sure I’m the most credible source because I don’t actually know the person who lost the cat,” Newton said about the rumor she had passed on to her neighbor, Lee, the Facebook poster. Newton explained to NewsGuard that the cat owner was “an acquaintance of a friend” and that she heard about the supposed incident from that friend, who, in turn, learned about it from “a source that she had.” Newton added: “I don’t have any proof.”

That adds up to three people with no firsthand knowledge of the allegedly victimized cat: Newton’s “friend,” Newton, and then her neighbor Lee. Or perhaps it’s four people if we count the “source” that Newton says her “friend” relied on.

This is from the Washington Post. “Springfield bomb threat used ‘hateful’ language toward migrants, Haitians, mayor says. “Springfield is a community that needs help,” Mayor Rob Rue said in an interview with The Post, adding that national leaders should provide that help.”

The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, said a bomb threat Thursday that led to the evacuation of City Hall and numerous buildings “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community.”

“Springfield is a community that needs help,” Mayor Rob Rue said in an interview with The Washington Post. The mayor added that national leaders should provide that help and not “hurt a community like, unfortunately, we have seen over the last couple of days.”

The Ohio city recently gained national attention as it became the subject of dehumanizing and xenophobic conspiracy theories amplified by former president Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who claimed Haitian immigrants there were killing and eating people’s pets. Police officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence to support the claim, which Trump repeated in Tuesday night’s presidential debate.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said at the ABC News debate between him and Vice President Kamala Harris that 67 million people watched. “And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”

When moderator David Muir pushed back, saying that the city manager of Springfield has said there were no credible reports of such claims, Trump refused to concede.

“I’ve seen people on television. … The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food,” Trump said, interrupting Muir. “So maybe he said that, and maybe that’s a good thing to say for a city manager.”

Earlier this week, White House national security spokesman John Kirby called the unsubstantiated reports Vance had pushed “dangerous” misinformation.

“Because there will be people that believe it, no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is. And they might act on that kind of misinformation, and act on it in a way where somebody can get hurt, so it needs to stop,” Kirby said Tuesday, ahead of the debate.

Even GOP officials have gotten into the act, exaggerating the tragedy unfolding in the small city. Ohio’s Republican Governor, Mike Dewine, responds like a responsible person. This is from the AP. “Ohio is sending troopers and $2.5 million to a city that has seen an influx of Haitian migrants.”  The state’s Attorney General is inflaming the situation.

The governor of Ohio will send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants that has landed it in the national spotlight.

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday he doesn’t oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which some 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help impacted communities.

His news conference was held just hours before the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump, where the divide over immigration policy was sure to be an issue.

On Monday, Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also drew attention to the crisis when he directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending “an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities.”

Thousands of temporary Haitian migrants have landed in the city in recent years, as longstanding unrest in their home country has given way to violent gangs ruling the streets.

…

DeWine’s family operates a charity in Haiti in honor of their late daughter, Becky, who died in a car accident. He said the Haitians who have moved to Ohio are generally hard-working people who love their families and who are seeking to escape the violence in their home country for good jobs in Ohio.

This article about the Ohio Attorney General comes from The Ohio Capitol Journal. “Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost defends conspiracy chorus about Haitians in Springfield. Springfield public buildings and a local elementary school had to be closed Thursday due to bomb threats,”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Wednesday did his bit to amplify a conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants legally present in Springfield, Ohio are stealing and eating pets, ducks and geese.

The conspiracy has been debunked by the Springfield mayor, city manager and chief of police, as well as by Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. Yost is looking to succeed DeWine as governor in 2026.

“Citizens testified to City Council,” Yost posted on X Wednesday. “These people would be competent witnesses in court. Why does the media find a carefully worded City Hall press release better evidence?”

Many of Springfield’s public buildings were closed for much of the day Thursday due to bomb threats after former President Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated a widely debunked conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants were stealing people’s pets and eating them.

“They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said during a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

A day earlier, on Monday, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, posted on X that “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”

As the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Thursday, between 15,000 and 20,000 Haitians have migrated to Springfield over the past five years. Contrary to Vance’s claim, the great majority of them are legally in the United States, either as naturalized citizens or under temporary protected status due to the violent chaos in their home country. Earlier this week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced he would send state highway patrol troopers to Springfield to help, as well as $2.5 million to help with health care resources.

While resources in the city of almost 60,000 have been strained by the heavy influx, the New York Times last week reported that many there believe it also revitalized a community that had long been on the decline.

But Trump and his supporters have long been whipping up fears of immigrants — particularly those of color — even though multiple studies show that immigrants — particularly the undocumented — commit crime at substantially lower rates than the native-born.

The influx of thousands of immigrants had already brought hate groups to Springfield, with a neo-Nazi group marching there in August.

