Let’s Talk About Springfield: The Kamala Club - Issue Seven

Trump may say things that sound ridiculous and laughable, but in the case of “eating pets,” his statements are dangerously dark and reminiscent of Nazi ideology.

Hi Kamala Club,

At this point in the election cycle, I am left dumbfounded by the ridiculous choice we have before us. On the left we have Kamala Harris — a fearless and qualified candidate with a platform that will actually help people and move our country forward. Far, far to the right, we have Donald Trump — a man who acts only for himself and a handful of billionaires that are buying his policies like they’re corporate acquisitions. 

I’m in shock that there are so many people in this country that watched the debate and saw that disgrace of a man babble, complain, lie, demean and gaslight, and think, “Yes, he has my vote.”

To an extent, it’s helpful to laugh at him. Clearly, that gets to him. Kamala employed that tactic at the debate and it worked. But at the same time, as ridiculous and unbelievably stupid he is, he poses threats to our country and democracy the likes to which our nation hasn’t seen since the Civil War. 

A perfect example of a Trumpian dichotomy — something that sounds funny on the surface but is dark and evil beneath it — are his comments that “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the pets” in Springfield, Ohio.

The sound bite of him bemoaning this conspiracy theory (that has been proven untrue) has gone mega-viral. “They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats” has been edited with a catchy beat behind it as if it were any normal TikTok trend. 

The context behind this nonsense is that there is a population of legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield. The members of this community go to church on Sundays, work in upstanding factory jobs, and mind their business, peacefully serving their communities. Because of all this, someone on Twitter even called them “comically American.”

But, since they are not white, Donald Trump and JD Vance have spouted lies and conspiracies about them to their MAGA base, inciting Trumpian maniacs to deliver bomb threats and terrorism alarms that have shut down schools, hospitals and the entire town of Springfield. The mayor of Springfield announced “We need help, not hate.” 

Donald Trump’s campaign runs on fear tactics. One of his classic threats is that “Democratic cities are filled with crime.” It’s funny to say this, given that Trump and the GOP are doing nothing to prevent the #1 cause of criminal deaths in this country: gun violence. How can he run on the fallacy that Democrats cause crime while inciting his fan club to ravage an entire town with threats of bombs and terror?

Trump and Vance have decided to target Springfield as the first place where they will begin mass deportation. If they win this election, they are threatening to deport legal immigrants who came to the country to work, mind you. If this doesn’t sound scary enough to you, wait until you think about the historical context.

To justify their hatred toward the Haitian immigrants, JD Vance tweeted that there has been a “massive rise in diseases” in Springfield due to the Haitian community. The Holocaust Memorial Museum cites that Nazis justified their evisceration of Jews as working toward “racial purity,” getting rid of disease and cleansing the gene pool. 

There are Jews voting for Trump based on Israel alone (visit my “Good for Israel” post for my thoughts on that), and who are justifying their vote based on what helps Jews. If this sounds like you, I ask you to go back in time to when your parents or grandparents were fleeing Europe due to the spread of Nazism. 

The words “Never Again” have been etched into the consciousness of every Jew in the world. But does “Never Again” only apply to Jews? The language that Trump and Vance promote is dangerously parallel to the language Hitler popularized in the 1930s. 

People love saying that if they were alive during the Holocaust, they wouldn’t have been bystanders to the atrocities and would have brought awareness to stop it. What we’re seeing in real time is that this is not true. Many are turning a blind eye to the same brand of horror, just toward a different minority.

“Mass deportation now” — the phrase people happily flaunt on signs at Trump rallies — is the same rhetoric that led to the decimation of 6 million Jews and millions of other people that were not deemed Aryan enough during the Holocaust. 

So if you’re with me, feel free to laugh at his ridiculousness. At the same time, take his threats seriously. We must do everything in our power to reject his Nazi-esque hatred. That means, we need to do everything in our power to elect Kamala Harris. Trump wants a white nationalist country, and if you’re not a straight White Christian man, there’s a good chance he’s coming for you, too.

I leave you with this timeless poem:

If any of this resonated with you, join me in this fight! Reach out to me to get involved!

Signed,

Zoe Grossinger