US elections 2024 – Springfield Confidential: Dishing with Miss Sassy — Global Issues

by Peter Costantini (tucson, arizona, us)Monday, November 04, 2024Inter Press Service

A couple of days later, Miss Sassy confirmed up in Kilgore’s basement, uneaten. The girl, to her credit score, apologized to her neighbors.

However earlier than the prodigal feline’s return, false rumors started to flow into in Springfield and on-line that unlawful Haitian immigrants had been kidnapping and consuming pets. The allegations had been denied by the police, the Republican mayor, and the state of Ohio’s Republican governor.

Nonetheless, the tall story was picked up and amplified by social media and right-wing information sources. Over 20 bomb threats had been known as in to public establishments. The governor stationed state police in faculties, a few of which had been compelled to shut briefly, and deployed bomb-sniffing canine and surveillance cameras across the metropolis. The big Haitian neighborhood was terrorized.

The kicker got here when ex-President and present Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump repeated the already debunked rumor throughout his nationally televised debate with Vice President and present Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on September 10.

“In Springfield, they’re consuming the canine,” the ex-president mentioned. “The those that got here in, they’re consuming the cats. They’re consuming the pets of the those that reside there. And that is what’s taking place on this nation.” U.S. Senator from Ohio and present Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance additionally continued to recount the falsehood in public appearances. Each Trump and Vance have made racist and xenophobic tropes about Haitians and different immigrants signature themes of their marketing campaign.

Springfield is a previously deindustrialized manufacturing facility city that has revived economically and has once more attracted quite a few manufacturing jobs. However throughout the interval of stagnation, a lot of the earlier working-class inhabitants apparently sought work elsewhere.

So when the town’s financial system boomed once more and manufacturing jobs returned, however staff had been scarcer, phrase circulated on the grapevines of immigrants and different job seekers. Over the previous 4 years, an estimated 12 to fifteen thousand Haitians have moved to Clark County, of which Springfield is the seat, now making up roughly 10 p.c of a county inhabitants of 136 thousand.

The Metropolis of Springfield itself has a inhabitants of slightly beneath 60 thousand. However no person despatched the Haitians, as a number of the rumors have urged; they reportedly got here on their very own with encouragement from authorities and companies.

In line with the Metropolis website online, “Haitian immigrants are right here legally” beneath momentary applications corresponding to humanitarian parole and Short-term Protected Standing. No matter their immigration standing, the Haitian neighborhood has helped revitalize the native financial system and opened 10 new companies. As with every sudden inflow of individuals, the inhabitants enhance has typically strained instructional and medical companies and housing. However it is a downside of financial development, which might doubtless happen whether or not or not the newcomers had been immigrants.

Regardless of criticism from throughout the political spectrum, neither Trump nor Vance has retracted their immigrants-eating-pets story. When challenged, their proof contains “I learn it on the Web” and “My constituents wrote to me about it”. They’re additionally propagating falsehoods that the Haitian immigrants are bringing illnesses and crime.

Vance acknowledged backhandedly that he had recognized all alongside that the story was false. In line with the Wall Avenue Journal, the town supervisor had informed him that there was no proof that the rumors had been true.

But the Senator persevered: “The American media completely ignored these items till Donald Trump and I began speaking about cat memes,” he asserted. “If I’ve to create tales in order that the American media truly pays consideration to the struggling of the American folks, then that is what I’ll do.”

The vice-presidential candidate additionally lied concerning the authorized immigration statuses which have allowed many of the Haitians in Springfield to remain within the U.S. briefly: “Nicely, if Kamala Harris waves a wand illegally, and says these folks are actually right here legally, I am nonetheless going to name them an unlawful alien.”

However Harris had nothing to do with deciding the immigrants’ authorized standing.  They’d have needed to be accredited by the Departments of Homeland Safety and probably Justice. And the asylum, TPS and different types of aid they had been granted are authorized immigration statuses which have been round since nicely earlier than the Biden administration.

