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      Haitian immigrants helped revive a struggling Ohio town. Then neo-Nazis turned up

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      While Donald Trump made baseless, dangerous claims that immigrants in Ohio were eating people’s pets in front of millions of viewers at Tuesday night’s presidential debate, Johnson Salomon, a Haitian man who moved to Springfield in 2020, was watching cartoons with his kids before putting them to bed.He got a text from a friend telling him to turn on the debate. When he saw the headlines about what the former president and Republican nominee in November’s election had said, he was in total shock.“This was a false claim. I couldn’t believe that such a high official could make such a claim,” Salomon said.Trump’s running mate JD Vance, Elon Musk and prominent Ohio Republicans had already spread the false rumors, lying about how Haitian immigrants had been killing and eating people’s pets in Springfield, a blue-collar town of 60,000 people in western Ohio. But the rumors, leaving Salomon and other Haitians in fear of being targeted for violence and discrimination, didn’t start with them.They were initially spread online in August on social platforms used by far-right extremists and by Blood Tribe, a neo-Nazi hate group.Springfield officials and police say they have received no credible reports of pets being harmed by members of the immigrant community, instead suggesting the story may have originated in Canton, Ohio, where an American woman with no known connection to Haiti was arrested in August for allegedly stomping a cat to death and eating the animal.View image in fullscreenBut that hasn’t prevented Republican party politicians from scapegoating Springfield’s 15,000 Haitian immigrants as Trump and others attempt to propel immigration to the center of their fall political campaigns. In addition to Tuesday’s debate, Trump held a news conference Friday in which he rambled without evidence about how Haitians had descended on Springfield “and destroyed the place”.When Haitian immigrants began trickling into Springfield to work in local produce packaging and machining factories in 2017, some thought the new residents could help the city regain its former vigor as a once-thriving manufacturing hub. Once home to major agricultural machinery companies in the mid-20th century, Springfield has lost a quarter of its population since the 1960s.“They came to us for one reason: they were looking for ways to find out how to work,” Casey Rollins, executive director of the St Vincent de Paul Society’s Springfield chapter, said of those who came to the Ohio city from Haiti.“So we got together immigration lawyers and interpreters to figure out how to help them work. We are getting them online and getting them to apply [for work permits]. We wanted workers here [in Springfield] – they want to work.”View image in fullscreenHaitians and immigrants from Central American countries have been in high demand at Springfield’s Dole Fresh Vegetables – where they’ve been hired to clean and package produce – and at automotive machining plants whose owners were desperate for workers due to a labor shortage in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.New Caribbean restaurants and food trucks have opened across south Springfield where once abandoned neighborhoods are now bustling with residents. A popular Haitian radio station has been broadcasting for several years. And every May, thousands turn out for Haitian Flag Day that’s celebrated at a local park.But the glut of new arrivals has also stretched hospitals and schools in the area, angering many locals who resented their presence. The outrage reached a crescendo last August, when an 11-year-old boy was thrown from a school bus and killed after its driver swerved to avoid an oncoming car driven by a Haitian immigrant who didn’t have an Ohio driver’s license.The child’s death fueled anger and racism on Facebook and at Springfield city commission meetings, where public comments about immigration have often run for more than an hour. Locals upset by the growing immigrant community wondered if they were being