Republican vice-presidential candidate Senator JD Vance continues to stoke outrage against foreign-born members of his own constituency, sharing video footage with his 1.9 million social media followers that he claimed showed African migrants in Dayton, Ohio “eating cats” — but instead appears to show nothing more than poultry cooking on an outdoor grill.

“Kamala Harris and her media apparatchiks should be ashamed of themselves,” Vance posted Saturday on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. “Another ‘debunked’ story that turned out to have merit.”

Vance has claimed, falsely, in recent days that Haitians — who are not Africans — living in Springfield — a town of 58,000 which is not Dayton — were stealing, killing, and consuming their neighbors’ pets.

  • Suzune
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    108 months ago

    US politics is hilarious. Why do you even waste time on those dumbasses? Go and do productive things. You have lots of time while this crazy trumpy shit is going on.

    • @Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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      38 months ago

      Because ignoring them will only allow them to grow larger and stronger unchecked. It’s like talking about ignoring an obvious stalker who is clearly building a plan on your daily movements and knows exactly where you live and when you leave/return home. They can be a remarkably stupid person but they will eventually find the perfect opportunity to strike and you will never be able to get any justice for it.

      That is literally something that happened to me. More than once.

    • @schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
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      78 months ago

      Lots of people were 100% convinced in 2016 that there was no way Trump could win. I know because, TBH, I was one of them. So I don’t think it’s anywhere near out of the question that Trump might win this year; I do not know it, neither do you, neither does anyone else.

      • Suzune
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        -158 months ago

        I wouldn’t like to be paralyzed in terror. It’s not reasonable and not useful. I would be wise to think what to do instead.

        • @dubious@lemmy.world
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          38 months ago

          I would be wise to think what to do instead.

          THIS^ this is the statement that needs to be repeated over and over in leftist american circles.

          i think if we worked on this instead of endless whining and worrying, the problem would be gone by now. the solutions are simple. sorry you got downvoted. you didn’t deserve it.

        • @lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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          128 months ago

          Get back to us when when your country is a hair’s breadth from being taken over by a fascist dictator.

          • Suzune
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            18 months ago

            Actively doing something useful is what I suggested. It has already been communicated that the entire topic is bullshit.

            Talking inside the bubble is not helpful anymore. There is no one listening here who could change an opinion about Trump.

  • ThePowerOfGeek
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    138 months ago

    Grilling chicken in Ohio, eh? Hmm, I hear there’s a huge orange chicken who is scared to have a second debate because he got so badly humiliated in the first one. He might want to stay away from Ohio since they are grilling his kind.

  • @twistypencil@lemmy.world
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    748 months ago

    People, remember how Trump presidency went! Bad news for Trump? Float a batshiit crazy thing to get the media to play with that shiny ball instead. This is a fucking distraction, Trump lost the debate, he is courting fascists, he is old and weird and people leave his rallys bored, he had to throw a stink bomb

  • Flying Squid
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    468 months ago

    Wow. They are really going over the deep end on this. How could this possibly help them win votes?

    • ThePowerOfGeek
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      38 months ago

      They are too used to the typical news cycle where they bombard the public with lies to the point where everyone starts believing those are real. They’ve grown complacent.

      • Flying Squid
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        58 months ago

        A distraction from what? What is overt, disgusting racism distract from in any helpful way?

        • @barsquid@lemmy.world
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          17 months ago

          Overt, disgusting racism is what his voters support, so it is a good distraction if there was news about something they don’t support. They support everything, as long as it is evil, though, so do not ask me what that could be.

        • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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          28 months ago

          It gets them angry and supporting Republican anti-immigrant positions, instead of thinking about the issues that actually affect them, like why Steward Health Care was allowed to buy hospitals, squeeze as much money out of them as possible, give the CEO $250m, and then go bankrupt, leaving hundreds of people without healthcare.

          • Flying Squid
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            -18 months ago

            You think people don’t think about the dire financial straits they are in because Trump and Vance are being racists? And somehow that helps Trump get elected?

            None of that makes any sense.

            • @catloaf@lemm.ee
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              78 months ago

              When someone is out of work, and the media tells them it’s because of immigrants stealing their jobs, and not because of private equity squeezing companies to death for profit, yes, it helps Trump and the Republicans get elected.

              • Flying Squid
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                -28 months ago

                The media isn’t telling them that. The media is telling them that isn’t true. Trump and Vance and their surrogates are telling them that. Trump was literally corrected in the debate.

        • @twistypencil@lemmy.world
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          18 months ago

          The topic does not matter.

          The assertion at hand does not matter.

          Whether anyone believes the assertion does not matter.

          The only thing that matters is: Are you playing offense or defense?

          Cuz attacking looks like winning. And explaining looks like losing.

          https://youtu.be/wmVkJvieaOA

          • Flying Squid
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            18 months ago

            Okay? Well they’re being attacked. Massively. So I guess this distraction isn’t working out for them.

            • @twistypencil@lemmy.world
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              18 months ago

              Who is defending? Not them, they are doubling down. Everyone else is calling the mayor and asking for a statement, or doing some vox pop with Haitians on the ground.

              • Flying Squid
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                18 months ago

                Yes, and all of those statements essentially are “Donald Trump and JD Vance are racist liars.”

                Which you seem to think people shouldn’t say.

    • themadcodger
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      338 months ago

      Backtracking equals flip-flopping, and then it’s a slippery slope to learning and growing and admitting you were wrong.

      • Flying Squid
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        178 months ago

        You’re probably right. And if they’re going to keep swimming towards the bottom of the pool, I really want journalists to start asking them why Haitians are eating pets. Because that’s the part that they haven’t actually made clear.

        Haitians don’t eat dogs and cats in Haiti. The Haitians in Springfield aren’t starving, most of them have jobs. So why are they eating them, JD?

        • @TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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          158 months ago

          They need to send Jose Maria Del Pino, the reporter who kicked Stephen Miller right in his whataboutism. That dude was relentless and would not fall for his shit.

          JD would be fucked.

        • @CM400@lemmy.world
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          208 months ago

          JD isn’t talking to people who think stuff through like that, he’s talking to racists and they don’t care if it’s true or not, it gives them an excuse to feel that way.

  • @Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    98 months ago

    We are a handful of days away from some right wing weirdo showing a video of a non-white person sneezing and captioning it with “wtf they firing guns in the street”. And that will become a popular talking point, and people will demand the death penalty.

  • @twistypencil@lemmy.world
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    17 months ago

    I don’t know if your unnecessary backhanded attacks help your argument, or just make you sound really cool. Can’t make up my mind on that one! Why don’t you tell me what you googled and maybe throw in a few quips about how unreasonable and nonsensical my responses are and then I’m sure the discussion will resolve itself in a constructive way.

  • @Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1508 months ago

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic_terrorism

    Stochastic terrorism is political violence that has been instigated by hostile public rhetoric which is directed at a group or an individual. Unlike incitement to terrorism, stochastic terrorism is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence.[1] A key element is the use of social media and other distributed forms of communications where the person who carries out the violence has no direct connection to the users of violent rhetoric.[2]

    • @protist@mander.xyz
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      688 months ago

      They’re also purposefully leaning into this to keep the conversation about immigration, because it’s pretty much the only issue they have had an advantage on. Without Trump talking about eating pets, we’d all be talking about his abortion stance right now, which is deeply unpopular.

      • Null User Object
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        358 months ago

        Democrats need to respond by making the story about why Trump killed the bipartisan immigration bill.

        • @apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          That bill was a super republican bill, I honestly do not know why the Democrats keep bragging about this as if every “bipartisan” bill has merit. The Overton Window continues to shift right. Just because the vociferous Republicans spouted incorrect information about the bill, that doesn’t make the quality of actual bill have any merit. I’m ashamed that any democrat thought this"immigration" reform bill was something worth fighting for. It is an anti immigration package that gives significantly more money and power to homeland security. It focused on funding border walls, detention centers, increasing the burden of proof required for asylum seekers, among others. It is a horrendous bill that cares little for immigrants.

          • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I honestly do not know why the Democrats keep bragging about this as if every “bipartisan” bill has merit

            Because it’s what they do. To the Dem leadership, bipartisanship is the highest achievement in politics, no matter how awful the actual content.

