Major props to Miriam Jordan e New York Times for some first-class boots-on-the-ground reporting from Springfield, Ohio, which is still reeling from the unsupported slander visited upon it by the Republican presidential ticket. Jordan brings us the story of a local businessman who was taking care of his business running his own truck parts franchise and employing some of the Haitian population that had arrived in Springfield as pickup drivers, machine operators and other type jobs. factory. Then the destructive force of the Trump-Vance demolition company came to town.
For Jamie McGregor, a businessman in Springfield, Ohio, speaking favorably of the Haitian immigrants he employs has come to this: death threats, a lockout at his company and posters around town branding him a traitor to employment of immigrants. To protect himself and his family, Mr McGregor has had to break his vow to never own a gun. “I’ve been struggling with the fact that now we’re going to have firearms in our house — like, what the hell?” said Mr. McGregor, who runs McGregor Metal, which makes parts for cars, trucks and tractors. “And now we’re taking lessons, we’re going to shooting ranges, they’re putting pistols on us,” he said on a recent day, pulling up a photo of his 14-year-old daughter clutching a Glock.
What the hell country are these idiots trying to leave us? We’ll have to figure it out ourselves because they both don’t mind. They are destroying lives randomly, brutally and of people they don’t even know. It is a political neutron bomb. It destroys people and leaves buildings standing. It destroys the Constitution, but leaves the institutions standing, like ghost cities in marble, lonely winds between pillars.
Mr. McGregor, who had publicly praised his new employees for their hard work and willingness to learn, became a target. A flood of threats were directed not only at him, but at his family and business. They came by the hundreds – phone calls, emails and letters from white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other people they had never met. “The owner of McGregor Metal could take a bullet to the skull and it would be 100 percent justified,” said a message left on the company’s voicemail. “Why are you importing animal-eating Third World savages and giving them jobs over United States citizens?” asked another.
Also, note to Nicholas Kristof, also i New York Times –No, I don’t have to understand these people. I don’t have to take their “concerns” seriously.
I also found it morally offensive, especially when well-educated and successful elites are looking down on disadvantaged, working-class Americans who have fallen behind economically and socially and in many cases are dying young. They deserve empathy, not insults. By all means denounce Trump, but don’t stereotype and belittle the nearly half of Americans who have been on his side.
“Put all 20,000 Haitians inside Jamie McGregor’s factory at once and force him to extol the benefits of foreign labor while being crushed to death by black bodies themselves being crushed to death,” said another.
To hell with that, Nick, and to hell with you down the road. I will “posh” and “belittle” people who threaten the lives of McGregor and his family. I will “humiliate” and “belittle” people who believe that Haitian immigrants are serving Rover au poivre, who believe the vicious lies they are spoon fed and then act on it. I will “down” and “belittle” them, because this is not about educated and uneducated. It’s not about elites and “working class Americans.” This is about meanness and not. This is about cruelty and not. People who make McGregors life unlivable because something in them wants to do it, loves to do it, lives just to do it. I will “humiliate” and “demean” these people that I cannot arrest them.
FBI agents showed up at McGregor Metal out of the blue on September 12th. They warned him that they had determined that some of the threats on social media were credible and that he should take precautions. They advised closing the lobby doors at McGregor Metal along with other security protocols. Security experts also sat the family down. Change your driving routes to work, school and other places, they advised. Wear gloves and use tongs when handling and opening mail. Keep the blinds drawn in your home. The family was also advised to clean up their digital footprint, install cameras, motion sensors and alarms and start parking rear first in the garage, keeping the car moving until the door is all the way down.
[McGregor] said he had always supported people’s right to own firearms. But “I’m not a gun man,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I don’t like guns. I never liked guns.”
He felt heartbroken when he had to pull his daughter out of school for shooting lessons. “It was a complete loss of innocence,” he said. As the family struggled to adjust to their new reality, ominous posters of Mr. McGregor appeared next to his plants, outside a grocery store and on poles. They featured quotes from Mr. McGregor praising his immigrant workers and the word “traitor” scrawled across his forehead in big red letters.
Jesus, these are really mole people.
When JD Vance gets up to debate Tim Walz on Tuesday night, the first question has to be—what the hell are you two trying to leave us with? I will guarantee you that his answer will be a lie.