GOP slouches into the Crazy -IMMIGRATION | Trump Firehose of anti-immigrant posts and rhetoric

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“… “I think our people hate the right people,” a relaxed JD Vance confided to an interviewer three years ago.

By “our people,” Vance meant the followers of Donald Trump, whose support he intended to win in the Ohio Republican senate primary.

… it was also clear that Vance knew one couldn’t foster hatred for liberal elites without the collateral damage of hatred for immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, cultural nonconformists, and any of the groups whom those elites were supposedly elevating at the expense of “our people.”

But these past few weeks suggest that it wasn’t merely collateral damage at all. The assault on these groups really was the point. The alleged failures of liberal elites (to, say, close the border or protect manufacturing jobs) are the excuse for the assaults on immigrants and minorities that we’ve seen throughout the Trump years. That’s where the real political payoff is.

Let’s return, for a moment, to Vance’s telling sentence. By “hate” Vance means . . . hate. Not disagreement or even dislike. Hate.

… And the assault on the Haitians of Springfield, Ohio, is a kind of culmination of Vance’s—and of course Trump’s—politics of hate.

It also represents a culmination of Vance’s and Trump’s politics of lying.

Vance acknowledged yesterday on CNN that he had been trying to manufacture coverage of Springfield based on nothing more than a few unsubstantiated constituent phone calls

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

The creation of stories. One could call that fiction. Or lies. Lies in the service of justifying and encouraging hatred for a minority group.

That seems familiar. It’s familiar from the last century in Europe. It’s also familiar from periods of American history, especially with respect to race and immigrants.

… Perhaps a pure play on racism and nativism is more effective politically than a somewhat complicated debate about the border—especially after Trump killed the border bill, and especially in non-border states in the Midwest?

In any case, it’s striking that Trump and Vance are willing to make this campaign so clearly a referendum on nativism and racism. …”


www.thebulwark.com

Vance, Trump, and The Politics of Hate

The liberal elites may be the stated target. But minority communities are the ones who suffer.
www.thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com
 
nycfan said:
“… “I think our people hate the right people,” a relaxed JD Vance confided to an interviewer three years ago.

By “our people,” Vance meant the followers of Donald Trump, whose support he intended to win in the Ohio Republican senate primary.

… it was also clear that Vance knew one couldn’t foster hatred for liberal elites without the collateral damage of hatred for immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, cultural nonconformists, and any of the groups whom those elites were supposedly elevating at the expense of “our people.”

But these past few weeks suggest that it wasn’t merely collateral damage at all. The assault on these groups really was the point. The alleged failures of liberal elites (to, say, close the border or protect manufacturing jobs) are the excuse for the assaults on immigrants and minorities that we’ve seen throughout the Trump years. That’s where the real political payoff is.

Let’s return, for a moment, to Vance’s telling sentence. By “hate” Vance means . . . hate. Not disagreement or even dislike. Hate.

… And the assault on the Haitians of Springfield, Ohio, is a kind of culmination of Vance’s—and of course Trump’s—politics of hate.

It also represents a culmination of Vance’s and Trump’s politics of lying.

Vance acknowledged yesterday on CNN that he had been trying to manufacture coverage of Springfield based on nothing more than a few unsubstantiated constituent phone calls

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

The creation of stories. One could call that fiction. Or lies. Lies in the service of justifying and encouraging hatred for a minority group.

That seems familiar. It’s familiar from the last century in Europe. It’s also familiar from periods of American history, especially with respect to race and immigrants.

… Perhaps a pure play on racism and nativism is more effective politically than a somewhat complicated debate about the border—especially after Trump killed the border bill, and especially in non-border states in the Midwest?

In any case, it’s striking that Trump and Vance are willing to make this campaign so clearly a referendum on nativism and racism. …”


www.thebulwark.com

Vance, Trump, and The Politics of Hate

The liberal elites may be the stated target. But minority communities are the ones who suffer.
www.thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com
Click to expand...
You can’t convince me the underlying psychology and drive of the GQP isn’t proto-Nazi.
 


[paywalled article above, related one here:


“… As the borough manager of Charleroi — a small Pennsylvania town about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh — Manning is all too familiar with those types of xenophobic allegations, as similar claims have circulated around his borough.

While Springfield’s city manager, Bryan Heck, is dealing with false theories about “people eating domesticated pets,” Manning said in Charleroi, there are baseless claims such as “people on Facebook saying that there’s a government-funded tent city in the Rite Aidparking lot, that there’s people walking down the street carrying live chickens.”

… More than 2,000 miles away from the sleepy Pennsylvania town during a rally in Tucson, Arizona, Thursday, Trump promoted inflammatory rhetoric about Haitian migrants in Charleroi on the national stage, advancing the misleading claim that the Washington County borough’s Haitian immigrant population was costing local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He also suggested the town is “virtually bankrupt” and that the immigrants are bringing an increase of crime, neither of which are true. The borough’s crime rate is down, Manning said.

