JD Vance’s 'secondary lie' about Haitians reveals 'whole purpose' of rhetoric: analysis
Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio have been under attack by the 2024 Republican ticket based on unfounded accusations that they're kidnapping and eating local pets. But one columnist is arguing that egregious lie is allowing another blatant falsehood to escape scrutiny.
In a Thursday analysis for the New Republic, Greg Sargent wrote about why he believes former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) are singling out Haitian refugees for persecution. He observed that while the media has been vociferously debunking the lie about migrants eating cats and dogs, the Republican vice presidential nominee's other lie about communicable diseases "skyrocketing" in the county that houses the small Ohio town — specifically tuberculosis (T.B.) and HIV — has gone unchecked. He referred to this as "the secondary lie."
"[A]ccording to the county’s data, there was one case of T.B. in 2021, three cases in 2022, and four cases in 2023," Sargent wrote, citing figures from Clark County health commissioner Chris Cook. "OK, that sort of constitutes 'rising.' But it’s a tiny handful of cases out of a county population of 135,000."
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"What about HIV? Well, in 2022—the latest year of finalized data—there were around nine cases of new HIV diagnoses per 100,000 people in Clark County. That is up from five cases in 2020, but that nine cases is barely higher than the current rate across all of Ohio, which had seven new cases per 100,000 people in 2022," Sargent continued. "And if you look at the numbers of people living with HIV as a condition—as opposed to new cases of it—there are fewer per 100,000 in Clark County than there are statewide."
Cook additionally told Sargent: "If you look at all reportable diseases as a whole, they’re actually going down."
The New Republic writer emphasized that the spread of communicable diseases in Clark County, with the exception of Covid-19, was down in 2023 compared to 2021, when the influx of Haitian refugees was at its peak. He then theorized that the Ohio senator lying about both immigrants eating pets and spreading disease was for a much uglier reason.
"At bottom, Vance’s whole purpose of running with the grotesque pet-eating lie has not been to draw attention to the story of Springfield, but to rewrite it," he argued. "He wants to transform the Haitian influx into a symbol of immigration that’s uniformly understood (as in the Trump-MAGA worldview) as a massive and disorienting alien invasion responsible for unleashing all manner of debilitating social and societal ills."
READ MORE: JD Vance slammed for spreading false rumors of pet-eating Haitian immigrants
Vance's attacks on migrants – which Trump amplified to tens of millions of viewers during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris — has led to multiple bomb threats called into both Springfield municipal government offices and even elementary schools in the area. Some members of the Haitian community, who fled political persecution and violence in their home country, have said they're considering relocating out of Springfield due to the vitriol fueled by the Republican ticket.
"We're all victims this morning. They're attacking us in every way," one local resident told the Haitian Times. "I'm going to have to move because this area is no longer good for me. I can't even leave my house to go to Walmart. I'm anxious and scared."
Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine announced he would be deploying additional public safety resources in the wake of Trump and Vance's attacks. However, he has remained relatively silent about the anti-immigrant rhetoric by the GOP presidential nominee and his state's junior U.S. senator.
Click here to read Sargent's analysis in the New Republic.
READ MORE: 'I'm going to have to move': Haitian migrants 'anxious and scared' amid wave of MAGA attacks
