BACKGROUND
See,
1) Kris Maher, Valerie Bauerlein, and Tawnell D. Hobbs, “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 Vance’s team and said the claims were baseless. It didn’t matter and now the town is in chaos. Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2024 (12:01 am ET);
2) “Trump falsely claims Haitian migrants are eating pets in Ohio,” CBS News ( You Tube), September 10, 2024;
3) “Vance defends spreading claims that Haitian migrants are eating pets,” MPR. September 15, 2024 (12:54 PM ET_;
Intellectually we know that voters frequently vote on the basis of their emotions. In practice, however, the Democrats never seem to get that fundamental fact, and proceed as if voters decided who to vote for solely on the basis of rational analyses of what is in their self-interest.
The Republicans, and particularly Donald Trump and his campaign, believe the voters are stupid, have no memory, and don’t vote on be basis of what is rationally in their self-interest.
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That is how we can understand the Republican presidential campaign in general and the repeated charge that illegal (very black) Haitian immigrants are stealing pet dogs and cats an eating them in Springfield, Missouri, in particular.
The Democrats try to counter such obviously mendacious propaganda with rational arguments, missing the point that the real communication is taking place on a different level and in a different channel aimed directly at the emotions of susceptible voters.
The real Republican message, addressed to the subconscious of voters is the following:
1) The nation is being invaded and taken over by illegal aliens, who like these Haitians are very black and are essentially criminal barbarians who steal family pets and eat them;
2) These black and brown immigrants from all over the world are taking over your country, and will replace the white population as the Democrats open the floodgates to massive immigration of these barbarians. These include, as Donald Trump incessantly repeats at his campaign rallies, rapists, murderer and other criminals who are being let out of prison from places like the Congo in Africa in order for them to emigrate to the U.S.; and
3) Only Donald Trump and the Republicans can protect you from these black and brown illegal immigrants and the invading hordes for whom the Democrats are opening the borders in order to bring these barbarians into our (white) country.
Boiled down to its essence, it sounds like this:
1) Black (and brown) barbarian immigrants are taking over the counhry;
In countering such propaganda, Democrats should of course make the rational arguments to rebut such preposterous lies, but without believing such arguments will carry the day.
Muchh more effective would be to add to the rational arguments rebutting Republican lies, or even to give prominence to, arguments and messages aimed ar voters’ emotions. For example, in the present case, Democrats might prepare ads with and urge journalists to include in their reporting interviews with model legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield and with Haitian children.
These interviews should be buttressed by interviews with Springfield city, school, and church officials including in particular those who are white, debunking the Republican lie about “illegal (very black) Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pet dogs and cats in Springfield”.
These interviews might include the following elements:
1) Haitian immigrants showing to the camera documentary proof that they are legally in the country;
2) A succinct but cogent explanation, in the immigrants’ own words, of why they fled and are seeking asylum in the United States;
3) Interviews with Haitian children about their personal experience with violence, hunger, etx. in their home country;
4) Interviews with Haitian children from Springfield holding their pets, talking about what they do with their pets, and talking about how good and safe Springfield is for their oets.
The above rebuttals might be included in two-minute television commercials. or better yet in longer programs (of 15 or 30 minutes) that allow viewers to feel they have gotten to know those interviewed.
The cynical Republican propaganda about Haitian eating stolen cats abd dogs in Springfield offers the Democrats a magnificent opportunity to flip over the rock hiding the cynicism of Republican propaganda and to expose the ugly racism and xenophobia that lie beneath it to the harsh daylight if truth. Such an as or paid program could be used in the Internet and in media markets around the country.
The Democrats need rapid reaction teams which could put up rebuttals such as that suggested above very quickly. Unfortunately, they seem to be extraordinarily slow in rebutting memes such as the illegal Haitians eating dogs and cats fabrication.
It often seems as if any response requires many approvals up the bureaucratic chain of command before any rebuttal is published. By then it is usually too late.
***
On a personal note, as s senior staff attorney at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the lawyer in charge of Haiti at the Commission, I led and coordinated the logistical and staff work during the Commission’s on-site visit to Haiti from August 16 through August 25, 1978.
See,
1) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.46
doc. 66 rev. 1, 13 December 1979 (Original: French);
2) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.,Doc. 358, August 30, 2022 (Original: español).
. The 1922 Report describes recent conditions in Haiti of particular relevance to the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Missouri, who are reported to have legal status to be in the U.S.