Springfield, Ohio, remains rocked by threats of violence concurrent to the continued spread of debunked conspiracy theories about — and general vitriol towards — the legal Haitian immigrants who are living there. The extreme claims assert that these individuals have been taking local pets and other animals for food.
On Monday, multiple local schools were evacuated — again, following earlier evacuations taking place last week.
And during a recent trek to Las Vegas, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump flubbed an opportunity to denounce the bomb threats.
Asked if he denounces them, his first response was instead as follows: “I don’t know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it’s been taken over by illegal migrants, and it’s a terrible thing that happened. Springfield was this beautiful town, and now they’re going through hell.” “Trump refuses to denounce bomb threats in Springfield, OH after spreading lies about migrants,” read the accompanying chyron on MSNBC.
“First off, Haitians started coming to Springfield in 2018 **when Trump was in office**, seeking asylum from the violent situation in Haiti. Most are in the system, and not here illegally. They have taxpayer IDs and work jobs. Also, how hard is it to denounce a bomb threat?!” asked businessman Colin McIntosh on social media.
“Donald Trump is a sociopath,” conservative legal figure George Conway added on MSNBC. “Sociopaths lie relentlessly. They have no empathy or caring for other people. I mean, who refuses to say that they condemn a bomb threat? A sociopath! A psychopath! Somebody who has no care, no feeling for other people and only cares about himself.”
The mayor of Springfield already tied threats that the city has faced to the spreading conspiracy theories, which Trump himself propagated during a televised debate last week hosted by ABC News. “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 claimed from the stage.
