As Vance laughs about his racist lies, Trump aims to repeat Jan. 6 violence in Springfield

Seditionist felon Donald Trump's ability to surround himself with the absolute dregs of American society remains unmatched. I think at this point we can consider it a reliable litmus test: If you can stand being in the same room as Donald Trump, congratulations: You've tested positive for being A Dreg.

“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” the Ohio senator said.

That's Ohio Sen. JD "I sprang fully formed from a vat of congealing bacon grease" Vance explaining to CNN talking head Dana Bash his reasons for targeting Springfield, Ohio with racist conspiracy theories. At this point the giddiness in Vance's voice whenever he repeats the claims have pretty much bared his soul for all the world to see—and if the man's not a full-on sociopath, he has the routine down pat.

The city hall in Springfield was forced to close due to a bomb threat on Thursday. Two elementary schools were evacuated Friday “based on information received from the Springfield Police Division,” the Springfield City School District announced. Two local hospitals were also forced into lockdown due to bomb threats Saturday, according to statements sent to CNN.

That list doesn't include shutdowns at Wittenberg University and Clark State College and the cancellation of the city's annual CultureFest festival due to the ongoing violent threats.

Vance, however, is unapologetic. Appearing on Face The Nation he was even more brazen.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Again, as a representative of Ohio, these are officials from Ohio, including the Dayton police chief who said there is no evidence of what you just claimed as being verifiable or true. CBS confirmed- we were able to confirm this video, and it was of the Proud Boys marching through Springfield yesterday. We know hate groups have been amplifying the concerns about Haitians for weeks. What exactly- what constituency are you trying to appeal to here by putting this at the center of the conversation?

SEN. JD VANCE: Margaret, first of all, whatever some local mayor said about this case, I am hearing from dozens of constituents who are concerned about these issues. They are allowed to be concerned about these issues, and I think it's shameful how the American media ignores them. Now, you mentioned a Proud Boys march. I imagine that's the clip that I saw yesterday of about a dozen people marching down the street. Of course, I don't align myself with the views of the Proud Boys Margaret, but we have to remember that this is a real problem. The media is using things like a dozen marchers to ignore and distract from the fact that thanks to Kamala Harris's open borders, there are children who aren't getting a good education. Thanks to her open border, there is a rise in HIV cases in Springfield, Ohio. Thanks to her open border, murders are up 81% in Springfield, Ohio. I am much more concerned about the Vice President of the United States failing to do her job than I am that a dozen people carried the wrong flag when they were marching in Springfield, Ohio yesterday. Let's focus on the real problem. That's the Vice President of the United States not doing her job.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator JD Vance, so much more to talk to you about. We have to leave it there today. I know you're pressed for time.

You know what, I think when the Republican candidate for vice president dismisses a neo-Nazi group marching in support of his claims while waving swastika-emblazoned flags and toting rifles as "carrying the wrong flag" I think maybe I'd want to follow up on that no matter what else the irredeemable fuckwit had on his schedule. The "wrong flag," you say?

The rest of it, though, is equally Stupid. Vance dismisses the local officials who have asserted there's no evidence for Vance's claims, including "some local mayor" who is apparently beneath his notice when stoking new bomb threats in "some local mayor's" city. He says he has dozens of constituents who are "concerned" about the rumors he's turned into the rallying cry for a national purge, which is not surprising; if you falsely claimed the Loch Ness Monster had been seen prowling local sewers you'd start getting dozens of claimed sightings and at least two who would insist that they loaned the Loch Ness Monster money.

And this is just an aside and probably not worth dwelling on, but it's remarkable how the nation's vice presidency suddenly is the supposed cornerstone of all U.S. policy. Sure. Sure it is, buddy.

The political media also needs to spend more than a little time exploring how it is that JD Vance and his fellow Republicans have become such efficient promoters of full-on neo-Nazi rhetoric. It was a neo-Nazi group that helped boost the racist conspiracy claims Vance now calls "cat memes," and from the outset it was nothing more than a repeat of past racist theories that have been spread without any care for evidence, just another blood libel in an eternal string of them. The picture used to start all of this, the one of an Ohio man carrying what appears to be a briefcase in one hand and two dead geese in the other? The geese were killed in traffic and the guy appears to have been just moving them out of the road.

It seems evident at this point that Vance and Trump are looking to stoke violence so that it can be used as a campaign prop. Trump is now threatening Springfield with plans to visit the town to stoke his racist and anti-immigrant lies in person, which will almost assuredly lead to massive protests. Trump may in fact intend his visit to be a repeat of sorts of his Jan. 6 insurrection attempt, in which Trump sent out a national call for would-be patriots willing to march for his cause and Washington D.C. was flooded with far-right militia groups who believed, correctly, that Trump was signaling them to create the chaos necessary for him to invoke authoritarian powers.

The nation is awash with paramilitary groups of white dregs who "train" themselves for what they see as an inevitable "race war," one that they will then supposedly "win" by carrying out a genocide against every American who they deem to be on the other side. A Trump rally in Springfield would be a beacon to all of them—a new "Unite the Right" rally in which violence is not just likely, but intended.

That may not have been the original endpoint, when Vance and Trump began elevating neo-Nazi claims and kept elevating them even as Ohio government and schools were subjected to ever-increasing violent threats. But it seems they see an opportunity, if they can only goad actual violence on Springfield streets. Trump claims the nation is a hellhole and only a Holocaust-scale purge of the other in our midst can right it. Trump is also likely to end up in prison if he cannot secure self-pardon powers by next January.

So: Yes. Yes, I think the odds are very, very high that Trump and Vance are looking to create bloodshed in Vance's home state and in Springfield specifically—even if Trump has to personally lead a parade of neo-Nazi and white supremacist militias to the city in order to make it happen.

Update: He's out of his gourd, you know. Completely gourdless at this point. No wonder he now sees Laura Loomer as a kindred spirit.