Past Springfield, a key technique of the Trump – Vance marketing campaign seems to be to repeat and refuse to retract quite a lot of massive and small lies about immigrants which have already been discredited.

At one among his rallies, Trump claimed that In Aurora, Colorado, a Venezuelan gang had taken over an house constructing and swathes of the state. Native police mentioned there have been issues in a constructing the place some Venezuelan immigrants reside, however that the problems had been critical housing code violations, corresponding to lack of warmth or working water, not gangs.

After Hurricane Helene, Trump and different Republicans alleged that the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA) had diverted federal catastrophe aid cash to undocumented immigrants. “They stole the FEMA cash,” he mentioned, “similar to they stole it from a financial institution, so they might give it to their unlawful immigrants that they need to have vote for them this season”.

FEMA mentioned that Trump’s claims had been unfaithful, and that undocumented immigrants usually are not eligible for money help. Trump managed to piggyback one other lie onto his first: undocumented immigrants can not vote and there’s no proof that the Biden administration has tried to bribe them.

Trump has additionally spearheaded a nationwide Republican marketing campaign that falsely claims, as within the FEMA story, that undocumented immigrants are voting illegally in giant numbers. The thought has been totally discredited. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes informed me that non-citizen voting is “at greatest vanishingly uncommon” and “is just not a difficulty that has or will impression any election. That may be a conspiracy idea and a mythology that isn’t true.”

It has lengthy been unlawful for non-citizens to vote, and everybody who registers to vote has to swear on penalty of perjury that they’re a U.S. citizen 18 years previous or older. However the Republican fearmongering is getting steadily louder. Republican legislatures are passing payments prohibiting what’s already prohibited, and a few GOP politicians are calling all immigrants, even naturalized residents who can legally vote, “illegals”.

Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the U.S. Home of Representatives, has provided no proof that non-citizen voting is an issue. However he declared at a press convention, “Everyone knows, intuitively, that numerous illegals are voting in federal elections.”

Within the lying derby, Trump, Vance and Johnson are shoo-ins for win, place and present.

I used to be curious how Miss Sassy felt about all of the brouhaha, however her publicist was not taking my calls. I suspected the well-known feline might need uninterested in her movie star and gone darkish. Nonetheless, since Vance admitted that he made up fictional tales to get the eye of the media, I made a decision to do the identical for my interview with Miss Sassy. However in contrast to Vance, I can’t lie about it – I am going to let you know what’s true and what I am making up.

So right here is an intuitive transcript of my imaginary interview with Miss Sassy. My feedback are in parentheses.

Miss Sassy

I am glad you requested that. I am known as Miss Sassy as a result of I am very outspoken and typically even impudent.

I hope you will not assume I am species-ist, however actually, you may’t get good human assist anymore. You’ve got in all probability heard the saying: “Canine have masters, cats have workers.” Nicely, my workers in our home in Springfield, Ohio, is well-meaning, however … let’s simply say she’s not one of many sharpest claws on the paws. (When you reside with cats, you already know they assume like this.)

Regardless of what these crazy-ass MAGAheads are saying, once I wandered over to take a look at the Haitians subsequent door, they had been very nice to me. Dahling, it was like a day spa with a three-star restaurant. They gave my paws a pedicure, massaged my again and haunches, scratched my chin, and broke out the catnip. Then they poured me out the juice from the cans of tuna fish they opened for tuna salad.

One other day they made a Haitian dish they known as lambi, some form of seafood in a butter sauce, and so they let me strive it. It was to die for. (Fully invented. However I’ve lived in Haiti and I consider that Haitians typically love their pets. And I’ve had delectable lambi on an idyllic seashore in Saint-Louis-du-Sud.)

So no, they did not attempt to eat me. Au contraire: they fed me some fairly tasty stuff. Once I came upon what my human accused them of, I bought so mad that I peed on her favourite chair. (Cannot verify this, but it surely sounds intuitive.)

