For more than a week since his catastrophic debate performance, Donald Trump has been a national and worldwide laughing stock. His now infamous lie about the entirely fabricated people stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets has been meme’d, mocked, and remixed to the tune of millions of likes and shares, as the absurdity of it all ricocheted around the internet at record pace. But as so many of us have spent our time laughing at Donald Trump, the people of Springfield, Ohio have spent it under siege.
Since Donald Trump’s attack on its inhabitants, Springfield has experienced nearly three dozen bomb threats, shutting down schools, grocery stores, public events, and even city hall. The local community colleges have moved their classes online, while several elementary schools spent three straight days evacuating and relocating children to protect them against the chance that someone would be serious about blowing them up. White supremacists have marched through the streets there, in the form of Neo-Nazis in August and Proud Boys last week, with another anti-immigrant rally planned for later this month, replacing the cultural festival celebrating diversity that had to be canceled. For everyone, there is an oppressive climate of fear, as enemies foreign and domestic train their ire on the town of 60,000 people. But for the targets of the most vile rhetoric, Haitian immigrants who are under temporary protective status, legally present in the United States, the atmosphere is one of terror.
The translation of Trump’s vile buffoonery into the very real and dangerous threats to Springfield runs through Senator J.D. Vance. While Trump has vomited out another unhinged rant as fodder for ridicule, Vance has all of the seriousness and gravitas to turn the same sentiments into a mission directive for everyone who isn’t laughing.
As the U.S. Senator from Ohio, Vance has betrayed his constituents to serve as message enforcer for the presidential ticket, giving embellishment, shape, and discipline to the unserious lies of his boss. Vance is the one repeating the falsehoods with the veneer of serving his state; he’s the one adding new, atrocious, and untrue details designed to incite more violence against immigrants; he’s the one admitting that he’s making up stories to force the issue, putting everyone at risk. All of it for the sake of a slim and meaningless advantage to his own political fortunes.
It’s a preview of what we would get with a Trump-Vance victory: the President of the United States spouting unhinged conspiracy theories designed to create violence against perceived or real out-groups, while his Vice President feeds his paranoia and delusion, warping the federal government into a weapon against the same innocent people that Trump targets.
Like the furor in Springfield, it won’t matter that the rumors started with extremists, white supremacists, or other hate groups. Facts from local, state, or federal investigators or sources will be dismissed for not fitting the narrative. And when violence erupts — because Vance will be egging it on — the highest office in the land will condone it as righteous. No matter how many people are hurt, Vance won’t care, as long as the “right” people are energized and the “wrong” people are afraid.
It’s comforting and amusing to laugh at Trump and his obvious incoherence, but it’s worth remembering that his politics, embodied by J.D. Vance, is not a joke.
Trump may not have the focus or attention span to galvanize the worst people out there to do the worst things they can think of, but Vance does. Trump may not have the sharpness or talent to turn his hatred into policy, but Vance does. And when we are done laughing, we have to remember that the impact of this power is dead serious.
