With the elections less than a month away, campaigning is dominated by filthy racism and climate denial
~ Louis Further ~
As ‘Notes from the US’ went live last month (September), attempts were just beginning by Trump, Vance and the MAGA crew to terrorise the town of Springfield, Ohio, by falsely claiming that Haitian immigrants were slaying residents’ pets in order to consume them for food. Bomb threats, school closures and forced evacuations quickly followed.
Nor was it long before gangs of fascists carrying swastikas and other far right flags, insignia, emblems and uniforms began regularly to show up in Springfield to bring terror to the guest workers there and to add to the hatred generated by the MAGA mob.
The two Republican nominees (Trump for president and Vance for vice president) appeared to be trying to provoke a race war.
Vance used X to rile up his followers, posting “…don’t let the crybabies in the media dissuade you, fellow patriots. Keep the cat memes flowing”. In other words, those who had objected to the harassment and criminalisation of black guest workers in Springfield were to be shunned and ignored in furtherance of the MAGA agenda of ‘patriotism’.
Needless to say, there were no reports of attacks on, nor abduction of, cats or any other animals for food: it turns out that just isn’t the Haitian way. Nor did those fomenting race-based hatred acknowledge the damage done when schools and hospitals and their routines were repeatedly disrupted as threats from far right hate groups responded to continuing goading from Trump and his cult.
Trump subsequently said “…I don’t know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it’s been taken over by illegal migrants, and that’s a terrible thing that happened. Springfield was this beautiful town, and now they’re going through hell…” and “[the]…real threat is what’s happening at our border rather than the bomb threats in Springfield”.
It’s distressing, but hardly surprising, that Trump ‘doesn’t know’ about widely-publicised security threats; and appears not to know that the Haitian guest workers are in Springfield on a completely legal basis—under the ‘Immigration Parole Program‘. The Secretary of Homeland Security designated emigrants from Haiti as eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS); this is valid at least until February 2026.
It is to be remembered that it was the United States under George Bush that deliberately destabilised Haiti culminating in the kidnapping and removal from office of the country’s elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in 2004.
At the beginning of October, Trump promised to revoke the legal status of those living in the town and contributing to its economy; then deport them.
He really hates (and must be afraid of) non-white people.
Vance too actually criticised the TPS status of Haitians in Springfield, saying openly and explicitly that Haitians weren’t the “…right kind of people…” to be living in the United States. Although he could presumably have made a more intolerant, offensive and divisive supremacist comment, he would have had to try pretty hard. But that should not surprise anyone as—a few days later—he boasted that he would willingly lie, exaggerate and fabricate such ‘news’, and also admitted that he had indeed made the whole pet-eating lies. As is the case with Trump, the number and absurdity of lies has been increasing the nearer we get to the election.
Some residents in Springfield, though, have brought legal actions against Trump and Vance for what they are—still—doing.
Racism
These developments, perhaps more than any other, ripped away any shred of decency which until then had kept the MAGA cult’s racism in small part hidden.
Throughout September it became clearer than ever that for many this election is an opportunity for a fascist putsch to exclude, expel—at ‘best’ to demonise, at worst to exterminate—black immigrants in the United States because the MAGA cult sees them all as belonging to an inferior race; as rapists, criminals and a detrimental force on the lives of true (‘patriotic’) white Americans. They simply have… ‘bad genes‘.
The supremacist message was finally overt, blatant, unapologetic, open; and being ferociously pushed with a lust for violence. Easily 99% of the Republican party was behind this, or hiding—in order quietly to acquiesce to what in some senses is a preparation for ethnic cleansing if the election goes their way. And conceivably to agitate for it if it goes against them.
Two facts add to the alarming nature of this situation.
Firstly, that about a third of the electorate (those who could well have voted to return Trump to office as president by this time next month) essentially support an election fought chiefly to promote white supremacy. It appears futile to try to alert members of the cult to its transgressive nature because such foul ‘core values’ excite and exhilarate the cult’s members, and validate their proud adherence to MAGA.
Secondly, few on the left appear really to be able to situate MAGA in the swamp of revived global fascism… Biden, for instance, simply stamped his foot and uttered word redolent of Thatcher’s school ma’am “Now stop it!”
Without understanding the (historical) origins of fascism and fascistic actions, opposing and meeting the threats head on will at best miss the mark; at worst it will be impossible, and fail.
To be sure, few (if any) well-informed and experienced people have all the answers, or any. But that doesn’t mean they are unaware of—or not justified in drawing stark attention to—the problems. The small steps which need to be taken to confront MAGA are always still legitimate despite the absence in the public sphere of tried or superficially-novel alternatives demonstrably better than Harris/Walz Democrats.
If the right and MAGA gain victory, it will not be because of any policies, argument or persuasion. Rather, it will be through attempts at intimidation, rigging the electoral system and systematically disenfranchising their opponents.
Last month, as he ‘promised’, Trump used his golf club and residence in Bedminster, New Jersey, to host an event featuring at least one person indicted for his role in the January 6 attempted putsch: Timothy Hale-Cusanelli. This is a fascist apologist of the opinion that “Hitler should have finished the job” and “babies born with any deformities or disabilities should be shot in the forehead”. So, to repeat, the possible future president of the world’s most powerful nation, while not in attendance, did send a message: “…all of the people there, you’re amazing patriots… Have a great time at Bedminster”.
MAGA
Yes, the excesses of Trump and his cult are getting greater and farther than ever out of hand.
Trump is, of course, a convicted felon, a twice-impeached misogynist, a lying, incompetent, not-completely-literate racist who has pushed conspiracy theories in multiple fields—not least when he made several attempts to overturn the results of the last election. Yet he still stands a good chance of being elected in about three weeks’ time.
