The Bulwark

In claiming to be a champion of the residents of Springfield, Ohio, Trump and his acolytes have ripped them apart.

This point bears repeating. What do many residents of Springfield itself have in common with Bill Hagerty, a random shill from two states away? They’re all just repeating nonsense they saw on the internet. Not a single person who has lost a pet of their own has come forward with their story. But plenty of Springfield natives are now convinced that Haitian immigrants one subdivision over are snatching dogs and cats by the truckload.

Has there ever been a better microcosm of our Trumpified politics? A small town, strained by a wave of new migrants, thrust into the national spotlight by opportunistic politicians and conservative hucksters, churned through a balkanized media ecosystem that lets false rumors spread like weeds. Trump says he wants to protect these communities. He ends up dividing them, inflaming tensions within them, all while using them as political pawns.