Ambulatory 4Chan post, JD Vance, has gone on TV and admitted that he is making up the stories about Haitians in Springfield. This is 100% the fascist playbook. He create blood libels to enflame your gullible followers who then commit violence in his name. This violence is then used as justification for authoritarianism.
What's strikingly disgusting about this (one of the many things) is that Republicans like Vance and Chris Rufo are looking at the tactics of Nazis as a guidebook and not a cautionary tale. I can actually see how someone could get drawn into Trump's malignant orbit and accidentally mimic fascist tactics, because there's a causative link between ends and means. Once you discover this, you could back away or double down. Trump world always doubles down. But someone like Vance could back away. Yesterday, when asked to condemn the bomb threats in Springfield, Trump refused to do so.
Trump's entire shtick is what Josh Marshall calls "dominance politics," the politics of bullying and dominating. He just got dominated in his debate with Harris, so he has to "be strong" and "be tough" which means never ever ever backing down on, even if the position is damaging. In Trumpistan, being strong is more important than being right.
However, it seems almost inevitable that someone is going to kill a Haitian. Maybe in Springfield, but Trump and Vance are exporting their attacks to all Haitians. Haiti is an easy target for them, since it only shows up in the news as a failed state, racked by violence. Haiti was Trump's original "shithole country". The individual merits of Haitians with the initiative and drive to come to America and work hard are irrelevant in the face of race theory. With racism, it's their Haitian background that is disqualifying.
The fundamental question - beyond the November election results in some ways - is that if this happens, if Trump and Vance's rhetoric gets peopled killed, will that finally be a breaking point?
Look, the Crazification Factor exists. When Alan Keyes ran against Obama and got 27% of the vote (despite being nuts and not from Illinois), that created a baseline of people who will vote for the absolute worst in American politics. What Trump has done is take that 27%, take over the GOP and make them fall in line with the 27% rather than lead them in a superficially plausible direction.
If Trump/Vance's hate speech gets people killed, it will provide the absolute clearest test yet whether there is any daylight between the 27% and the so-called Adults in the Room. It's a test of whether we - as Americans - will countenance people running the Mein Kampf playbook on American streets.
I'm not pessimistic...but I can't say I'm optimistic either.
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