When people tell you who they are, listen

Donald Trump and JD Vance are spreading harmful and dangerous racist lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. JD even admitted to making up this story just to make immigration issues seem more important. Trump is using this fabricated tale to justify deporting legal immigrants if he wins the presidency again. These aren’t just small lies; they are huge fabrications with serious consequences. People’s lives are being ruined in Springfield because of this nonsense. Haitians are living in fear due to the lies from these two spreading a like which originated from a neo-Nazi hate group called Blood Tribe. As a result, there have been over 30 bomb threats—this is textbook stochastic terrorism.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Congressman Clay Higgins took it a step further. In a now-deleted tweet, he wrote, "Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters… but damned if they don’t feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP, All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th," Can you believe a sitting member of Congress actually wrote that? It’s disturbing how openly racist some people have become.

The backlash came quickly from those on the left, both online and in Congress. But when House Speaker Johnson was asked about Higgins’ tweet, he showed just how this kind of blatant racism is allowed to grow within the Republican Party. He said that when Higgins was confronted about his tweet, “he prayed about it, regretted it, and pulled it down… we believe in redemption around here.” Just praying and deleting a tweet is apparently good enough, even though Higgins stirred up more harassment and potential violence against innocent people. Can we at least get a follow-up prayer asking for the protection of the Haitians he put at risk?

When Democrats tried to hold Higgins accountable, their efforts were quickly shut down. In a sane world, people like this wouldn’t stand a chance in any election—but here we are. I have serious issues with the Democratic Party, and there are plenty of them, but the GOP has completely lost the plot, going so far beyond what is expected of a normal political party.