TThe second assassination attempt on Donald Trump took place on Sunday at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, just two months after Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “They're not coming for me, they're coming for you,” Trump said after the first assassination attempt. “I'm just standing in the way.”
“They” should not attack anyone. There is no place in a democracy for violence or the threat of violence.
Which brings us to last week's debate, where Trump claimed Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating dogs … eating cats. They're eating the pets of the people who live there.”
The remark quickly became a running joke online, spawning thousands of funny memes and songs. But this is no laughing matter: Trump's claims have already sparked threats of violence.
Last weekend, two Springfield hospitals Lockdown Police said the incident came after bomb threats and other threats were received by Springfield officials, forcing a government building to close, two elementary schools to evacuate and relocate students, and one middle school to close completely.
Members of the neo-Nazi group “Blood Tribe” after Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance began spreading unfounded rumors about Haitians in Springfield Marched They entered the city carrying guns, wearing bulletproof vests and carrying neo-Nazi flags. Town Hall MeetingOne claimed the city had been taken over by “corrupt Third Worlders,” denounced the influx of Jews, and warned that “every time we let in Haitians, crime and brutality will only increase.”
Haitian immigrants in Springfield are expressing fear, some leaving their children behind. Returning from schoolThey fear violence, and some report being harassed on the street, in cars and in stores.
A Springfield family whose son was killed when a car driven by a Haitian immigrant collided with a school bus last year has appealed to President Trump and Governor Vance not to exploit their son for political purposes.
But Trump and Vance have taken a tougher stance. On the Sunday before the assassination attempt on Trump, Vance said: said In an interview with CNN, Vance said the allegation that Haitians were eating Springfield residents' pets came from “first-hand testimony from constituents in my district.” When interviewer Dana Bash suggested the allegation prompted bomb threats, Vance called her a “Democrat propagandist.” But the connection is undeniable.
Trump and Vance's claims were calculated, not casual comments: Trump's final two posts on Truth Social before the debate were AI images of cats: one depicted a cat dressed in military fatigues, holding an assault rifle and wearing a MAGA hat, and the other showed the candidate himself sitting on an airplane surrounded by ducks and a flock of cats.
Trump is now considering holding a rally in Springfield. “We're going to get these people out,” he said. said At a press conference on Friday, Springfield said Haitian immigrants are in the U.S. legally, but he vowed to carry out “the largest deportation campaign in American history” if re-elected.
“The allegations made by Trump and Vance are complete and utter nonsense,” said Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine. He told CBS News “Haitians came to work because there were jobs available, and they filled a lot of jobs. If you talk to the employers, they're doing a very good job and working very hard,” he said Wednesday.
Another of Trump's false claims is now threatening legal immigrants in Aurora, Colorado, a Denver suburb where Trump has repeatedly claimed the city is being “hijacked” by Venezuelan criminals. “That's just not true,” said Aurora's Republican mayor and city council member. They said in a joint statement.
As in Springfield, Trump's baseless claims are hurting innocent people in Aurora, where immigrants say They are being told they cannot get jobs or housing because of their nationality. Trump's claims have led to intimidation and attracted militias to the city who claim to offer vigilante-like protection.
Trump and Vance are using one of the oldest tyrannical tactics: stoking deep-seated fears by creating an “Other” portrayed as subhuman, someone who will “take over” their town and “devour” their loved ones.
In Springfield, loved ones are people's pets. But how far is this false assertion from the Nazis' vicious assertion that Jews ate children? Substitute “Jews” for “Haitians” in Springfield and “Jews” for “Venezuelans” in Aurora and you're back to the Nazis of the 1930s.
By demonizing and dehumanizing immigrants, Trump and Vance aren't just trying to garner support from a minority of wavering voters across the country or to gain control of the Senate: They're threatening to make America a scarier, more racist country.
'They are poisoning the blood of our country' – Trump said Eight months ago, at a rally in New Hampshire, a representative of immigrants spoke, essentially quoting Adolf Hitler from Mein Kampf: “All the great cultures of the past perished because the original creative race died of blood poisoning.”
In a final effort to win the election, Trump and Vance are stoking hatred. On September 10, Vance said: said He asked his followers to “keep the cat memes flowing” despite the risk they are putting people in his own state.
Meanwhile, members of Trump's social media war room, including Trump aide Laura Loomer, who is known for her sexist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic posts, have been busy spreading AI-generated images of dogs and cats protected by Trump, as well as other content promoting the claim that Haitians are eating their pets.
Again, there is absolutely no justification for violence or the threat of violence in our democracy. While utterly despicable, Sunday's second assassination attempt on Trump can be seen as a symptom of the hateful politics that Trump and Vance are promoting.
This has to stop.
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Robert Reich is a former US Secretary of Labor and a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His latest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a columnist for the Guardian US. His newsletter is available at: robertreich.substack.com