taken over – if Springfield had become ground zero for the baseless “great replacement theory”.Soon, rightwing extremists seized on Springfield’s unrest.Armed neo-Nazi members of Blood Tribe – a hardcore white supremacist group, according to the Anti-Defamation League – flew flags bearing swastikas and marched through a prominent downtown street while a jazz and blues festival was taking place nearby in August.One witness to the march, who declined to be interviewed by the Guardian due to fearing for their family’s safety after being doxed by rightwing extremists online, reported that members of the group pointed guns at cars and told people to “go the fuck back to Africa”.A Springfield police representative, however, appeared to downplay the scene, telling local media that the hate group’s march was “just a little peaceful protest”.Several days later, a leading member of Blood Tribe who identified himself as Nathaniel Higgers, but whose real name is Drake Berentz, spoke at a Springfield city commission meeting.“I’ve come to bring a word of warning. Stop what you’re doing before it’s too late,” Berentz told Springfield’s mayor, Rob Rue. “Crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in.”Berentz was promptly kicked out for espousing threatening language. Nonetheless, on Thursday morning, a bomb threat prompted Springfield’s city hall, a school and other government offices to be evacuated.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe same group has marched in South Dakota and Tennessee this year.Last year, having turned up to protest a drag story time event in Wadsworth, Ohio, where white supremacists gave Nazi salutes and shouted “Sieg heil”, the organization allegedly set up a chapter in the state. Last year, Blood Tribe members were driven out of Maine having attempted to set up a compound and Nazi training camp in the rural north-eastern part of the state.View image in fullscreen“Blood Tribe celebrated Donald Trump bringing up the [immigrants killing cats] lie during the debate,” said Maria Bruno of Ohioans Against Extremism, a non-profit founded last month in part due to a rising presence of extremists in Ohio. “They are thrilled that there are politicians willing to echo their talking points.”JD Vance has regularly claimed that “illegal immigrants” are “generally causing chaos all across Springfield” on the campaign trail in recent weeks. Ohio’s Republican attorney general, Dave Yost, said he plans to direct his office to “research legal avenues to stop the federal government from sending an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities”.However, the vast majority of Haitians in Springfield are in the US legally through a temporary protected status (TPS) that’s been allocated to them due to the violence and unrest in their home country. Citizens of 16 countries, including Afghanistan and Myanmar, are eligible for TPS. It is not a pathway to US citizenship and is valid for only 18 months, at which point it must be renewed by the federal homeland security department for a status holder to remain in the country legally.“They are entrepreneurs, they want to innovate,” Rollins said of Haitian people in Springfield. “They just work excessively once they are eligible.”But many Haitians have been targeted in Springfield.View image in fullscreenIn December, a Springfield man was sentenced to 20 years in federal jail for hate crimes after attacking eight Haitians earlier in 2023. Last year, the local Haitian church was broken into and damaged twice. Longtime Black residents of Springfield have reported being verbally abused when walking on the city’s streets, having been confused with members of the Haitian community.The effect is plainly obvious.“Normally, when I drive through south Springfield, where a lot of Haitians live, you see people walking on the streets, at the Haitian markets and restaurants,” Salomon said.“For the past few days, I have seen far fewer people.”Rollins said she has received threats that the St Vincent de Paul branch would be destroyed for its support of Haitians.“People are messaging me, telling me that I’ve destroyed Springfield,” she said. “We’re just trying to help people.” More

