Trump mainstreams conspiracies and lies once confined to the fringe

Donald Trump’s insistence on spreading the racist conspiracy that Haitian immigrants are eating cats, dogs and even people is nothing new from the shameful former president. From the very first day he sought the presidency, Trump has promoted an alternate reality filled with lies and conspiracies about people of color, many of which are reflexive bigotry that mirrors the same lies and conspiracies propagated by neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and other violent white supremacist groups.

But unlike white supremacist groups, which are viewed as fringe organizations filled with extremists who used to be shunned as outside the norm of American society, new data show that Trump’s lies have permeated a broader swath of society and created the conditions for increased violence against nonwhite, non-Christian and LGBT communities, as well as election workers, journalists, elected officials and even schoolchildren.

The millions of Americans who live in swing states like Nevada will determine if we want to live a country governed by the goon-squad violence, terror and conspiracy of an authoritarian and his followers, or the rule of law and democratic norms that helped make America one of the most decent, powerful and prosperous nations in the world.

Trump’s racist lies include the claim that all Latino immigrants, including the nearly 1 million Latinos living in Nevada, are violent criminals who were sent to the United States as part of a vast conspiracy to replace white Americans, and that Middle Eastern and Muslim people are secretly terrorist ISIS operatives.

But this month Trump again proved he can always sink to new lows when he and his running mate, JD Vance, falsely repeated that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been kidnapping and eating dogs, cats, ducks, geese and even cannibalizing other people. Couple this with two other recently repeated deranged lies — that babies are killed after birth by abortion doctors and that public schools are sending children to have sex-change operations (and getting them home that night!) — and it’s reasonable to wonder if the man has genuinely lost his mind.

While the majority of Americans recognize the vile absurdity of these claims — killing a baby after birth is in fact considered murder in all 50 states, and schools play no role in making medical decisions for students, much less forcing sex-change operations — new data from YouGov shows that an alarmingly high percentage of Trump supporters actually believe these and other Trump lies.

In a poll conducted in the immediate aftermath of the debate, 52% of Trump supporters said they believed the claim about Haitian migrants, while less than one-quarter said it was probably false. The rest were “unsure.” To be clear, there is absolutely no evidence to support Trump’s assertion. Numerous credible sources, including the mayor and chief of police of Springfield, have said it is categorically untrue. But that didn’t stop Springfield from being inundated with bomb threats and other acts of terrorism against everyone from local elected officials to schoolchildren in the Ohio town. Vance even admitted it was a “created” story to rile up people.

Consider that for a moment. While Trump is busy accusing immigrants, refugees and Muslims of being terrorists, some of his followers are making threats of domestic terrorism against kids. Given this, it’s worth considering who, exactly, has terrorist impulses here?

In a similarly racist line of thinking, 81% of Trump supporters say that Venezuelan immigrants are predominantly coming from prisons and mental institutions. Given that this is essentially a repackaged version of much older claims by Trump and other white supremacists that focused on people from Mexico and countries in Central and South America, there is little reason to believe that the same 80% of Trump supporters don’t view all Latinos as being violent criminals or otherwise mentally unfit.

Strangely, it appears that in Trump’s extremely simple, extremely angry mind, when he hears that refugees are “seeking asylum” he believes that means they actually came from an insane asylum. It would be laughably stupid if it didn’t have dire consequences.

As the conspiracies and disinformation spread, so too does the violent backlash from Trump supporters.

A 2023 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 1 in 3 Republicans believe that political violence is acceptable if they believe the country is moving in the wrong direction. According to the FBI, threats to judges, members of Congress, election officials and other public servants are at or near record highs.

Perhaps most disturbing, data recently released by the World Justice Project found that nearly half of Republicans say they won’t accept the results of the presidential election if their candidate loses, and 14% say they would “take action to overturn” the results.

Trump’s blatant lies, disinformation and conspiracy theories are driving political violence in the United States. While his sights are currently focused on immigrants, he has demonstrated time and time again that he will target any community he believes can help him achieve his authoritarian ambitions. Nevadans and indeed all Americans can reaffirm the promise of freedom and democracy by casting a ballot this November and using our voices and votes to overwhelmingly reject Trump and anyone who pledges allegiance to him instead of the Constitution.