Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Call me befuddled.

For two reasons.

• First, don’t you like the word.  Even the sound of it is welcome, giving a hint of what it means.

• Second, it relates to my status as I watch certain politicians – not all, but certain ones – practice the art of lying to advance their cause. 

Let me name them – Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.

Lying is their stock in trade.  They do naturally.

And what befuddles me [by the way, here’s the definition — make (someone) unable to think clearly] is that many Americans believe the lies.

Mark Twain may have it best with this quote:  “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

Regarding Trump, when The Washington Post Fact Checker team first started cataloguing his false or misleading claims, it recorded 492 suspect claims in the first 100 days of his presidency.  On November 2 alone, the day before the 2020 vote, Trump made 503 false or misleading claims as he barnstormed across the country in a desperate effort to win re-election.

Fact Checker reported this astonishing fact:  By the end of his term, Trump had accumulated 30,573 untruth — averaging about 21 erroneous claims a day.

So, as I pondered these facts again, I also read a long story in the Wall Street Journal.  To its credit, the newspaper sent three reporters to Springfield, Ohio to check out first-hand on Trump’s and Vance’s latest lie – that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating cats and dogs owned by residents in that city.

At the risk of a long blog today, I am reprinting the full Wall Street Journal story because it lays out in detail the Trump and Vance have fomented the issue for their own political gain.  It shows how a lie, an intentional one, almost becomes the truth, at least apparently in the minds of some who hear it often enough.

Pursuant to the Journal story, I formulated my own notions of why lying has a chance to work in some sectors of politics.

• If a disreputable politician tells a lie often enough, then it becomes almost like the truth.  As writer David French put it the other day, hearing something often enough produces gullibility.

• A lie mimics something you already tend to believe, no matter the truth or fiction of it, so you the believe the lie, too.

• A lie mimics the distrust you may feel toward government, even if that distrust if not fully earned by government.  You want to get back at government for what it has done to you, so the lie makes sense.

• A lie, if told by someone who then follows up with a plea to fight, then that also mimics instincts of those who want to fight rather than talk.

• A lie underlines the notion that compromise is a dirty word.  For those who eschew compromise, the only solution is to give them what they want every time at all costs.

The Journal summarized things this way:  “Lying is really an economy.  Politicians lie because they think it pays off.”

Here is the Wall Street Journal article.

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HOW THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN RAN WITH RUMORS ABOUT PET-EATING MIGRANTS—AFTER BEING TOLD THEY WEREN’T TRUE

Springfield, Ohio, city officials were contacted by D. J. Vance’s vice presidential team and said the claims were baseless.  It didn’t matter and now the town is in chaos.

By Kris Maher, Valerie Bauerlein, and Tawnell D. Hobbs

September 18, 2024 12:01 am ET

In an instant, the everyday struggles of a typical American city grappling with an influx of immigrants were transformed into a bombshell political message laser targeted at voters distressed by immigration.

It was the culmination of a spectacular collision of forces that thrust Springfield into the heart of the U.S. presidential election. Over the summer, outside neo-Nazi groups—which specialize in exploiting local controversy to foment outrage about migrants—had seized on a local controversy and fanned the narrative of pet-eating Haitians.

Then the Trump campaign blasted those rumors to the world—and kept pushing them even after they were exposed as lies. The Trump campaign continues to run hard at the controversy.

Trump last Friday said he planned “large deportations” from Springfield—whose Haitian community is overwhelmingly in the country legally. Trump campaign surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy plans to host a town hall in Springfield this Thursday. Vance said on Tuesday that Trump would like to visit Springfield, too, at some point. 

Attempts to contain the damage in Springfield were quickly overwhelmed despite city leaders’ racing from meeting to meeting trying to stem the tide. The Ohio state police were called in to protect local children as they returned to school. A security tower with cameras was erected outside City Hall.

Thirty-six bomb threats had been logged as of Tuesday evening.

“It induces panic and fear and depletes resources,” said Heck, the city manager. “We’re living the danger that misinformation and created stories leads to.”

“We have told those at the national level that they are speaking these things that are untrue,” added Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, a registered Republican. But he said claims have been “repeated and doubled down on.” 

Vance insisted on CNN this past Sunday that he had firsthand accounts of the incidents from constituents, but the media had paid no attention to migrant problems in American cities “until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes.” He added, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

Ripe for exploitation

Springfield was a community that had all the ingredients to be exploited in a close, fiercely fought national election.

It’s in the middle of the middle of the U.S., with a name so generically American it was used in the classic sitcoms “Father Knows Best” and “The Simpsons.”

