In less than 24 hours, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance turned an idiotic, racist conspiracy theory about people of color eating neighborhood pets into an actual threat.
The Republican vice presidential candidate added fuel to the fire of the inane conspiracy on Tuesday, specifically targeting Haitian migrants—and Vice President Kamala Harris’s aid for the community—as the root cause for the imaginary problem.
“In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants,” Vance wrote on X. “It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”
But the utter lack of proof didn’t stop him from intensifying his target on the vulnerable population.
“Do you know what’s confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here,” Vance continued. “That local health services have been overwhelmed. That communicable diseases—like TB and HIV—have been on the rise. That local schools have struggled to keep up with newcomers who don’t know English. That rents have risen so fast that many Springfield families can’t afford to put a roof over their head.”