Some Springfield residents have begged politicians to stop promoting conspiracy theories about their community. And some Haitian immigrants are keeping their children home out of fear for their safety, the Haitian Times reported Thursday.

But last week, Yost’s campaign claimed that undocumented immigrants were “terrorizing” Ohio communities. As evidence, it pointed to a Fox News article about the situation in Springfield that made no such claim.

Nevertheless, on Wednesday, Yost continued to perpetuate assertions about Haitians in Springfield.

“There’s a recorded police call from a witness who saw immigrants capturing geese for food in Springfield,” Yost said in his X post. “Citizens testified to City Council. These people would be competent witnesses in court. Why does the media find a carefully worded City Hall press release better evidence?”

In other words, Yost, a former journalist, was criticizing the media for not assigning the same credibility to any claim made in a police call or council meeting as they would to the public declarations of the Springfield mayor, city manager, police chief, and the Ohio governor.

GOP Congressional members are creating more havoc.  “Republicans seemed more disturbed by the moderators fact-checking Trump than they were with his false claims.”  This comes from NOTUS. Haley Byrd Wilt provides the analysis.

If you’ve watched Donald Trump demonize immigrants to fuel his political rise over the last decade, the former president’s insistence that immigrants are abducting the cats and dogs of Americans and eating them shouldn’t come as a surprise.

It probably also shouldn’t come as a surprise that Republican lawmakers are not only indifferent to the former president making these claims; they largely support him spreading the conspiracy.

In interviews with more than two dozen GOP lawmakers this week, Republicans brushed off Trump’s allegation that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. They didn’t care that Trump’s claims during a presidential debate were, predictably, not true. They weren’t worried that, by blurting out “they’re eating the dogs,” he was elevating racist rumors — the most cited of which relies on a neighbor’s daughter’s friend — to the national stage.

They told NOTUS Trump was simply sharing something he believed to be true, that he was doing important work by raising the broader issue of immigration and that they weren’t concerned about the ramifications his rhetoric could have for Haitians living in their states.

Some even added their own allegations.

“Apparently there’s pictures of it,” Rep. Greg Steube of Florida said of Haitians eating cats. “The fact that you’re saying it’s not happening, it’s not true.”

Steube mentioned a woman — an American citizen who was arrested recently for allegedly killing and eating a cat during an apparent mental breakdown — as evidence for his claims. When told she was an American, Steube was undeterred.

“Well, apparently there’s reports that there are. In Ohio. Haitians are doing that,” he told NOTUS. “It’s just interesting that, like, you have news reporters that are taking one guy’s — some city manager or something — when there’s reports.”

Asked where he was getting these reports, Steube said, “From all over.”

He said he would have his staff send over the reports. And his team forwarded NOTUS a newsletter from a right-wing blog, which linked to a story alleging animal sacrifices are happening in New York — unconnected to Haitians in Springfield — and a local news story about the American woman who had been arrested. The blog falsely described her as “a hungry Ohio immigrant.”

“Pictures of Jamaicans and Haitians doing pagan sacrifices,” Steube told NOTUS, incorrectly summarizing the right-wing blog post. “In Ohio.”

Rep. Brian Mast was also dismissive. “The point of it is that we have a major problem with illegal immigration,” he told NOTUS.

Mast’s state has a large Haitian population, but he didn’t sound worried about how any of his own constituents might be affected by Trump spreading rumors and racist stereotypes.

“It’s not a stereotype that people eat different animals. I mean, it’s just a fact of the matter,” Mast said. “You go to different markets in different parts of the world, and you’re going to find horse on the menu, you’re going to find dog on the menu, you’re going to find cat on the menu.”

People in Florida often eat “chicken of the trees,” he said, referring to lizards.

Still, even if cuisines differ, Trump was saying something else entirely. He was saying immigrants are stealing household pets to eat. Pressed whether it was appropriate for the former president to make a claim like that, Mast sidestepped.

“I’d say this,” Mast said. “They’re stealing the taxpayer dollars.”

Haitians have received temporary protected status to live and work in the United States because of the dangers they face back home. As many as 15,000 Haitians have moved to Springfield in recent years, saying it’s where they found job opportunities or that they followed family members who were already living there. Some Haitians have said since the debate that they now feel unsafe in the community. Springfield’s city hall was also evacuated this week after receiving a bomb threat, according to local officials.

Let’s get back to the community itself, as reported by NBC News.  “Bomb threats force second consecutive day of school closures in Springfield, Ohio. Several local leaders have also been targeted in the wake of baseless claims aimed at Haitian immigrants that have been repeated by former President Donald Trump.”

Bomb threats on Friday forced the evacuation and closure of public schools and municipal buildings for a second consecutive day, as the city continues to deal with sudden national attention due to false claims involving its Haitian population.