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      The polling is in and Harris won the debate. But Democrats shouldn’t get cocky | John Zogby

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      A total of 67 million Americans watched the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Tuesday, and the first polls taken after the event all show the vice-president gaining a little ground over the former president.Harris’s lead ranges from three to five points, depending on the poll, but we need to be careful about drawing any exaggerated conclusions. One poll by Reuters has Harris leading by five points, but she had been leading by four in their previous poll published on 21 August. Another by Morning Consult also revealed similar results, but her lead had been three points the day before the debate and four the day of the debate.All polls agree that Harris won by a large margin and that favorable ratings rose by as many as nine points. She is seen as better for protecting democracy by nine points and on abortion by 21 points.But the new polls also make clear that Trump’s numbers really did not change much. According to interviews conducted by CNN before and after the debate, he is still given higher marks for handling the economy and immigration, the two top issues in the campaign.A CNN flash poll found that debate viewers felt, by a margin of 63% to 37%, that Harris turned in a better performance onstage in Philadelphia – with 96% of her supporters saying that she had done a better job, while a smaller 69% majority of Trump’s supporters credited Trump with having a better night.Similarly, in the eyes of most pundits, Harris came across as confident and did not lose her cool. She framed her performance around the idea that she represents a new generation that will not dwell on the past. She also laid out her plan for an “Opportunity Economy” with tax credits for small businesses and expansions of affordable housing and the Affordable Care Act, among other things.She did a good job of contrasting her positive approach with Trump’s negativity. She linked him with tax cuts for billionaires, raised tariffs on China that were tantamount to a “20% sales tax” on consumers, an expansion of the powers of an unchecked presidency and the massive defunding of federal agencies and bureaucrats in the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.For his part, Trump chose a scowling face, perhaps to demonstrate that he is very serious. There was very little attempt at humor during the debate. He certainly came out swinging at Harris’s claim of millions of new jobs by claiming they were “bounce back jobs” that had been lost during the Covid epidemic. He roundly attacked her (and, of course the president Joe Biden’s) record on immigration and for the badly managed and deadly exit of American troops from Afghanistan. He also attacked the Biden administration for being unwilling to fire poorly performing government staff. He focused on her early opposition to fracking, a major issue in the battleground Pennsylvania, which also happened to be the location of the debate. He predicted that her election would mean the end of Israel, while she called for a two-state solution and a ceasefire.Harris touted her background as a prosecutor and bragged of shutting down drug lords. She chided Trump for talking tough on crime while he has been indicted and convicted numerous times. Perhaps her best moment was when she drew a sharp distinction on reproductive rights. Women have been hurt by the striking down of Roe v Wade by the US supreme court, an issue that has drawn otherwise disengaged women voters to the polls and given Democrats victories in state and local elections.She put Trump on the defensive for his changing positions, something which has hurt him also with Christian conservatives. He resorted to accusing the Democrats of supporting the possible execution of newborn infants. He was immediately fact-checked by the moderators on that one – and lost. Harris, he said, was “all talk” on abortion and relief on student loans because she knows that Congress will never pass anything nor will federal courts allow it.Trump resorted to the bizarre at times. The small city of Springfield, Ohio, has seen entry of about 15,000 Haitian immigrants in recent months and he raised an unsubstantiated far-right claim that Haitian immigrants have been caught eating longtime residents’ pets. David Muir, chief anchor for ABC News and one of the moderators, immediately jumped in to say there was no evidence found of that, citing a statement from the local mayor.Trump also claimed a huge rise in violent crimes under the Biden-Harris administration while the most recent report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation actually notes that violent crime is in dramatic decline. And, of course, he still claims that he won the 2020 election because the Democrats defrauded the system by allowing undocumented immigrants to vote. Again, the moderators stepped in.Harris did have some weak moments. When asked if Americans were “better off” financially under the current administration, she completely ignored the question and talked instead about her vision of an “Opportunity Economy”. There are times when talking about the future is just not good enough. The economy is the elephant in the room and she is simply going to have to do better. Trump will be sure to remind her of that.Similarly, the Israel-Gaza war is a major issue for younger voters and Democratic progressives. Her attempt at a middle ground may not be reassuring to those who believe a genocide is being conducted with American weapons.At times, Trump was simply ridiculous. But he did not receive a knockout blow. “We have a nation in decline and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris know it.” While Harris hit him hard without appearing to bully him and turn him into a victim, he nonetheless had one of the most memorable lines of the evening: Harris “has been in for three and a half years, so why hasn’t she done” all the things she is promising? A good question that she will have to answer.Harris won on points. She may have regained the momentum she had most of August, but the race is still at equilibrium.Do these debates matter? They certainly have in the past. We all saw the strengths and weaknesses of both campaigners and now we have a clearer sense of what to watch from here.

      John Zogby is senior partner at the polling firm of John Zogby Strategies and is author of Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read the Polls and Why We Should More

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      Trump repeats false claims about Ohio cities after Biden says ‘no place in America’ for attacks on Haitian immigrants – as it happened

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      Donald Trump went on to threaten “large deportations” in Springfield, Ohio, which is home to a large Haitian community that he and his allies have vilified in recent days.“I can say this: we will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio, large deportations. We’re going to get these people out,” Trump said.Haitians are currently shielded from deportation under the homeland security department’s Temporary Protected Status through 3 February 2026, due to their home country’s troubles.

      Joe Biden said the hostile attacks on Haitian immigrants in the US “[have] to stop” after Donald Trump repeated a false and derogatory claim about a Haitian community in Ohio.

      Donald Trump repeated racist claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, on Friday, doubling down on anti-immigrant rhetoric as residents in the town have faced bomb threats and have detailed their fears amid harassment.

      Some schools in Springfield were reportedly closed by administrators for a second day in a row as Trump and his allies spread unproven stories of pet-eating by Haitian migrants.

      Haitians have reportedly been intimidated and had their cars vandalized in Springfield since the campaign against them began. People chanted “we’re not eating cats” at a rally held by Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, in Michigan yesterday.

      Trump also defended his association with Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist whose penchant for public displays of racism has unnerved even some of his most extreme allies.

      Kamala Harris is participating in a taped interview with a local station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to air later on Friday. Harris will also host a virtual livestream rally together with Oprah Winfrey next week.

      Pope Francis criticized Donald Trump over his plan to deport millions of immigrants and Kamala Harris over her stance supporting abortion rights.

