Trump-Vance Virulent Attacks On Haitian Immigrants Yield Predictable Threats

INSIDE: Merrick Garland ... Laura Loomer ... Taylor Swift

Sep 13, 2024

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate with US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 2024. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Despicable

Days of xenophobic rhetoric from the Republican ticket for president toward Haitian immigrants have produced exactly the kind of threats, intimidation, and disruption you would expect.

Here’s the lede from the Springfield News-Sun in Ohio, which has been ground zero for the baseless and comical claims that Haitian immigrants were eating pets:

Several city, county and school buildings around Springfield were closed Thursday because of a bomb threat “to multiple facilities throughout Springfield,” according to a city statement released Thursday morning. Springfield City Hall was evacuated around 8:30 a.m.
Springfield Police Chief Allison Elliott said at a Thursday afternoon press conference that City Hall, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Springfield Driver’s Exam Station, Ohio License Bureau on the south side, Springfield Academy of Excellence and Fulton Elementary School were all named in the threat and were cleared using explosive-detecting canines.

Real world effects from virulent political rhetoric.

On The Ground

The bomb threat in question included “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community,” Springfield’s mayor told the WaPo.

The racist attacks from the Trump-Vance ticket have left Haitian immigrants under siege and scared. Here’s a report from Wednesday on the ground in Springfield:

We know exactly where this kind of rhetoric leads. We’ve seen it over and over in the Trump era. It incites those already vulnerable to persuasion to take action and it always ends with Trump protesting that he can’t possibly be responsible for what other people did. The only thing new about any of this is which particular group or subset of society is the target.

Pure Incitement

Springfield’s Finest

Merrick Garland Steels DOJ For What May Be Ahead

Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed Justice Department employees Thursday, decrying “an unprecedented spike” in threats against them and seeming to fortify them for the possibility of Trump misusing the department if he were to win in November:

Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon. And our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics.

Judge Tosses Out More Charges In Georgia RICO Case

State Judge Scott McAfee threw out three of the charges in the sprawling RICO case against Donald Trump and several co-defendants. Two of the charges involved the former president. McAfee relied on an 1890 Supreme Court decision in ruling that precludes states from prosecuting perjury and false filings made in federal court. The core of the case, including the most serious charges, remain intact.

2 Jan. 6 Rioters Charged With Assaulting NYT Photographer

Brothers Philip and David Walker were hit with federal charges for allegedly assaulting NYT photographer Erin Schaff inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Schaff’s account of the assault, published the next day, remains among the most poignant recollections of the Jan. 6 attack.

Nazi Sympathizer Gave Two Speeches At Trump’s Club

A convicted Jan. 6 rioter who likes to cosplay as Adolf Hitler gave speeches at two separate events this summer hosted by Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, NPR reports. The Trump campaign said Trump did not attend either event, but NPR noted that one of the events “was personally endorsed by Trump himself in a video message that was played for the room.” More on the Nazi sympathizer here and here.

Election Certification Refusers Are Now A Movement

Adam Klasfeld at Just Security: “Emboldened by Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential contest, once-modest public servants tasked with a clerical yet crucial role in election administration have tried to anoint themselves as the arbiters of the races within their jurisdictions — and grown into a national movement.”

What Is Up With Donald Trump And Laura Loomer?

After 9/11 conspiracist Laura Loomer, 31, accompanied Donald Trump, 78, to his debate with Kamala Harris and gobsmackingly to a 9/11 anniversary event, the story spilled over into Day 2 coverage by the bigs:

NYT: At a Key Moment in Trump’s Campaign, a Social-Media Instigator Is at His Side
WaPo: Trump’s time with Loomer, a far-right activist, upsets his GOP allies
NBC News: Far-right activist Laura Loomer’s access to Trump reveals a crisis in his campaign
CNN: Laura Loomer, far-right provocateur who spread 9/11 conspiracy theory, influencing Trump as he searches for a message

Great Read

Michael Hirschorn: How a Naked Man on a Tropical Island Created Our Current Political Insanity

Charges Expected In Iranian Hack Of Trump Campaign

Federal criminal charges are expected in a matter of days in the Iranian hack-and-leak scheme that targeted the Trump campaign. “The FBI investigation has focused on an online persona named ‘Robert’ who contacted American reporters, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe details of an ongoing investigation,” the WaPo first reported.

The AP subsequently ran a similar report that suggested a criminal case already exists under seal: “The two people who discussed the looming criminal charges spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because they were not authorized to speak publicly about a case that had not yet been unsealed.”

2024 Ephemera

No más: Donald Trump bails on a second debate with Kamala Harris.
NYT: A group with Republican ties is running antisemitic ads about Doug Emhoff that target Muslim voters in Michigan.
The Taylor Swift effect: