Chuck Darwin<p>With <a href="https://c.im/tags/humanitarian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>humanitarian</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/catastrophes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>catastrophes</span></a> unfolding on several continents, <br>the response of the <a href="https://c.im/tags/wealthy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>wealthy</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/world" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>world</span></a> has been to 💥demand tighter borders and higher fences. </p><p>⚠️There is no blockbuster charity single raising money for starving refugees from the civil war raging in Sudan. <br>🆘And now, the cruel taunts come not just from schoolyard bullies and cranks on the political fringes, but from the lips of a man who stood on the presidential debate stage on Tuesday -- a former president who once again has a coin-flip shot at regaining the most powerful office in the world.</p><p>And so I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by that lowest of moments at the debate, <br>when Donald Trump repeated a vile, baseless claim that Haitian immigrants were killing and eating household pets in Springfield, Ohio. </p><p>This allegation appears to stem from viral social media posts and statements at public meetings. <br>It was picked up by some of the most rancid figures at the <a href="https://c.im/tags/fringe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fringe</span></a> of the <a href="https://c.im/tags/MAGA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MAGA</span></a>-verse, <br>then quickly hopscotched from there to a social media post by Trump’s running mate, JD <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vance</span></a>, <br>and finally to the debate stage, sputtered by <a href="https://c.im/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> himself.</p><p>There is something particularly <a href="https://c.im/tags/insidious" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>insidious</span></a> about this claim, <br>uttered at this time, from that stage. <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/Food" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Food</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/pets" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pets</span></a> are, to use a Freudian term, highly overdetermined <a href="https://c.im/tags/symbols" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>symbols</span></a> in our political life. </p><p>They are capable of receiving and holding a multiplicity of very potent meanings, transmitting deep messages about <a href="https://c.im/tags/identity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>identity</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/belonging" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>belonging</span></a>.</p><p>You can tell how powerful this type of slur is by how quickly and vociferously it has animated so many on the right. </p><p>Figures who flirt with the mainstream have eagerly jumped into the fray. </p><p>The conservative culture warrior <a href="https://c.im/tags/Christopher" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Christopher</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rufo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rufo</span></a> has offered a $5,000 bounty for anyone who can find proof that a Haitian immigrant had in fact eaten a cat. </p><p>It is not hard to imagine how this could quickly escalate into <a href="https://c.im/tags/vigilante" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>vigilante</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/violence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>violence</span></a> against Haitians in America. </p><p>On Thursday, city officials in Springfield, most of whom have pushed back against the false allegations, said they had received <a href="https://c.im/tags/bomb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>bomb</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/threats" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>threats</span></a>, prompting the evacuation of city buildings.</p><p>MAGA bigotry is far more <a href="https://c.im/tags/sinister" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sinister</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/dangerous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>dangerous</span></a> than weird. </p><p>And disbelieving laughter could, <br>I fear, blind us to moments like this, when truly unacceptable lines are crossed</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/14/opinion/trump-debate-haitians-pets.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ngrp=mnp&pvid=93CE287F-EE40-40AE-B1B3-90B0F13022C0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/2024/09/14/opinion</span><span class="invisible">/trump-debate-haitians-pets.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ngrp=mnp&pvid=93CE287F-EE40-40AE-B1B3-90B0F13022C0</span></a></p>