A bomb threat in Springfield, Ohio, came after Trump repeated baseless rumor about immigrants ā€˜eating petsā€™

Joe Biden on Friday said the hostile attacks on Haitian immigrants in the US ā€œ[have] to stopā€ afterĀ Donald Trump repeated a false and derogatory claim about a Haitian community in Ohio.

ā€œIt is simply wrong that the proud Haitian community is under attack right now in this country,ā€ Biden said. ā€œThereā€™s no place in America. This has to stop ā€“ what heā€™s doing. It has to stop,ā€ the US president said at a White House event marking Black excellence.

The mayor of Springfield,Ā Ohio, earlier on Friday said thatĀ the bomb threatĀ made on Thursday that forced the evacuation of the city hall, two schools and other buildings was explicitly anti-immigrant and hostile to the cityā€™s Haitian community, following Donald Trumpā€™s stoking of a rightwing conspiracy theory that some residentsā€™ pets are being eaten.

Rob Rue, the mayor, accused nationalĀ Republicans who are amplifying wild rumors from a far-right provocateur that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are hunting and eating other peopleā€™s pets of ā€œhurting our cityā€.

  • spaghetti_hitchens@fedia.io
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    5 days ago

    I actually think this is a dry run for Trump to see if he can ā€œinnocentlyā€ incite violence. If things donā€™t go his way in November, the call will be much more direct.

    • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
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      5 days ago

      I think youā€™re giving Trump too much credit. This comment sums it up succinctly, but I sincerely believe Trump is not capable of thinking about the future. He only brought up the cats and dogs because he thought it was his best anti-immigrant fear-mongering line available at the time.

    • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      If Trump loses in November then heā€™ll be in jail by the end of the month. Thatā€™s why his sentencing was delayed; so that Merchan wonā€™t have to worry about the political consequences of jailing a Presidential candidate.