The town sprung up along the Old National Road, the first highway built by the federal government. From the beginning, it was a place of immigrants: first the Irish, who traveled the road westward in the early 1800s, then the Germans, who founded the town’s flagship Wittenberg University in the 1840s, and eventually a wave of Black Americans fleeing the South in the mid-20th century. 

This recent wave of Haitian immigrants was initially welcomed. The town’s fortunes had declined alongside those of the rest of the Rust Belt, with the population dropping from 83,000 in 1960 to 59,000 in 2020.

The pandemic created a crunch in the available labor force as many workers stayed home out of choice or necessity, collecting stimulus checks. 

Haitians were fleeing danger in their increasingly lawless country, particularly after the assassination of their president in 2021.

In Springfield, they were welcomed by evangelical groups and employers alike. Friends and family members followed loved ones there. 

Springfield

Estimates of the number of immigrants vary, but Republican Governor Mike DeWine said Monday that roughly 15,000 Haitians immigrated to Springfield over the past four years. They were able to immigrate legally under a Biden administration policy granting Temporary Protected Status to Haitians as part of a program created by Congress in 1990 to protect immigrants from countries deemed too dangerous to return to.

The local economy boomed. Business owners said they were grateful to have workers eager to work long shifts and do what it took to meet production goals. New subdivisions sprung up in the cornfields outside town. New restaurants opened. The Haitian flag flew at City Hall. 

Growth came with growing pains. The number of non-native English speakers in the public schools quadrupled to more than 1,000 children. The local clinic and hospital were overwhelmed with people fleeing a country where healthcare had been scant. Traffic increased, as did frustration with drivers more accustomed with the chaotic streets of Port-au-Prince than the orderly grid of Springfield.

Then tragedy struck at the start of school in 2023. A minivan driven by a Haitian immigrant crashed into a school bus, injuring 20 children and killing Aiden Clark, who was thrown from a window. The man didn’t have a driver’s license that was valid in the U.S.

Aiden was memorialized in an obituary as a kid who loved gardening with his father, snuggling with his mother and playing with his siblings, and overall was “one of the most awesome and exceptional 11-year-olds in existence.”

His death brought out conflict about immigration. City commission meetings once dominated by zoning petitions became extended public comment sessions on immigration. Suspicions grew about who might be benefiting from the migrant wave.

After one city commission meeting, an evangelical pastor named Carl Ruby, who ran an “immigrant integration” not-for-profit organization, sought out a local GOP leader who had criticized him online. Ruby said he shook the hand of Mark Sanders, who had become a leading critic in town of the influx of immigrants—and wouldn’t let go until he agreed to meet. 

They met and drank coffee at Panera for an hour and a half.

Ruby offered to share tax documents for his organization that would dispel rumors he was getting rich from his non-profit. He also said he didn’t own rental properties or benefit from a local employment agency that has employed Haitians, as had been rumored.

Sanders, who has likened Ruby to a “coyote” who makes money from helping people cross into the U.S. illegally, agreed to take down some of his online posts but the two men haven’t spoken since. 

“I think he believed me, but I don’t think it fits his narrative,” Ruby said. He’s not interested in another get-together. “Logic and truth just don’t matter at this point to that group.” 

Sanders, a retired engineer, had started working as a school bus driver to comfort his daughter, who had been scared to get back on the bus after Aiden Clark’s death. He said he would be open to another meeting because he believes he can show ways that the Haitians have hurt the city. “I can show you the detriments,” he said. “Show me the benefits.” 

White supremacists arrive

Springfield’s growing tensions caught the attention of outside hate groups, seeking division to exploit.

White supremacist groups have been active in towns across the U.S. this summer, inserting themselves into hot-button debates over immigration, Gaza and gay rights, according to the Anti-Defamation League. These groups rallied in places like Tallahassee, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Nashville, at times calling for deportation of immigrants. 

On August 10, a group wearing ski masks and carrying swastika flags and rifles marched in Springfield. The ADL identified them as Blood Tribe, which it describes as a growing neo-Nazi group claiming to have chapters across the U.S. and Canada.

On August 27, during the routine public-comment portion of the Springfield City Commission meeting, a man identifying himself as a Blood Tribe member said: “I’ve come to bring a word of warning. Stop what you’re doing before it’s too late. Crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in.”

Rue, the mayor, interrupted him, saying “You sound threatening to me,” and asking police to peacefully remove him.

And recently, roughly 20 individuals claiming to represent the Proud Boys marched in the town. 

Springfield NAACP President Denise Williams said residents are on edge from visits by the groups. “I’m saying to our people near and far to please stand down and don’t approach these guys—they are armed,” she said. “It’s quite dangerous.” 

