No Longer Merely “Weird,” Trump and Vance Now Threaten Lives and Liberties

And the threats will only increase

There has been much commentary on the Trump/Vance lies about the Haitian immigrant community in Springfield, Ohio. Even the Wall Street Journal has weighed-in with a terrific piece of reporting about those lies and this reprehensible episode.¹

But still, too often, the larger context for all of this lying is lost to the commentariat.

Even though Harris and Walz, along with millions of supporters, have had fun mocking Trump/Vance with the “They’re weird” meme (and many others having to do with cats and dogs, etc.!), the fact is that “weird” doesn’t actually capture the seriously stark and dark realities of Trump, Vance, their Republican enablers, and their millions of MAGA acolytes.

Too often, people forget that the right-wingers who have taken over the Republican Party know they have nowhere near the support of the majority of voters and so cannot win the presidency by simply campaigning for the most votes nationally.

So, for years, they have developed all sorts of subversive tactics to undermine voting by likely democratic voters. The culmination came and the floodgates opened when Senator Mitch McConnell illegitimately engineered the appointments of three rabidly reactionary Supreme Court justices who almost immediately acted to eviscerate the Voting Rights Act. This has prevented the US Department of Justice from serving as a necessary bulwark against election subversion by reactionary state legislators, governors, and courts.

At the same time, McConnell also engineered the appointment of rabidly reactionary judges throughout our federal courts who are aiding and abetting hundreds of challenges to voters and voting procedures all around the country.

These subversive efforts were proceeding apace while Trump and his party was basking in their confidence that they could beat Joe Biden in the swing states — and so in the electoral college. But then the race was suddenly upended. The democratic nominee became Kamala Harris. She and her running mate Joe Walz unexpectedly tapped into a latent vein of electoral gold: competence, caring, compassion, optimism, integrity, and a massively infectious, joyous good-naturedness.

In a matter of a couple of weeks, Trump and the Republican Party were in shock. They were no longer considered “a lock” to retake the presidency. Trump virtually collapsed into a whining, sulking, brooding hulk. Trump’s choice of JD Vance as his vice-presidential running mate doubled-down on the “dark, hulking menace” theme, adding the profile of a true-to-life ogre to the Trump ticket.

With their popularity steadily falling, with the certainty of winning the needed swing states falling with it, and with only about 7 weeks until election day, the Trump/Vance team has now arrived at a place of desperation.

They have clearly concluded that the only way now to assure a win is by doubling-down on vote suppression and voter intimidation, and by sowing electoral chaos of the type that Trump had hoped would be created by virtue of his insurrectionary assualt on January 6th.

Republicans and their allies have already filed hundreds of baseless lawsuits challenging voters and voting procedures all around the country — but especially in the swing states. They obviously plan to continue doing so in order to disrupt balloting.

And now, with lies and provocations about things like illegal immigrants in Springfield, Ohio stealing and eating people’s pets, Trump and Vance are feverishly trying to provoke outrage, intimidation, and violence by their acolytes across the country.

Such intimidation and chaos is designed not only to suppress voting, but to make accurate vote-counting and certification impossible in many states. Doing so could give the opportunity to throw the outcome of the election to the House of Representatives, where Republicans represent a majority of governors and can vote to hand the election to Trump.

And if not the House of Representatives, then, as with Bush/Gore election, the right-wing-stacked Supreme Court can do their dirty work.

This is all to say that, yes: to date, the “They’re Weird” mantra and memes have pivoted the “Vibes” in this election. It can all feel like a lot of fun and games. But as the saying goes, “It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.”

Trump and the Republican Party are not playing games. Rather, they are gaming the system intending that somebody gets hurt. They know that they can’t win with votes so they are now focused on winning with chaos, intimidation, and thuggery. From here on out, they will be committed to a game that is increasingly dangerous to our lives and liberties.

It’s time to realize that Trump and Vance have moved way beyond “weird.” They’re telling us that they’re coming for us. At first, this seemed weird. But now it seems threatening. Because it is.

Trump and company mean to win and they see only one route left for them: The one where people get hurt.

Like Hannibal Lector and the sharks with which he is obsessed, Trump and his side-cuck Vance are deranged predators.

They mean to have us for dinner if we let them.

1. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/springfield-ohio-pet-eating-claims-haitian-migrants-04598d48