Trump’s lies provoke anger, fear… and laughter // His deputy, JD Vance, maintains: if I have to make up stories to attract the media, I will do it
▲ Children from a neighborhood in Springfield, Ohio, decided to set up a Kool-Aid and French fries stand in response to school closures due to bomb threats.Photo Ap
Jim Cason and David Brooks
Correspondents
The newspaper La Jornada
Monday, September 23, 2024, p. 27
Washington and New York., Geographical ignorance and accusations of who is fascisteither Marxist In the electoral contest, they show how the right is fueling the deterioration of the national political debate with serious consequences, although it is also giving more and more material to comedians.
In Springfield, Ohio, bomb threats and the deployment of police to schools were the result of Donald Trump and his deputy, JD Vance, spreading false reports that Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating citizens’ pets, provoking anger and fear, but also laughter at the absurdity of such statements in the race for the presidency of the most powerful country in the world.
“These Haitian migrants illegal“Nobody knows where they came from,” Trump said a couple of weeks ago, referring to the community of some 20,000 migrants provisionally authorized, mostly Haitians, in Springfield. A week later, the former president seemed to have the answer. We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio, we will take those people out, we will send them back to Venezuela.he declared at a rally with his fans.
Trump’s vice presidential pick, JD Vance, a graduate of the prestigious Yale University, also seems to have trouble with geography. At a rally he declared that those 20,000 migrants are “primarily from Haiti”, thus inventing a country. The very popular fictional newscast The Daily Show He took the gift of both candidates to the political comedians, asking: “Are Haitians from HaitiVenezuela or will they be from a third country that we have not yet identified?” And concludes: We will surely hear more about these migrants, from these leading experts on Haiti in this country. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL_Zkcj8sdc).
But the bigger, more serious question is how can these politicians, a former president and a senator in this case, repeatedly make statements that are so confusing, truly ignorant and in some cases, knowing they are lies? JD Vance explained why he repeated his claims that Haitians in Springfield were eating dogs and cats even after they were debunked by town officials and the media. If I have to create stories to get the media to pay attention to the suffering of the American people, I will do it.he said in an interview with MSNBC News last week.
Republicans do not have a monopoly on lies and falsehoods. As legendary journalist I.F. Stone repeatedly said: If you want to know about governments, all you need to know are three words: every government lies..
But in the 2024 race, this art of politics has escalated to new heights. And part of that is on display in the almost childlike deterioration of what is now part of the national political debate. For example, immediately after it was first reported that a gunman had been spotted on one of Trump’s golf courses intent on assassinating the former president, Vance blamed Democrats and progressives: “The left needs to tone down their rhetoric… We cannot tell the American people that a candidate is a fascist and if he is elected that will be the end of American democracy.”
He did not mention that he and his boss Trump repeatedly claim that the country is threatened by their Democratic opponents. The tycoon often repeats that the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, She is a Marxist, she is a fascist and sometimes adds communist and socialist to that list, and does not stop calling the administration of Joe Biden and Harris radical left government.
Satire programs, with the best coverage
In fact, the Daily Show He was the one who best captured these exchanges ( https://www.instagram.com/p/DADvlmjpQMD/ ). And once again, that comedy and other satire and humorous commentary shows are perhaps offering the best coverage of this election, and the public sometimes trusts them more than the media. seriousA Pew Research Center survey reported that just over one in five 18- to 29-year-olds rely on late-night comedy shows for their political information — about the same percentage as on ABC, NBC and CBS national newscasts — a significant increase from four years ago.
The apparent lack of geographic knowledge of the people of the world’s superpower is nothing new. It is worth recalling, for example, that about five years ago, Fox News reported on a new program by then-President Trump to reduce foreign aid, with the news banner on the screen stating: Trump cuts aid to three Mexican countries. (https://www.instagram.com/p/DADvlmjpQMD/). Fox announcers later apologized, clarifying that it was not about Mexico, but about Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
But for many, it was yet another example of the arrogance and ignorance of parts of this country’s political establishment, especially those surrounding Trump’s world, including the right-wing media. For them, as one commentator put it, All Latin American countries are the same.
Beyond whether immigrants are eating dogs and cats, and the memes (cats armed to defend themselves; frightened dogs listening to statements, hot dog vendors proudly announcing that migrants eat their hot dogs) and jokes that this provoked to mock these presidential candidates and several of their accomplices, the consequences on some of the most vulnerable sectors – hate crimes, threats and more – are not at all funny.
