You go looking for trouble, you’re going to find it
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center on February 24, 2024 in National Harbor, Maryland. Attendees descended upon the hotel outside of Washington DC to participate in the four-day annual conference and hear from conservative speakers from around the world who range from journalists, U.S. lawmakers, international leaders and businessmen. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/)
Something most people learn early on in life is that if you go looking for trouble, you're going to find it.
Walk into a bar in Butte and yell "every Irishman in Butte is a jerk" and see what happens. You want trouble, it'll be there waiting for you.
So why would Donald Trump want to go to Springfield, Ohio, where he and his campaign have spread totally false claims about legal Haitian immigrants eating peoples' cats and dogs and double down on his lies?
As he put it at a campaign rally this week: "They had 32,000, this is a little beautiful town, no crime, no problem, 32,000 illegal immigrants come into the town. So they almost double their population in a period of a few weeks, can you believe it? You know what, they've gotta get much tougher, I'm gonna go there in the next two weeks. You may never see me again but that's OK. I gotta do what I gotta do."
One might be tempted to ask why he thinks he's "gotta do what (he's) gotta do" considering the entire episode is based on a false Facebook post by a woman who claimed Haitian immigrants ate her cat. Only thing is, she found her cat in the basement a few days later. And as usual, he also lied about the numbers, since there are 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants, less than half Trump's falsehood — and they're legal, not illegal, as he alleged.
But the immigrant hatred machine that is the Trump campaign kicked into high gear and viciously spread the lie, targeting people who are here legally, and inflaming his cult-like followers.
The result? As Rob Rue, the Republican mayor of Springfield said, the lies from the Trump-Vance campaign have already caused tremendous problems for the city, including 34 bomb threats to schools and administrative buildings so far, the cancellation of a cultural and arts festival, evacuating schools and public buildings, and diverting public safety resources to incidents based on a totally racist lie.
In the mayor's own words during a news conference : "It would be an extreme strain on our resources. So it'd be fine with me if they decided not to make that visit."
Likewise he didn't beat around the bush and directly pointed to Trump's false rumor telling the Washington Post he "used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community."
It's so dangerous Ohio's Republican governor Mike DeWine, sent state troopers to Springfield after a threat to shoot up an elementary school. But it just goes to show these phony Trumper MAGA "patriots" are so brave they threaten school kids when they hear his dog whistle of immigrant hatred blow.
It surely doesn't take a genius to see Trump is looking for trouble with his lie-laced rhetoric and stuffing it in their faces with a personal appearance. But given the enormous cost in public dollars so far — and a vastly larger sum that will be necessary to ensure his safety if he visits — maybe there's a solution. Namely, don't provide the security he demands for his hate-spewing campaign and see just how brave he is when there aren't people willing to put themselves between him and those he's insulted and enraged.
Let's be clear, these are Republican officials saying "don't pour gas on the fire you started." But Trump isn't listening. Apparently he hasn't yet figured out that his two assassination attempts so far are indicative that there are people out there who are willing to "fight fire with fire" and bring his threats of violence right back to him. You go looking for trouble, you're gonna find it — and he's looking for trouble everywhere he can.