It goes national

Much of this had gone on without the rest of the U.S. noticing. That was about to change.

The cat-eating rumors, started with a post by a Springfield woman on a private Facebook page, turned out to be third-hand and were subsequently disavowed by the original poster, according to NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation.

After Vance’s tweets on the morning of September 10, Springfield Mayor Rue called a press conference that afternoon to try to contain the damage.

He also was faced that evening with the pain that Vance’s tweet was causing locally.

Along with promoting the pet-eating rumor, Vance’s post had said a Springfield “child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here.”

That night, Nathan Clark — the father of Aiden, the boy who had been killed in the bus crash — spoke during the public-comment portion of the Springfield City Commission meeting. Visibly shaking, he referenced GOP politicians, including Vance, and said they had used his son’s death “for political gain.”

“I wish that my son Aiden Clark was killed by a 60-year-old white man,” he said. “I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt.” 

Hours later, Trump uttered the line that launched countless memes. He was called on it in the moment, when ABC debate moderator David Muir said his outlet had checked with Springfield’s city manager and found there were no credible reports of pets being harmed by immigrants.

Trump responded that the city manager would be expected to say that, but he’d seen people saying the opposite on TV.  

“It is depressing as a fact checker,” said Bill Adair, founder of the fact-checking website PolitiFact and a professor at Duke University. “We like to think that fact-checks will stop elected officials and candidates from repeating false claims or at least persuade people that these false claims have no truth to them.” 

But, he noted, “lying is really an economy. Politicians lie because they think it pays off.”

The fallout

The morning after the debate, parents in Springfield kept their children home en masse. Several schools, City Hall and the state motor vehicle offices in Springfield were forced to evacuate after receiving bomb threats. The city canceled its two-day CultureFest celebrating diversity, arts and culture “in light of recent threats and safety concerns.”

Blood Tribe took a victory lap for its presence in the town, boasting on September 11, “We are on the ground in Springfield weekly—we even showed up to their City Council Meeting.” 

Vance, meanwhile, has continued to defend his claims.

A Vance spokesperson on Tuesday provided The Wall Street Journal with a police report in which a resident had claimed her pet might have been taken by Haitian neighbors. But when a reporter went to Anna Kilgore’s house Tuesday evening, she said her cat Miss Sassy, which went missing in late August, had actually returned a few days later—found safe in her own basement. 

Kilgore, wearing a Trump shirt and hat, said she apologized to her Haitian neighbors with the help of her daughter and a mobile-phone translation app.

Vance has also added to his claims about Haitians, saying on social media that communicable diseases have been on the rise in Springfield because of the Haitian migration. 

Information from the county health department, however, shows a decrease in infectious disease cases countywide, with 1,370 reported in 2023—the lowest since 2015. The tuberculosis case numbers in the county are so low (four in 2023, three in 2022, one in 2021) that any little movement can bring a big percentage jump. HIV cases did increase to 31 in 2023, from 17 in 2022 and 12 in 2021. Overall, sexually transmitted infection cases decreased to 965 in 2023, the lowest since 2015.

On Monday, Rue and DeWine appeared together on the heels of a roundtable at which other Ohio mayors appeared in solidarity with Springfield.

The governor said some of the bomb threats were clearly meant to sow division, and originated from a foreign country he didn’t name. DeWine also said he has great affinity for the people of Haiti, which he has visited at least 25 times, most commonly in support of a school for poor children named after his late daughter Becky DeWine, who died in a car crash at age 22.

In recent days, many in Springfield have gone out of their way to show support for their Haitian neighbors, including by frequenting Haitian-run restaurants. Still, the local Haitian community is on edge. 

Stanley Thelusma, 24, who arrived in Springfield in July from Haiti, sought a peaceful spot at Snyder Park on Tuesday afternoon, studying a biology textbook on his iPad while people played pickleball and kids ran through a splash park nearby.

He wasn’t far from a pond where Haitians had been rumored to have taken some of the park’s geese and slaughtered them, a rumor the state wildlife division found no basis for. Similarly, the mayor said the sheriff had checked 11 months of 911 calls and found no evidence of animal abuse among the Haitian community.

Thelusma said he had hoped to continue his medical studies in Port-au-Prince but that he and his parents decided to come to Springfield because of the threat of gang violence. Now he is in a nursing degree program part-time at Clark State College and works four days a week as a forklift driver at an Amazon facility 30 minutes away, earning $19.50 an hour.

“I don’t know why people are talking about immigrants eating cats, some pets,” he said. “It’s totally false.”