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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
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. …”

Vance, Trump, and The Politics of Hate
The liberal elites may be the stated target. But minority communities are the ones who suffer.