      Kamala Harris’s campaign stepped up its mockery of “chicken” Donald Trump for ducking out of another presidential debate, with the Democratic nominee telling her Republican rival he owes it to voters to face her again.

      Joe Biden and Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, are meeting at the White House where they are expected to discuss a loosening of restrictions on Ukraine to launch long-range strikes into Russia.

      Joe Biden is planning a trip to Angola in the coming weeks. This would make Biden the first US head of state to visit sub-Saharan Africa since then president Barack Obama in 2015, according to Reuters.
      Joe Biden is meeting with the UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, at the White House.The pair are expected to discuss – though not necessarily announce – a loosening of restrictions on Ukraine to launch long-range strikes into Russia.Biden and Starmer took photos inside the Oval Office before sitting down for talks in the Blue Room alongside UK and US officials, per pool report.Before talks began, Biden said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will not prevail in the war with Ukraine. He said he and Starmer would talk about Ukraine, the Middle East and the need for a hostage and ceasefire deal, as well as the Indo-Pacific region.The White House’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said political leaders should not be “attacking vulnerable communities” as she criticized Donald Trump for spreading false and racist theories targeting Haitians in Springfield, Ohio.The Washington Post reported Jean-Pierre, whose parents immigrated from Haiti to New York, telling reporters today:
      Political leaders should not be attacking vulnerable communities. That’s not who we should be. And if they’re going to fall for conspiracy theories online, maybe they shouldn’t be our leaders.
      Pope Francis has criticized both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for their policies on abortion and immigration, claiming both candidates are “against life”.The pope was speaking to journalists on Friday when he was asked about the US presidential election. He replied:
      Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies.
      He went on to say that not welcoming migrants is a “grave” sin and compared undergoing an abortion to an assassination, Reuters reported.Catholics would have to “choose the lesser evil” when they vote in November, he said, without elaborating.
      Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, (has to) think and do this.
      “Not voting is ugly,” he added. “It is not good. You must vote.”Kamala Harris is participating in a taped interview with Brian Taff for Action News 6 ABC, a local station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The interview will air on the station’s 6pm broadcast.Oprah Winfrey and Kamala Harris will host a virtual livestream rally together next week.The event, titled Unite for America, will take place on Thursday 19 September, at 8pm ET.This comes as Winfrey, who said she was a registered independent, made a surprise appearance at the Democratic national convention last month and endorsed Harris for president.President Joe Biden is planning a trip to Angola in the coming weeks, Reuters is reporting, citing several sources familiar with the plans.The trip, Reuters reports, is likely to occur after the UN general assembly meeting in September and before the presidential election in November, according to a source.This would make Biden the first US head of state to visit sub-Saharan Africa since then president Barack Obama in 2015, according to Reuters.Biden had previously said he would visit Africa during his presidency.MoveOn, a progressive public policy advocacy group, is partnering with ice-cream company Ben & Jerry’s to create a special limited edition Kamala Harris-inspired ice-cream flavor, titled Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee, as part of a get-out-the-vote initiative.MoveOn announced on Friday that it will also be traveling to battleground states with an ice-cream truck, where it will hand out free ice-cream, and raffle off free, limited-edition, autographed pints of Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee – which is described as a coconut ice-cream with a caramel ripple and confetti stars.The Scoop the Vote tour begins on 16 September in Philadelphia with the founders of Ben & Jerry’s, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the organization said.In addition to free ice-cream and other goodies, the tour will feature elected officials, activists and other special guests, MoveOn said.And on top of the coconut ice-cream, MoveOn will also serve a variety of electorally themed ice-cream flavors, they said, that include: Unburdened by What Has Vanilla Bean, Inauguration Celebration Birthday Cake, Fight for Our Rights Sorbet and MoveOn Mobilizer Milk Chocolate.Despite the efforts of local leaders, Donald Trump has continued to demonize the Haitian community of Springfield, Ohio, vowing at a press conference to carry out “large deportations” in the town if returned to the White House. He also defended his association with Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist whose penchant for public displays of racism has unnerved even some of his most extreme allies. At a White House event celebrating Black excellence, Joe Biden said the attacks on Haitians have “no place in America”, and Kamala Harris was on her way to Pennsylvania for more campaign events this evening.Here’s what else has happened so far today:

      Some schools in Springfield were reportedly closed by administrators for a second day in a row as Trump and his allies spread unproven stories of pet-eating by Haitian migrants.