As you’ll have heard, my human retracted her story once I confirmed up wholesome and rested. She defined that that she discovered me within the basement of our home after a few days, acknowledged that the Haitian neighbors didn’t eat me, and apologized to them. So I forgave her. (Most of this has been broadly reported, though forgiveness is tough to confirm.)

What I do not perceive about some people is how they’ll carry on repeating the identical lie concerning the neighbors consuming me once they know it isn’t true. Sure, I am speaking about that politician who carries an orange-haired rodent round on his head – oh, sorry, I imply the combover – and that baby-faced man who seems and seems like his intern. Agent Orange, because the filmmaker Spike Lee calls him, repeated the lies about me and Springfield on TV throughout a nationwide debate. What’s even tougher to fathom is why lots of people nonetheless consider them. Boastful people wish to say they’re probably the most clever species. Nicely, as of late, the proof is scarce. (The rodent half is fake. However it’s simply insult comedy, and as Puerto Ricans know, the ex-president is a giant fan.)

However maintain on, I do have a idea about that. These days everybody’s speaking about Synthetic Intelligence. And being a really clever cat, I’ve gotten interested in AI too. My human thinks I am simply strolling on the keyboard of her pc and tries to shoo me off, and typically I sort issues like “xdr54tttttthjn” simply to maintain her in the dead of night. However truly I am doing analysis and downloading articles nonstop. (Take all the pieces about AI with a grain of salt.)

Now here is the idea that I am engaged on: I feel Trump and Vance and the Republicans have provide you with a brand new mutant type of Synthetic Intelligence that I name Synthetic Stupidity. AI tries to show machines to speak like people. AS teaches people to speak like machines. (After all that is made up, however would not it clarify rather a lot?)

Possibly you have seen that the entire MAGA crowd, and their wholly owned subsidiary, the Republican Celebration, are continuously parroting the identical key phrases and speaking factors and memes. All of them sound like they have been programmed to be senseless automatons.

This is my speculation: AI makes use of giant language fashions to show neural networks learn how to be taught. AS makes use of yuge wordsalad fashions – beginning with all of the speeches and tweets of Beloved Chief – to inject anti-social venom that bypasses the frontal lobe, hijacks the amygdala, and teaches the MAGA devoted whom to hate and the way. It sends a symphony of racist and sexist canine whistles into their weak brains.

Because it takes over their minds, AS appears to incubate a type of emotional vulnerability known as Massive Daddy Syndrome. It is a situation that the majority dictators, demagogues and cult leaders know learn how to manipulate. No matter the issue, Massive Daddy’s reply is “Don’t be concerned your dependent little head about this. I am the one one who can handle it for you. I’ve an idea of a coverage. Simply go away it to me.”

Please excuse the New Age pop psychology, however would you consider I used to speak with Sigmund Freud’s ghost about issues like this? He informed me, “It is a traditional case of psychological displacement in two dimensions. The themes are substituting Massive Daddy for a lacking or abusive father determine. They usually’re attacking immigrants who’ve carried out nothing to hurt them to displace the bosses or billionaires or politicians who’ve truly been hurting them.”

To say Massive Daddy’s dominance over his followers, Trump cultivates a brash rhetorical type. The late-night TV satirist Stephen Colbert in contrast it to a leaf blower. I consider Massive Daddy spraying disinformation and bigotry throughout him as a kind of senile pussycat obsessively marking his territory. Then Vance follows up, making an attempt to spin all the pieces and make excuses, just like the poor clown within the circus parade sweeping up after the elephants.

However actually, how are you aware when Trump is mendacity? This is the inform simply watch his lips. In the event that they transfer, he is in all probability mendacity. (Badabing badaboom)

I feel it might need been Trump’s advisor Steve Bannon who mentioned, “Earlier than Fact can placed on her sneakers, my lies have gone midway all over the world. However, reality be informed, the proceeds from my lies are in an attaché case stuffed with unmarked payments in a financial institution within the Cayman Islands, and I am on my second mojito.” (It is a complete fabrication. Though actually Bannon was convicted and serving time for embezzling 1,000,000 bucks, however Trump pardoned him and bought him out of jail.)

