Purpose

Trump and Vance’s Continued Terrorizing of Springfield is cruel but also pointless. So why do they keep doubling down?

The cruelty is the point, but what’s happening in Springfield is pointless. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance continue their assault of targeted harassment, amplifying disinformation that Vance admits he made up. The fallout for Springfield has been more than a week of bomb threats, school closings, and the local Haitian community terrorized specifically. Trump and Vance have ignored pleas from Ohio’s Republican governor and Republican elected officials in Springfield to stop. Trump has even refused to denounce the bomb threats.

This is nothing new. Every election cycle, Trump and MAGA ramp up dehumanizing and eliminationist rhetoric in the final weeks before the election. They’ve targeted immigrant communities, Black Lives Matter activists, Trans kids and their families, and LGBTQ+ Americans more broadly. The resulting violence is well-known and also nothing new. As I wrote about Springfield last week, despite the clear pattern, we still tend to think of these events as individual and not necessarily related. 

But did I mention how pointless it is? Trump keeps doubling down on hate and incitement, but he also keeps losing. The MAGA coalition has lost every national election cycle since 2016. The American political system is set up so it doesn’t always feel like it, but the numbers don’t lie. Most Americans aren’t buying what MAGA is selling, and based on recent polling, the trend is likely to continue in November.

When I wrote about this last week, I kept saying that Trump and Vance were doing this for political gain, but at this point, it’s hard to make that argument. The Trump campaign is in freefall. Trump is his usual disaster, and Vance is somehow an even bigger disaster than his boss. The polling gets better for Harris every day, and it doesn’t seem like any of their attacks on her or Walz are sticking. If anything they just seem to expose how out of touch with reality most of MAGA is. Assuming Vance doesn’t become Vice President, the fact that he’s spent months terrorizing his constituents seems likely to haunt him should he plan to run for reelection in a few years.

The violence impacts Trump as well. He’s now survived two assassination attempts, one of which had a casualty, both of which have endangered everyone around him. Trump and Vance can try to blame Democrats for the increased political violence all they want, but their claims just don’t match with reality. Everyone knows what coalition has been inciting violence all along. And at this point, we’ve got nearly a decade of receipts.

If self-preservation isn’t enough to get Trump to stop inciting violence and amplifying hate, nothing will. It doesn’t help that Big Tech re-platformed Trump and that legacy media continues to cover him as a political curiosity rather than a menace to society. At the end of the day, Trump and his MAGA coalition want to say and do whatever they like without consequences, and most of what they want to say is racist hateful things intended to incite violence. Like many a MAGA influencer before him, Trump seems more than happy to go down with the ship.

Kamala Harris was asked to talk about Springfield during her panel interview with the National Association of Black Journalists this week. Her response is worth watching in full.

Harris comes at this from several angles, starting with the fact that as a public official, your words have power and how you choose them matters — something Trump as a former president of the United States is well aware of, saying: "When you are bestowed with a microphone that big, there is a profound responsibility that comes with that.” She does a masterful job of pointing out that this is who Trump is and why he chose this path. Harris ends by saying that Americans, regardless of their background or political persuasion, are “troubled” by what’s happening in Springfield.

America will never be able to get rid of the MAGA coalition completely. No magic wand can wave them away or deprogram them. And Trump’s own actions are a reminder that even enlightened self-interest generally isn’t enough to get these folks to reconsider their actions. 

The good news is that most Americans don’t share MAGA’s views or want the politics they’re running on. I think we’ll win (again!) in November, but with Harris and Tim Walz at the top of the ticket, we have an opportunity to win big. Harris will need majorities in the Senate and the House to enact her agenda and move America forward. Majorities in as many state governments as possible are also essential. We need to strip Trump and the MAGA coalition of all the power they’ve accumulated since 2016, a feat that’s starting to feel possible.

Come November, let’s replace pointlessness with purpose. 

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ICYMI

The ‘Feral 25-Year-Olds’ Making Kamala Harris Go Viral on Tiktok (Washington Post)

This article was a fun read. I’ve really enjoyed observing everything Kamala Harris’ team does online, even though I feel too old to understand a lot of it. Wild how much has changed since I worked on campaigns. 

Meta Bans Russian State Media for 'Foreign Interference' (Reuters) Meta doesn’t get any credit from me for doing this. Especially since Donald Trump is back on Meta platforms and Meta makes money selling ads to his campaign and associated Super PACs. 

How Disinformation Research Came Under Fire (Mother Jones) Last week you read a first-person account from Mike Nellis about how Republicans in Congress upended his life. Many disinformation researchers could tell you their personal version of the same story. No one should have to go through this, and these stories all need to be told. 

Elon Musk Is a National Security Risk (Wired) Yes. And we should probably keep saying this again and again as long as his companies have contracts with the U.S. government.

Want even more links? Subscribers receive a special ICYMI edition of CARD on Fridays. 

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Coda

Since migrating to Substack, we’re developing a robust community in the comments. At first, I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing but I should have known better. CARD readers are enthusiastic, insightful, and kind. I enjoy reading your thoughts and comments. Those of you who read via email are free to join in the conversation too! You can also reply to this email if you have feedback or questions for me!

That’s all for this week. Thanks so much for reading. I’ll see you again next Sunday!