      People chanted “we’re not eating cats” at a rally held by Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, in Michigan yesterday.

      Haitians have reportedly been intimidated and had their cars vandalized in Springfield since the campaign against them began.
      Donald Trump’s press conference has concluded, but before he wrapped up, the former president was prompted to talk about what he might do for California if he wins the election.Trump turned it into a campaign pitch to Golden State voters, who haven’t backed a Republican presidential candidate since George HW Bush was on the ballot in 1988:
      Vote for me, California. I’m going to give you safety. I’m going to give you a great border, and I’m going to give you more water than almost anybody has.
      Notice the reference to water, an all-important issue in the western state, which is also the nation’s most populous:Trump was asked again about his association with Laura Loomer, and what he thinks she brings to his campaign.Loomer has pedaled conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks, and made racist posts on social media. Nonetheless, Trump said:
      She brings a spirit to us that a lot of people have. We have very spirited people. And, in all fairness to her, she hates seeing what’s happened to the country. More

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      ‘They’ve destroyed the place’: Trump repeats racist, anti-immigrant lies

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      Donald Trump repeated racist claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, on Friday, doubling down on anti-immigrant rhetoric as residents in the town have faced bomb threats and have detailed their fears amid harassment.“In Springfield, Ohio, 20,000 illegal migrant Haitians have descended upon a town of 58,000 people, destroying their way of life. They’ve destroyed the place,” Trump said during a rambling press conference at his golf course in Los Angeles. “People don’t like to talk about it. Even the town doesn’t like to talk about it, because it sounds so bad for the town. They live there … for years it was a great place. Safe. Nice. Now they have 20,000 and I actually heard today it’s 32,000.”He later added: “We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio, large deportations. We’re gonna get these people out. We’re bringing them back to Venezuela,” stating the incorrect country where most of the immigrants are from.Haiti is one of 16 countries the US government has granted temporary protective status (TPS) to because of ongoing conflict, making it easier for immigrants to get authorization to work in the United States. As president, Trump tried to end TPS for Haiti and referred to the country as a “shithole”.Trump’s comments come after Tuesday’s presidential debate in which he first repeated the false claim that migrants in Springfield are stealing and eating people’s dogs and cats. The claim has been repeatedly debunked.Springfield has received several bomb threats this week, prompting it to close its government buildings and evacuate its schools. Haitian residents in the town have reported receiving severe threats and harassment, according to the Haitian Times.JD Vance, who represents the residents of Springfield as Ohio’s US senator, continued to attack the town on Friday, leaning into racist tropes that immigrants were responsible for bringing disease and crime to the community.Just before Trump spoke in California, Joe Biden condemned his attacks on Haitians in Springfield.“A community that’s under attack in our country right now. It’s simply wrong. There’s no place in America. This has to stop – what he’s doing. It has to stop,” Biden said at the White House. More

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      Pope criticizes Harris and Trump and tells US Catholics to choose ‘lesser evil’

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      Pope Francis on Friday criticized Donald Trump over his plan to deport millions of immigrants and Kamala Harris over her stance supporting abortion rights.Asked about the US presidential election on his flight back to Rome from Singapore, the pope said not welcoming migrants is a “grave” sin, and likened having an abortion to an “assassination“.He said US Catholics would have to “choose the lesser evil” when they vote in November, without elaborating.Francis was speaking in a press conference with journalists after a 12-day tour across south-east Asia and Oceania. Although the pope did not use Trump and Harris’s names, he referred specifically to their policies and their genders. Despite criticizing both candidates, he said Catholics should vote.“Not voting is ugly,” the 87-year-old pontiff said. “It is not good. You must vote.“You must choose the lesser evil,” he continued. “Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, [has to] think and do this.”American Catholics, numbering roughly 52 million nationwide, are often seen as crucial swing voters. In some battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, more than 20% of adults are Catholic.Francis, leader of about 1.4 billion Catholics globally, is usually careful about weighing in on national political elections. But he frequently criticizes abortion, which is forbidden by Catholic teaching, in sharp terms. He has also previously criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. During the 2016 election, he said Trump was “not Christian” in his views. On Friday, Francis said both candidates’ policies were “against life”.“Whether it is the one who is chasing away migrants, or the one that kills children,” said the pope. “Both are against life.”Trump has promised to crack down on illegal immigration and deport millions of immigrants already in the US if elected to a second term as president. He has also refused to rule out building detention camps for undocumented immigrants.Harris has promised to sign any legislation passed by Congress to restore national protections for abortion access, which were struck down by the US supreme court in its 2022 Dobbs decision.The two candidates sparred over both issues on Wednesday in their first debate together. Most polls show a tight race, with Harris leading slightly.The pope called immigration “a right”, citing Bible passages that call orphans, widows and foreigners three kinds of people that society must care for. “Not giving welcome to migrants is a sin,” said the pope. “It is grave.”Francis said abortion “is killing a human being”. He said there could be no excuses for an abortion. “It is an assassination,” he said. “On these things we must speak clearly. No ‘but’ or ‘however’.” More

