Towards the end of Barack Obama’s term, an interviewer noted that the right had targeted him with all kinds of foolish conspiracy theories, and he asked the Democratic president whether he had a favorite. Obama didn’t hesitate: The first thing that came to mind was Jade Helm.
In case anyone’s forgotten, U.S. military officials organized some training exercises in 2015 for about 1,200 people in areas spanning from Texas to California. Somehow, right-wing activists got it in their heads that the exercises, labeled “Jade Helm 15,” were part of an elaborate conspiracy theory involving the Obama administration, the Pentagon, Walmart and some “secret underground tunnels.”
The far-right fears never made any sense, and the then-president apparently found all of this rather amusing. But one of the underappreciated parts of the story was that a variety of Republican officials — including senators, governors and U.S. House members — at least pretended to take the conspiracy theories seriously. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott even felt the need to order the Texas Guard to “monitor” the military exercises — just in case Obama was up to something nefarious.
When GOP officials were pressed to explain their interest in claims that were transparently ridiculous, they invariably said the same thing: Their supporters and constituents took the nonsense seriously, so they were compelled to do the same.
All of this came to mind again this week. As my MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones summarized:
On Monday, JD Vance dived face-first into a racist and xenophobic conspiracy theory when the GOP vice presidential nominee promoted a false allegation that Haitian immigrants in Ohio have been eating people’s pets. This aligns with other “fear the brown people” rhetoric pushed by Donald Trump and his cringe-inducing running mate.
Yes, as this week got underway, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee actually published a social media message in which Vance wrote, “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?”
All of this was utterly bonkers, even by 2024 standards. The Haitians in Springfield are in the country legally; they’ve been there for decades; and there were no actual “reports” about the immigrants stealing and eating pets. The nonsense spread like wildfire on the right, but it had no basis in reality.
Nevertheless, folks like conspiratorial billionaire Elon Musk and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — whose affection for reckless misinformation appears limitless — seized on racist right-wing chatter and treated the insane theory as a legitimate story.
As did Vance.
And why, pray tell, did a candidate for national office decide to lend his voice to a conspiracy theory that’s racist and ridiculous in equal measure? NBC News asked Vance’s team. After NBC News asked the Vance campaign about the lack of evidence for his claim, a spokesperson said that the senator had received “a high volume of calls and emails over the past several weeks from concerned citizens in Springfield” and that “his tweet is based on what he is hearing from them.” The spokesperson did not say, however, whether any of those calls or emails had included evidence of violence against pets, and did not offer proof of Vance’s statements.
It was, in other words, the Jade Helm dynamic all over again: A bunch of hysterical people told the senator that the ludicrous theory might be true, so Vance, instead of relying on facts, proceeded as if the preposterous claims had merit and deserved to be amplified. Whether he fell for a scam or cynically went along with the absurdities is irrelevant: Vance was told to take ugly nonsense seriously, so he did. The idea of applying critical thinking skills never entered the picture. The vice presidential hopeful isn’t a leader so much as he’s a follower of frenzied conservatives who saw some racist garbage on Facebook. In theory, Vance could apologize for his role in this fiasco. In practice, those waiting for the Ohio Republican to express contrition will probably be waiting for a very long time.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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