“(Charleroi) experienced a 2,000% increase in the population of Haitian migrants under Kamala Harris. So Pennsylvania, remember this when you have to go to vote ... just remember this 2,000% increase,” Trump said in Tucson.

“It’s a small town. All of a sudden they got thousands of people. The schools are scrambling to hire translators for the influx of students who don’t speak not a word of English, costing local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

… The total immigrant population in the glassmaking town of Charleroi has increased by 2,000% in the last two years, CBS News Pittsburgh reported in March. That figure is relative, Manning said, given the borough’s small population. In 2022, there were 4,324 people living in Charleroi, according to the latest census estimates, and in 2020, Charleroi’s population of foreign-born individuals was just under 3%.

Haitian refugees have legally come to Charleroi for a number of reasons, including to escape violence and political unrest in their home country — drawn to the borough on the Monongahela River for its affordable housing and meatpacking jobs, the local Observer-Reporter reported in June 2021.

… As of March 2024, the majority of English Language Learners (ELLs) at the Charleroi Area School District were from Haiti. The district hired more ELL teachers, an ELL coach for the teachers, and an interpreter that cost over $400,000.

… The district, Zelich said, gets reimbursed by the state. As enrollment increases, so does the reimbursement and funding from the state Department of Education, Zelich said.

… Manning emphasized that the Haitian community is an “easily observable reality” in Charleroi — a town which in 2022 was 77% white, 10% Black, and 3% Latino — but that the new residents are “not the burden on the local government or any of our resources or anything that’s being portrayed.”

“It’s no different than, you know, people moved to here from Tucson, Ariz., you’d have to deal with it,” Manning said. …”
 
nycfan said:


[paywalled article above, related one here:


“… As the borough manager of Charleroi — a small Pennsylvania town about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh — Manning is all too familiar with those types of xenophobic allegations, as similar claims have circulated around his borough.

While Springfield’s city manager, Bryan Heck, is dealing with false theories about “people eating domesticated pets,” Manning said in Charleroi, there are baseless claims such as “people on Facebook saying that there’s a government-funded tent city in the Rite Aidparking lot, that there’s people walking down the street carrying live chickens.”

… More than 2,000 miles away from the sleepy Pennsylvania town during a rally in Tucson, Arizona, Thursday, Trump promoted inflammatory rhetoric about Haitian migrants in Charleroi on the national stage, advancing the misleading claim that the Washington County borough’s Haitian immigrant population was costing local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He also suggested the town is “virtually bankrupt” and that the immigrants are bringing an increase of crime, neither of which are true. The borough’s crime rate is down, Manning said.

“(Charleroi) experienced a 2,000% increase in the population of Haitian migrants under Kamala Harris. So Pennsylvania, remember this when you have to go to vote ... just remember this 2,000% increase,” Trump said in Tucson.

“It’s a small town. All of a sudden they got thousands of people. The schools are scrambling to hire translators for the influx of students who don’t speak not a word of English, costing local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

… The total immigrant population in the glassmaking town of Charleroi has increased by 2,000% in the last two years, CBS News Pittsburgh reported in March. That figure is relative, Manning said, given the borough’s small population. In 2022, there were 4,324 people living in Charleroi, according to the latest census estimates, and in 2020, Charleroi’s population of foreign-born individuals was just under 3%.

Haitian refugees have legally come to Charleroi for a number of reasons, including to escape violence and political unrest in their home country — drawn to the borough on the Monongahela River for its affordable housing and meatpacking jobs, the local Observer-Reporter reported in June 2021.

… As of March 2024, the majority of English Language Learners (ELLs) at the Charleroi Area School District were from Haiti. The district hired more ELL teachers, an ELL coach for the teachers, and an interpreter that cost over $400,000.

… The district, Zelich said, gets reimbursed by the state. As enrollment increases, so does the reimbursement and funding from the state Department of Education, Zelich said.

… Manning emphasized that the Haitian community is an “easily observable reality” in Charleroi — a town which in 2022 was 77% white, 10% Black, and 3% Latino — but that the new residents are “not the burden on the local government or any of our resources or anything that’s being portrayed.”

“It’s no different than, you know, people moved to here from Tucson, Ariz., you’d have to deal with it,” Manning said. …”
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I hypothesized they were doing. Ie floating Haitian racism/xenophobia in a safe state, neighboring PA, then transfer that fear mongering to PA. They’re getting the oxygen they always wanted with this fabrication, and it’s distracting from ttump’s clear cognitive decline, age, and horrific debate performance.

PA is everything, folks.
 
HeelingAg said:
This is exactly what I hypothesized they were doing. Ie floating Haitian racism/xenophobia in a safe state, neighboring PA, then transfer that fear mongering to PA. They’re getting the oxygen they always wanted with this fabrication, and it’s distracting from ttump’s clear cognitive decline, age, and horrific debate performance.