OK, so it is clear that Trump is an inveterate liar. However is it actually honest to name him a fascist? Nicely, a minimum of two retired generals and a former Protection Secretary who had labored for Trump, and a number of the most revered educational specialists on fascism have all mentioned publicly that they think about him a fascist. A lot of his ex-cabinet members and advisors have chimed in that he’s a harmful authoritarian. The ex-President replied that he was “the alternative of a Nazi”, no matter that’s, and known as Harris “fascist” in return. His rhetorical technique has been decreased to the previous playground taunt, “I am rubber, you are glue. No matter you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” (See a latest entrance web page of the New York Instances.)

As you may see, I do not perceive why MAGA folks cannot see by Trump. However I additionally do not assume most of them are dangerous or silly. In any case, my human might put on a Trump T-shirt, however I do know she’s bought a superb coronary heart. The issue is, numerous them are what are being known as “low-information” voters, that means they do not pay a lot consideration to any information in any respect, and solely soak up random snatches of what is truly occurring. Then they vote with out having a lot concept of whom or what they’re voting for. (You didn’t hear this primary right here.)

Look, there is not any disgrace in being ignorant – we’re all ignorant about many issues. And it absolutely takes a robust abdomen to comply with politics. However then Massive Daddy comes alongside promoting his snake oil about who’s chargeable for all of your issues, and the reply is all the time: it is the f___ing immigrants. Not coincidentally, immigrants are principally Brown and Black folks like our neighbors.

Then, when Trump serves you a steaming bowl of bile, you slurp all of it up and wash it down with an ivermectin chaser, after which perhaps act it out in a fantasy state of confusion or worry or hate. However dawg, the reality is that you just’re hurting actual flesh-and-blood folks just like the Haitians, and shaming the remainder of us, too. (About 4 out of 5 immigrants to the U.S. come from Latin America, Asia or Africa.)

P.T. Barnum, of Barnum and Bailey Circus fame, supposedly mentioned: “There is a sucker born each minute.” In J.D. Vance, Trump has introduced in younger grifter expertise who’s slightly smoother at scamming folks. That is why I name him J.D. Barnum, and he appears to have revved the manufacturing line as much as a sucker each second. (There is no such thing as a proof that Barnum mentioned this, but it surely’s often attributed to him.)

Simply think about what your kids and grandchildren will consider you in the event that they be taught you had been one of many poor schlemiels who fell for Trump’s and Vance’s poisonous hogwash. Do your self and all of us a giant favor: pull your head out of your hindquarters and simply say no to the lies of Don the Con and J.D. Barnum.

~ ~ ~

At this level, Miss Sassy’s cellular phone rang, and he or she’s like “Sorry, I’ve to take this.” It sounded prefer it might need been Oprah. Then with out taking go away, she sashayed again down the steps into the basement.

References

Peter Baker. “Amid Discuss of Fascism, Trump’s Threats and Language Evoke a Grim Previous”. New York Instances, November 2, 2024.

Peter Baker. “Trump’s Wild Claims, Conspiracies and Falsehoods Redefine Presidential Bounds”. New York Instances, November 3, 2024.

Avery Kreemer. “Federal coverage that paved method for Springfield’s Haitian growth debated”. Dayton, OH: Dayton Every day Information, October 2, 2024.

Metropolis of Springfield Ohio. “Immigration FAQs”. Metropolis of Springfield Ohio, accessed November 1, 2024.

Pew Analysis Middle. “Trendy Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Inhabitants Development and Change By 2065”. Pew Analysis Middle, September 28, 2015.

United States Census Bureau. “Springfield metropolis, Ohio”. USCB, accessed November 1, 2024.

Elisabeth Zerofsky. “Is It Fascism? A Main Historian Modifications His Thoughts.” New York Instances, October 23, 2024.

© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal supply: Inter Press Service

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