Students at Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary Schools in Springfield “were evacuated from their buildings to an alternate district location,” school district spokesperson Jenna Leinasars said.

Roosevelt Middle School had already been “closed prior to the beginning of the school day in relation to the information received from the” Springfield Police Department, Leinasars added.

In addition to those school evacuations, several city commissioners and a municipal employee were the target of an emailed bomb threat, city spokesperson Karen Graves said.

A second email threatened multiple locations that included Springfield City Hall, Cliff Park High School, Perrin Woods Elementary School, Roosevelt Middle School, the Bureau of MotorVehicles and the Ohio License Bureau Southside, Graves added.

“As a precaution, all affected buildings have been evacuated. Authorities, with the support of explosive detection canines, have conducted thorough inspections and cleared the facilities listed in the threats,” Graves said in a statement.

Local police and FBI agents based in Dayton are working “to determine the origin of these email threats,” the city official said.

The city just west of Columbus has been the focal point of a national political firestorm that has included false rumors that Haitian immigrants have been stealing and eating household pets. City officials and police have said there is no credible information to support those outlandish claims.

Reuters reports on the truth of the economic value of the Haitian Immigrants to the town’s previous frail economy. “How Haitian immigrants fueled Springfield’s growth.”

The arrival of Joseph, Oreus and as many as 15,000 other immigrants from Haiti over roughly the last three years has reshaped this city of 58,000, offering some promise of economic revival along with growing pains. It also has unwittingly thrust Springfield into the middle of a national conversation about immigration, the economy and race – with Republican candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance recirculating what local police and city officials say are false claims of crimes and atrocious acts being committed by Haitians.

After a half-century of decline, data show the rapid population rebound has had a notable impact in Springfield.

…
What didn’t happen, according to interviews with a dozen local, county and officials as well as city police data, was any general rise in violent or property crime. Wages didn’t collapse, but surged with a rising number of job openings in a labor market that remained tight until recently.

In early July, days before he was tapped to be Trump’s running mate, Vance read aloud a letter from Springfield officials as he quizzed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at a congressional hearing on whether immigration added to inflation by increasing housing costs, and whether a rising supply of new workers hurt others by holding down wages.

What was happening in Springfield was “a very real example of this particular concern, straight from the horse’s mouth,” Vance said.

Powell responded that those effects might be apparent in some places, but overall the rising labor supply in recent years had helped grow the economy and slow inflation. And in the long run, he said, the impact was “kind of neutral” because markets adapt.

More recently, Vance and other Republicans have amplified false claims aired by some residents at weekly city commission meetings. City commissioners in their public comments have pushed back, noting that the vast majority of Haitians are in the country legally and have a right to live where they choose.

Springfield police also responded forcefully: “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” they said in a statement. “Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes.”

Still, Trump aired those falsehoods including the baseless claim that immigrants are eating pets in his debate Tuesday night with his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Biden White House earlier on Tuesday condemned the viral misinformation, saying such remarks sought to divide Americans through lies and was based on racism.

If you delve into the world of academic research on trying to regenerate the viability of small-town America, you find that the solution is immigration.  That link goes to a study by the Richmond Fed.

Rural areas, however, can also benefit significantly from immigration:

• Immigrants can bring skills not available in the local labor market.
• They can help fulfill seasonal labor shortages in industries like agriculture and tourism.
• They spend money and pay taxes in their local communities, which can help develop other businesses.

Business leaders have long held that immigration is essential to many industries.  This link goes to the American Immigration Council.

The main findings of the report include:

• A total of 219 companies in the Fortune 500 list had immigrant roots: 102 of those companies were founded by immigrants, and 117 companies were founded by the children of immigrants.
• Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants or children of immigrants employ more than 14.8 million people worldwide.
• The over $7 trillion in revenue generated by Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants or children of immigrants is greater than the GDP of every country in the world outside the United States, except China.
• Immigrant-founded Fortune 500 companies drive 68 industry sectors across the American economy.
• 35 U.S. states are headquarters to at least one New American Fortune 500 firm, and seven of those states have at least 10 firms.

MAGA once again proves that it has nothing to do with economic prosperity, the U.S. Constitution, or anything linked to form a more perfect union.  It is racist.  It is misogynistic.  It is xenophobic.  It is homophobic and transphobic.  It’s purely a terrorist movement made up of White Christian Nationalists who will do anything to maintain their beliefs that only they are the true Americans despite all evidence to the contrary.

So, let’s write about and create more memes about who they are.  Let’s also ensure that their mean, bigoted viewpoints are identified and not presented as a set of alternative facts.  Most importantly, let’s vote the ones that creeped into our political positions at all levels the hell out of office.’

Let’s hope the FBI and law enforcement in Ohio catch this MAGA terrorist before anyone gets hurt.

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?