(Todd A. Smith/Photo Credit: Kevin Bussey for Bussey One Photography)
Former President Donald Trump seems to have no problem getting in bed with neo-Nazis, White nationalists and other far right extremists.
So, when he boldly, ridiculously and incorrectly talked about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio during and after his lone presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, it should come as no surprise that the rumor got its legs from neo-Nazis spreading hate online.
This is what the former president does.
He divides the country based on ethnicity, race, nationality, gender and everything else pertaining to diversity that should make America great.
Unfortunately, Trump will remain Trump until the day his god (little “g” intended because I doubt, he believes in God) calls him home.
His god is money, power and vengeance.
To get what he desires the most, he manipulates the hate that many racist White people have towards the others of the country.
However, the question is why so many Black Americans continue to give him a pass for his blatant racism and oppressive views of those of a darker hue.
Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News reported, “The day after the presidential debate at which former President Donald Trump spread a false story about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Christopher Pohlhaus, leader of the national neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, took to his Telegram channel to take credit.”
Pohlhaus said the Blood Tribe “pushed Springfield into the public consciousness.”
On the social media platform Gab, another Blood Tribe member said, “The president is talking about it now. That is what real power looks like.”
And Trump’s entire goal politically is power.
He wants personal power to get retribution on his political enemies.
And many of his followers want to maintain or reestablish White power because people like Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama represent too much equality and fairness, which would force racist White people to share power with everyone else.
Many of them know that their success and place in life come from White privilege.
Therefore, when people who do not look like them begin to ascend to such great levels of power, it becomes painful for many to watch that privilege go away.
Many of them cannot recognize an America where everyone shares the power and privilege, regardless of race or gender.
To many of them, America should favor them.
And people that are not like them should get whatever is left over once the majority gets their way.
When Trump and his followers talk about making American great again, they are talking about returning to a time in which White men ruled everything and everyone else stayed in their so-called place.
When Trump and his followers talk about taking their country back, they are talking about taking it back from anyone that does not look like them.
When Trump and his followers, which include many fellow politicians, try to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, they do so because they do not want to share success and upward mobility with anyone that does not look like them.
And when politicians like Trump want to ban certain textbooks from classrooms, they are trying to rewrite history to pretend that racism, discrimination and oppression in America never existed.
Therefore, when Black Americans compare Haitians being wrongly accused of stealing and eating White people’s pets, people will not equate their rhetoric to a time when Black men were accused of being savages trying to take advantage of White women.
The belief that Black men were a threat to White people, caused much of the hatred Black people received when they integrated previously all-White schools.
White parents would often say that if Black people went to school with little White girls, it is only a matter of time until they started dating, marrying and impregnating White girls.
Those type of stereotypes existed long before integrations as many Black people were killed, and Black communities were destroyed when White women accused Black men of sexually violating them.
Even when Black males were not a threat to White females, accusations of Black males attacking White females led to horrors like the 1921 Black Wall Street Massacre in Tulsa, Okla.
Unfortunately, because of these wild conspiracy theories about Haitian migrants, the town of Springfield, Ohio has begun receiving bomb threats to schools as well as city and state buildings.
Even some Republican politicians have said that these Haitian migrants only came to Springfield, Ohio to work and improve their station in life.
However, that progress offends some people in the majority.
Because many Black people of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, began making social and political advancements, White animosity and fear led to further oppression, discrimination and violence.
Now that interracial marriage and interracial children are no longer taboo, it should surprise no one that neo-Nazis and other bigots have looked to other White fears to encourage more hatred and racism.
Since many Black men already have come for White women, now they are coming for White men and women’s pets.
And to stop these new Black savages, Black men and women must be put in their place.
And who better to do it than Trump?
That is what many of his supporters might believe.
Many of them want Black people to be humbled.
And many feel like this is the last opportunity to do so.
Therefore, people like Trump and some of his racist supporters rely on stereotypes, conspiracy theories and outright fairytales to get a certain segment of the population riled up enough that they run to the polls to stop people who look like these Haitian migrants from claiming any more power than they have already attained.
And for Trump to gain votes from the deplorables of society, he must fully get in bed with the worst of America.
And that is what he did with his comment about Haitian immigrants during the Sept. 10 presidential debate.