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      ‘This has to stop’: Biden condemns attacks on Haitian US immigrants

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      Joe Biden on Friday said the hostile attacks on Haitian immigrants in the US “[have] to stop” after Donald Trump repeated a false and derogatory claim about a Haitian community in Ohio.“It is simply wrong that the proud Haitian community is under attack right now in this country,” Biden said. “There’s no place in America. This has to stop – what he’s doing. It has to stop,” the US president said at a White House event marking Black excellence.The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, earlier on Friday said that the bomb threat made on Thursday that forced the evacuation of the city hall, two schools and other buildings was explicitly anti-immigrant and hostile to the city’s Haitian community, following Donald Trump’s stoking of a rightwing conspiracy theory that some residents’ pets are being eaten.Rob Rue, the mayor, accused national Republicans who are amplifying wild rumors from a far-right provocateur that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are hunting and eating other people’s pets of “hurting our city”.The threat “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community”, Rue told the Washington Post, and added that Springfield “is a community that needs help”.No bomb was found after the threat was made. But Rue told the local Fox outlet that, in the threat, “there was enough negative language toward immigrants, towards Haitian folks that would bring enough concern. And then when it followed up with … at the end, of a bomb threat … It was pretty much just the beginning of the conclusion that they’re going to threaten to harm people.”Springfield has been the subject of national attention in recent days after the false social media rumor about the Haitian community.Trump even referenced the conspiracy theory in Tuesday night’s debate with opponent Kamala Harris. Trump repeated the inflammatory falsehood, saying: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats … They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” His move triggered a wave of anger and ridicule.That same day, JD Vance mentioned the rumor on X (formerly Twitter), which has also been flooded with AI-generated images of Trump surrounded by dogs, cats and ducks.Rue on Tuesday condemned the rumors as totally false, with “zero” verified reports of such disparaging claims. ABC’s debate moderator David Muir made the same factcheck live on Tuesday night after Trump’s remarks.Rue told the Springfield News-Sun: “Rumors like this are taking away from the real issues such as issues involving our housing or school resources and our overwhelmed healthcare system.”Meanwhile, during a Springfield city commission forum, Nathan Clark, the father of an 11-year-old boy who was killed last year when a minivan driven by an immigrant from Haiti collided with his school bus, told Trump and Vance to stop using his son’s name for “political gain”.Reuters contributed reportingRead more about the 2024 US election:

      Fears mount that election deniers could disrupt vote count in US swing states

      Microsoft billionaire fights US election disinformation

      Palestinian advocacy groups pressure Harris as election looms

      Presidential poll tracker More

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      ‘Democrats are losing’: a battle on EVs could cost Kamala Harris votes in Michigan