            If you could demonstrate bipartisan backing, they’d gladly declare this flag from Community the new national flag of the United States:

            In fact, both that flag and the “Human Being” mascot (pictured below, middle) of the school’s football team are parodies of the way Dem leadership operates.

          • @PlasticExistence@lemmy.world
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            228 months ago

            That only underscores the point of advertising their refusal to pass it: it should have fully satisfied Republicans and given them most of what they want, but the Orange Shit Stain said not to pass it so they could complain about immigration during the election.

            Democrats should use it as a loud and constant example of how Republicans are not leaders and have no solutions for America.

            • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Yeah, because advertising that you used a social murder bill to bluff with makes you sound SUPER sympathetic to the people who would have died if fascists had called your bluff 🙄

            • @apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Yeah, you shouldn’t work with them on such heinous human rights abusing packages. That is what it underscores to me. If anyone actually read the bill, we might critically push back on the Democrats and make positive change instead of this bipartisan rivalry nonsense. It serves the status quo, not any of us. If the bill had any merit , I’d be totally with you on that point.

              • @PlasticExistence@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                You’re not understanding me. Yes, the bill was awful and should not have had their support.

                So given that, what exactly is the Republican justification for not supporting it? That needs to be highlighted so that perhaps enough GOP voters just stay home on election day - especially in swing states.

                Like it or not, Republicans must not win this election so that our democracy survives. We will have lots of work to do after the election to push the Democrats back to supporting the average person and not the rich, but that’s the next fight and not this one!

                Hold your nose and vote for democracy.

                • @apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Oh I understand you. I don’t think you understand that voting for Democratics and criticizing them is more than OK, it is necessary.

          • @kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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            68 months ago

            The point is that it was agreed to by both parties and Trump still had it killed so the mere concept of cooperatively working with the other party got thrown out the window.

            It is important to keep reminding people that Trump refuses to do anything (or even allow things to be done) that doesn’t serve his own personal goals . He will actively prevent things from happening if that serves him better, regardless of the consequences to anyone else.

      • @kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        68 months ago

        Baffling to think that such blatant and easily disproven lies can be beneficial to their cause.

      • @ashok36@lemmy.world
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        98 months ago

        This is it. If were talking about immigrants not eating pets, we’re not talking about how Harris whooped trumps ass.

  • @Tikiporch@lemmy.world
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    918 months ago

    Offering a $5000 bounty for video proof is the same as paying $5000 for someone to manufacture the proof. This is like a Cobra bounty in India only results in Cobra farms.

  • @9point6@lemmy.world
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    308 months ago

    Given most of the stuff right wingers complain about is projection, maybe we need to check this guy’s myfitnesspal

  • @callouscomic@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    This whole “weirdo” thing is idiotic. It’s handling them with kid gloves rather than underscoring they are fucking evil and want to do evil things.

    • @expr@programming.dev
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      178 months ago

      It’s been massively effective and has put them on the defensive in a way no other criticism ever has.

    • Match!!
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      38 months ago

      weirdo is good, us stressing about their evil isn’t getting us anywhere

    • @SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world
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      238 months ago

      I view it as a great insult for them. Conservatives want nothing more than to be “normal.” They rely so much on the feeling of safety they get by being part of the “normal” crowd. If you called me weird I would embrace that label. I am weird! I’m not like everyone else and I like that about myself! For them that is not at all the case. The more we can make them think that what they are doing is NOT accepted by society and that we all think they are weird the more likely they are to stop doing it.

      • InEnduringGrowStrong
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        98 months ago

        In their ideology, if you’re not “normal”, you’re in one of the othered groups and your face becomes a fair target for their favorite face-eating leopards.

        • andyburke
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          48 months ago

          No, you see, they project about everything.

          They absolutely hope they are “normal.”

          Their whole ideology is based on group conformity.

    • @ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      08 months ago

      Also, as a huge weirdo myself, I had kind of thought that most people stopped caring how weird I am after high school, and I thought that was pretty neat. Now that it has become a favorite insult to use against fascists, I get the feeling that people only refrain from remarking on it because they’re being polite to me, but they definitely still care and would wield it as a weapon given half a reason to.

    • Flying Squid
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      158 months ago

      People have spent close to a decade trying to convince everyone that Trump is evil and wants to do evil things. How well has that worked out?