PA is everything, folks.
Click to expand...
You could say NC is everything
You could say GA is everything

Don't be surprised if we hear about cats and dogs being eaten in Wadesboro,NC
Don't be surprised if we hear about cats and dogs being eaten in Washington,GA
 
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superrific said:
Are you sure that the church 40 years ago was more of a hub? Or was it just that you were younger and didn't see what you see today?
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My gut-level reaction is that super is probably right here, that 40 years ago we just didn't have the perspective or intellectual toolkit to properly evaluate our churches. I agree with lawtig that they - or at least my evangelical one in Fresno, CA - *felt* like a positive social hub, but I'm having a hard time seeing how that had a net positive effect on the larger civic or national community.
 
Charleroi, there's a name I haven't heard in a hot minute. I grew up about 10 miles away in California PA.

EDIT: For anyone wondering, it's pronounced "shall-AH-roy", at least by the locals.
 
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lawtig02 said:
Yeah, this would be a much better discussion over a beer or two than on a message board, but your point about attendance at religious services is why I highlighted the fear part of the equation. I may be wrong, but my hypothesis is that religious participation in a community oriented around hope and inclusion (especially as it relates to the afterlife) is a social positive, and religious participation in a community oriented around fear and exclusion (especially as it relates to the afterlife) is a social negative. American religion used to skew to the former, but after the conservative culture war takeover that began in the late 1970s, it has been skewing to the latter for a long time now.
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I think you're correct that a community centered around hope and inclusion is far better for society than one centered around fear and exclusion. The former would encourage those in that community to be kind and gracious to those outside the community and the latter would encourage those in the community to be distrustful and mean.

But I don't think that explains the rise of MAGA. And it wouldn't explain how churches based on fear and exclusion leading to MAGA are simultaneously a result of greater social isolation. I'd say that the issues with churches based in fear and exclusion is that they exhibit the same general narcissism as MAGA because they elevate the in-group at the expense of the out-group to the same alarming degree.
 
Ddseddse said:
Charleroi, there's a name I haven't heard in a hot minute. I grew up about 10 miles away in California PA.

EDIT: For anyone wondering, it's pronounced "shall-AH-roy", at least by the locals.
Click to expand...
Wait, there's a California in Pennsylvania? That's awesome.

And thanks for the pronunciation lesson. I like feeling like I know things like that.
 
Democracy is in trouble then. Streaming movies ,multiple home entertainment opportunities, loud sports events and concerts which offers shared experiences but not a lot of interaction and what interaction there is is largely social media pretty much rules out most large scale activities of a more personally interactive nature. I don't much see that changing.
 
Paine said:
You’re not going to find one factor that led to the rise of MAGA, but I don’t think we get to where we are today without the social isolation we experience as a country that was only exacerbated by Covid.
Click to expand...
I think that a sorting of the country by geography, specialized interests, and media consumption has certainly been a key to the rise of MAGA as it has increasingly placed people in echo chambers where they largely only hear from those who are like them.

But I don't think that's the same as social isolation. It seems to me that it's not isolation that's the issue but that many folks no longer interact with a broad cross-section of people and instead only interact with people who are largely like themselves.

That's not to say that we don't have an issue with social isolation for a significant group of Americans. We likely do, but I don't see how it's a driver of MAGA beliefs.
 
Paine said:
I think this issue of social isolation is due to the loss of free, public spaces where people in the community actually go and hang out. In a lot of rural communities, this was the church. It created social bonds and cohesiveness within a community.

The church filled the need of this space then. It doesn’t have to do the same now, but I think it’s clear the loss of these third places have been catastrophic. New spaces need to be developed to promote these same types of bonds, though with a greater focus inclusion than churches may have had. Democracy requires these types of institutions.
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There has been one epochal, paradigm-shifting event in our times, and that was the development of the internet.

I think everything else, from the decline of lemonade stands to the commodification of county-fairs, takes a very significant back seat to how the internet has reshaped pretty much everything, including very basic aspects of communal activity and social and economic organization.
 
TarSpiel said:
There has been one epochal, paradigm-shifting event in our times, and that was the development of the internet.

I think everything else, from the decline of lemonade stands to the commodification of county-fairs, takes a very significant back seat to how the internet has reshaped pretty much everything, including very basic aspects of communal activity and social and economic organization.
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This I very much agree with.

It is a "revolution" just as much as the Agricultural Revolution or the Industrial Revolution.
 
TarSpiel said:
There has been one epochal, paradigm-shifting event in our times, and that was the development of the internet.

I think everything else, from the decline of lemonade stands to the commodification of county-fairs, takes a very significant back seat to how the internet has reshaped pretty much everything, including very basic aspects of communal activity and social and economic organization.
Click to expand...
I'd argue that automation and computerization did a huge amount to create the social and economic unrest that the internet feeds on. You can see a lot of parallels with the social disruptions of the Industrial Revolution and its impact on everything from sewing to sailing. This one is probably larger and more wide ranging, locally, nationally and worldwide.
 
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