But for many it’s still not obvious why his opponents—particularly in media which one would expect to be sympathetic to ‘democracy’—aren’t more active in trying to demolish his appeal; and why they fail to challenge him more vociferously, articulating the evident threat he and the MAGA cult pose to the United States and indeed to the rest of the world. It seems as though the Harris/Walz approach has been to try and ‘keep the peace’, avoid what they see as ‘negativity’ and go easy on the ‘foibles’ of Trump—not because they are so appalling, but because they hardly align with the Democrats.
Fears are beginning to be expressed that there will be much greater violence if Trump loses than most people care to admit. No wonder, when sentiments are expressed like those in a poll last month conducted by the World Justice Project. Fully 14% of Republican voters—that’s one in seven—are quite clear that if Trump loses they will “take action”. Nearly half said they would not accept the result if Trump loses (nor would Vance, for that matter). Presumably this is because they have convinced themselves—against all the evidence—that the electoral process is not ‘fair’… unless it results in a victory for Trump.
Notes from the US has previously mentioned North Carolina election candidate Michelle Morrow before. It emerged last month that this frontrunner in the upcoming election was present and active in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol; and that she urged Trump to “[put] the Constitution to the side”, use the army to stay in power and carry out mass arrests for anyone who certified that election: “…if the police won’t do it and the Department of Justice won’t do it, then he will have to enact the Insurrection Act… which completely puts the Constitution to the side and says, now the military rules all…”. Morrow could still be elected next month.
A similarly unfit state candidate is Mark Robinson. His rapidly-disintegrating candidacy may, though, adversely affect Trump—so extreme is Robinson’s unsuitability for public office. Yet—despite all the many scandals which would finish the career of any candidate in a ‘normal’ democracy— Robinson is still avidly supported by Trump.
Things get even stranger, though. Last month Vance attended a gathering in person at which one of the key participants seriously expressed the view that Kamala Harris is a ‘witch’ and uses ‘witchcraft’ as part of her campaign strategy.
The MAGA coven in Texas, for its part, is suing the Biden administration for access to any information it has on patients who are unable to obtain an abortion in states like Texas and so travel—legally—elsewhere to obtain one.
Meanwhile a sheriff in Vance’s state, Ohio, has ordered residents to keep a list of their neighbours who have signs supporting Trump’s and Vance’s opponents. The implication is clear.
There would be fewer such signs of dissent in future: if Trump is elected and has his way, he would make it illegal to even criticise the Supreme Court.
Environment
If you want to understand MAGA for the immature, selfish nonsense that it is, borne of an underdeveloped and severely distorted political system in the United States, then look no farther than to the death threats which were aimed at meteorologists tracking hurricanes Helene and Milton. Don’t like the message? Then kill the messenger.
It hardly needs to be said now—but at this stage in the election it must be remarked on—that the collapse of the environment, the greatest threat to life on Earth, does not figure in the campaigns at all. Various polls show that the percentage of voters who say the environment is an issue is in the low single digits.
Science is, however, emphatically unambiguous on how the climate degradation caused by excessive human-generated emissions of greenhouse gasses contributes to the frequency and severity of ‘weather events’ like hurricanes.
Yet this understanding was mocked by the MAGA gang while Biden—after doing the obligatory tour of some of the areas devastated by the storm— went on to Texas the same day to raise funds from leaders of the fossil fuel industry.
So it should come as no surprise that it was almost impossible to find a media/propaganda outlet which even mentioned what they still call ‘climate change’ (with the inference that it could also be for the better) in the context of hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The main response—if any—of those in power when asked about the ‘apparently quite threatening’ uptick in such ‘natural’ disasters is almost always that they are taking—or “need to take”—better steps than the other side to prepare for them. As for Trump, Vance and the MAGA cultists, for them it’s nothing but a ‘hoax’. For a solid fortnight they have been making political capital from the storms by spreading conspiracy theories about their origin.
Meanwhile there are activists who have increased their (conventional and probably largely ineffective) pressure on Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, who is of course an established climate denier.
DeSantis seems quite sanguine about the hits which his state (and others) are taking from hurricanes in the context of climate collapse. He refused to take a phone call from Vice President Harris, for example, which he thinks would somehow acknowledge the climate emergency. But as the second (so far) hurricane was approaching his state, DeSantis was busy censoring radio stations which ran (legal and legitimate) advertisements on abortion.
This time last month, convict Trump was in California trying to raise money for his campaign. While there he held a ‘press conference’; amongst other topics was the dire climate situation in the state which contributes fiercely to wildfires. In 2024 California experienced greater burning than the most recent five year average.
Trump said, though, that if the votes were “counted properly” he would “win California” (in 2020 Trump lost the state by five million votes); then, as president, he would withhold federal firefighting aid for the state—unless its governor, Gavin Newsom (who Trumo childishly refers to as “Newscum”), does his bidding.
Gaza
Israeli state terrorism against Palestinians and Lebanese continues with almost total support from the US élite and media. At a Senate Judiciary hearing last month—while officials in Gaza were publishing a list of those slaughtered in their homeland, the first dozen or so pages of which contained babies—MAGA senator John Kennedy from Louisiana said to Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, that for her support of Palestinians: “You should hide your head in a bag”.
Again, predictably, on 7 October—after a year of Israel’s hugely disproportionate, genocidal response to the Hamas massacre of Israelis—far and away the greatest sympathy in the media was consistently and unapologetically exclusively for the Israeli hostages and the Israeli polity as a beleaguered victim.
Photo: Devastation in Asheville, North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Wikimedia Commons
