All eyes should be on Springfield Ohio’s cats.
But it’s not for the reasons you think.
Most of America did a double take when Donald Trump, practically yelling, claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating cats in Springfield. It was, of course, absurd. There is, of course, no evidence of this happening.
Quickly my texts and social media filled up with funny “Marked Safe from Having My Pet Eaten” memes. Many were very, very funny.
On one hand, the moment felt like just another Trump rant– light on substance, heavy on lies, and full of sensationalism. But this comment was the “stand back, stand by” of last night’s debate. Here’s why:
Claiming that immigrants– or foreigners, or anyone considered the “other”– are eating pets is an old racist trope. It sounds like something George Wallace would have yelled and any five-and-dime bigot might toss about while getting drunk. Piled on top of “shithole countries,” Obama’s birth certificate, questioning Kamala’s race– the simple-minded prejudice behind it is barely newsworthy.
But the origin of the “immigrants eating our cats” story is newsworthy– and important for us to understand.
A neo-Nazi hate group called Blood Tribe has been holding rallies, marching, and terrorizing immigrant communities, Black folks, and attendees at Pride festivals since 2021. They have membership all around the country, but have a large concentration of members in Ohio. Drake Berentz, who goes by “Nate Higgers,” of Senacaville, Ohio is Blood Tribe’s second in command. He is, as you can imagine, a total piece of shit.
Drake Berentz and Blood Tribe honed in on Springfield, Ohio — a small city of under 60,000 and home to a large Haitian population. It was this second fact that attracted Blood Tribe. They saw an opportunity to fearmonger and exploit the situation.
On August 7th, the Blood Tribe marched around Springfield, Ohio carrying guns and Nazi flags. They called it their “Terror March” as they were trying to intimidate and create fear in local communities before the election. A few weeks later, on August 28th, Drake Berentz went to the Springfield City Commissioners meeting, dressed in a suit but with a blood-red shirt under to make sure he still showed his affiliation to Blood Tribe, to speak out against immigrants — he was kicked out for making threats. In the weeks in between, Drake, the Blood Tribe, and other far-right accounts were busy spreading the rumor about Haitians eating cats online.
This is where Donald Trump and JD Vance’s claim about immigrants originates. With Nazis.
If you know me, you know that I don’t use the term Nazi lightly. I don’t use the term “extremist” without serious consideration. Times are too serious to muddy waters. I’ve lived in a community that was infiltrated by a hate group and know what the very real consequence is. So when I say that Drake and Blood Tribe are neo-Nazi’s, I mean that. They have filmed themselves doing Sieg Heils outside a drag show; they march with swastika flags. In February of this year, Blood Tribe marched in Nashville, Tennessee. Drake Berentz was there and helped lead the march with the groups founder Chris Polhous, with Drake physically assaulting a local person objecting to their gross march and attempting to choke him out. None of this is hyperbole. Nazis.
The cat-eating reference, the migrant hordes, the gender reassignment surgeries in detention center claims — don’t show that Donald Trump and JD Vance are Nazis, but it does show that they live heavily online and can’t be bothered with fact and fiction. When the fictions created by neo-Nazi seem useful, they use them. They form their opinions from online content, not from what they see in front of them in real life.
Here’s JD Vance being questioned about his statements on immigration and Springfield.
Real leaders live in the real world, not online. They have deep, long conversations with strangers. They surround themselves with people who will challenge them, question them, and present opposing views. They bring around them the best of our country, our people, to help them make decisions. In other words, they resist the algorithm.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, is just the algorithm.
This is the second time that Trump has brought the beliefs and content of violent far-Right street fighting gangs to the debate stage. Four years ago, during the 2020 elections, he told the Proud Boys to “Stand Back, Stand By” while debating Joe Biden. Enrique Tarrio, then-leader of the Proud Boys, immediately responded with “Standing by, sir” and his group took these marching orders and helped orchestrate the deadly assault on the US Capital only a few months later. Tarrio and other leaders of the group have been found guilty of sedition.
Today, the Blood Tribe is celebrating being in the mouth of the former president on the debate stage. Last night, they posted on their messaging channel: “BT pushed Springfield into the public consciousness.” Blood Tribe members liked the post with lightning bolt emojis– the lightning bolt being one of the symbols of Hitler’s SS.
Springfield residents don’t appreciate being in the middle of this internet rumor, now sprung into the mainstream by Trump and a thousand memes. There are real stresses and real things to be solved in Springfield, but pet eating isn’t one of them.
This is how hate content moves. This is how extremist groups recruit to their ranks. The far-right is obsessed with the “Overton Window” and moving their extreme, hateful beliefs into the mainstream. Over the last several years, they have had much success in this, from shifting conversations about public education being “socialist indoctrination” to creating a public backlash against drag shows, which for centuries had been an accepted and celebrated form of entertainment for many. All of this originates with hate groups and gets taken up by elected officials, exurban moms, and bros hanging around the water cooler.
The left is often a part of this disinformation echo-chamber. The memes many of us shared last night about our cats and dogs originated as far-right memes. Perhaps our sharing them helps create new meaning– perhaps making fun helps dilute their hate. But our sharing — the fact that these memes were at our fingertips within moments– should remind us how close we all are to an extremist, hateful world.
The residents of Springfield, Nashville, and so many other communities across the United States know how close that fascist world is. They are the ones who keep having to deal with it when it shows up on their streets. Local residents of these places are showing up to oppose the extremists, defend their towns, and organize to drown out their hate. A town in Maine already drove Blood Tribe out once, and other towns can do it again. My guess is that nearly everyone in Springfield is more worried about their democracy than their cats.
