In what ought to be a headline in The
Onion but is instead a clear reminder of the deplorable state of
political discourse from MAGA world, the Arizona Republican Party has
launched a billboard campaign declaring that only the GOP opposes eating
kittens.
I wish this was just monkeyshines, but it’s very, very real.
The billboards, which ape the iconic
Chik-Fil-A billboards featuring cows encouraging people to eat chicken
sandwiches instead of hamburgers, are quite insane. The purpose, AZGOP
Chairwoman Gina Swoboda crowed in a press release, is to highlight
“disturbing stories” about illegal immigrants perpetrating “unthinkable
behavior” in Ohio that acts as a “sobering reminder of the stakes” in
the election.
It’s all hogwash.
A quick bit of background is probably
warranted, because the story is the perfect example of how the
right-wing disinformation media ecosystem works — and how MAGA voters
are eager to accept any lie about the people they despise, regardless of how idiotic it is.
In the past week, claims went viral
on social media — in particular on X, the once-great site known as
Twitter that has become a hive of right-wing extremism and racism — that
Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing pet cats and
eating them. Others supposedly were chowing down on swans and ducks they
caught in public parks.
On Sept. 8, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D.
Vance, Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, posted the batty rumor on
X, blaming Kamala Harris for the alleged noshing on pets. The claim has
since been amplified by a host of right-wing influencers and
politicians, who all credulously swallowed the story hook, line and
sinker and performatively wailed about it.
If they cared about the truth — and
be sure, they absolutely don’t — they’d have quickly discovered that the
claim is bull. It stems from an anonymous post on a Springfield
Facebook group, according to the Springfield News-Sun, the local newspaper in the city of about 60,000 people that fact-checked the bonkers story.
The Facebook post presented as fact
unverified third-hand information about a cat allegedly being mutilated —
and claimed that local law enforcement was aware of a problem involving
Haitians butchering local pets or waterfowl.
Except the police said there have been no reports of that, and Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said there’s exactly zero evidence that any geese or ducks were being killed and eaten by anyone, immigrant or not.
To sum up: The Trump campaign is pushing a disgustingly racist lie to smear the 20,000 or so Haitian immigrants that have helped revitalize Springfield, where they work in a Honda factory and a Dole fruit-packing center.
And now the Arizona Republican Party
is doggedly using that racist fabrication as a way to scare voters into
backing Trump, even though everyone knows there’s no truth to it.
This is the culmination of the Trump
effect on Republicans and the conservative movement. Alternative facts
are all that matters, and the party’s leaders won’t be cowed into
humility or reasonable behavior.
It’s lies and naked racism all the way down.