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      As the critical swing state of Michigan hangs in the balance, experts warn that Democrats’ poor messaging over the shift to electric vehicles could lose them the state in November’s election.“I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now,” Donald Trump told the Republican national convention in a speech this summer that would reach tens of millions of people.Despite his burgeoning friendship with Tesla’s Elon Musk, Trump has remained a consistent critic of EVs and battery-powered vehicles more generally. The messaging has resonated with many United Auto Workers (UAW) members, eroding Joe Biden’s support among union members in Michigan by as much as 25 points since the 2020 election.The claim that EVs require less labor is probably not true: multiple studies and industry executives have said it takes about as much or more labor to produce EVs. Still, the Biden-Harris campaign has not pushed that essential point, and in the process is losing the messaging war over EVs, imperiling Democrats’ chances in tightly contested Michigan as union support sputters, according to Bernie Porn, an Epic-MRA Michigan pollster.“Biden and Democrats are doing a lousy job on messaging [on EVs],” said Porn. “Democrats are losing support … but they’ve been silent.”Autoworker votes are critical to Michigan and other must-win upper midwest industrial swing states – Trump won there by a narrow 10,000 votes in 2016.Biden retook the state with broad union support four years later, but by late 2023, union members here preferred Trump over Biden by a 47-40 margin, Epic-MRA found. Following the UAW endorsement early this year, Biden’s support among unions bounced up to 52% – but still 13 points below the last election.About 55% of state residents are also opposed to the EV transition, polling found.Trump’s claim that the EV transition represents the US auto industry’s death knell began to deeply worry union members as Biden guided the nation into the EV transition via the billions of dollars of investment in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and Inflation Reduction Act.Trump regularly claims EVs require up to 40% less labor to make than gasoline cars, a statistic repeated by Brian Pannebecker, who backs Trump and is a former UAW member.Even with the evidence that EVs take the same or more time to produce, skepticism among many autoworkers persists, he said.“Of course we’re not going like that,” Pannebecker said. “We’d be suicidal or stupid if we did.”But Trump’s claims are not true, and the job-creating power of EVs is “the biggest secret in politics”, said Mike Murphy, a Republican with the EV Politics Project, a non-profit that pushes for stronger EV policy.Its recent focus groups and polling found people across the political spectrum are more supportive of EVs when they learn that it creates jobs, and EV Politics Project is planning to air a television commercial that hits on that point in the coming weeks.“I don’t know why the Biden-Harris administration has been so bad at telling the story,” Murphy added. “They need to go on the offense.”Democrats could point to recent General Motors statements on the issue.“We’ve done our own analysis at General Motors, and there are other studies that have affirmed that the employee base needed in the future for EV production is very similar to what’s needed for a comparable [internal combustion] vehicle today,” GM executive Gerald Johnson said.GM is building a massive new battery plant in Michigan, which has the most announced battery production nationwide. At least seven plants have opened or are in the works, and UAW leadership has been supportive of the EV expansion.A spokesperson for UAW said support for the EV transition among union members was strong, dismissing opposition within its ranks as rooted in partisan politics.Parsing EV productionThe idea that EV production requires fewer hours can be traced back to several out-of-context comments made by auto executives and companies underestimating the time demands in 2017, a Heatmap analysis found.Trump has run with the comments, and the messaging has bounced around the echo chamber without much media scrutiny. On its face the claim makes sense – EVs require fewer parts in their powertrain, so it takes less time to assemble.The powertrain is what propels the car, and in gas-powered vehicles it contains over 1,000 parts that make up the engine and transmission. An EV powertrain is seemingly simpler – just a few hundred components with batteries, electric motors and power management systems.But industry observers say the claims about labor hours seem to omit battery packs. And when every component and the complexity of the EV powertrain production process is factored in, it takes about the same or more time to put it together, a recent Carnegie Mellon study found.The research used shop floor level data and interviews with autoworkers at nine plants to determine how long it takes to make each EV powertrain part. The researchers found EV powertrains require about two to three times more labor to produce than gas – up to 11 worker hours per gas powertrain compared with up to 24 worker hours for a battery powertrain.“You need to unpack the black box of the production process to figure out whether the assembly time reduction was outweighed by an increase in fabrication complexity,“ said Christophe Combemale, a study co-author. “We can say very strongly at the moment the evidence suggests it takes as many or perhaps more labor hours to produce [an EV powertrain].”Recent University of Michigan research took a different approach. It examined output at three factories where EV production replaced gas production. It found output is higher at gas plants, meaning more hours are required to build EVs – a former California GM/Toyota plant produced 80 vehicles per person per year, while a Tesla plant now in the facility averages 30.Researchers at the Boston Consulting Group came to a similar conclusion in an analysis that looked at an entire car’s assembly. It also noted time-consuming complexities in EV production, like the battery pack’s heavy weight, which requires the rest of the car to be much lighter than a gas-powered vehicle. The Tesla Model S battery pack weighs more than half a ton, which is offset by using aluminum instead of steel, as is standard with gas vehicles, the paper notes.However, aluminum is “trickier to work with in a factory” because it is comparatively weak, the paper states, demanding expensive adjustments like spot welding to shore up its strength. The installation of the charging unit, additional wiring, battery loading and alignment all require time not needed in gas assembly.“This is a significant change for an industry that has spent more than 100 years developing and improving engine manufacturing and vehicle assembly to the highest degrees of efficiency,” the paper states.CaveatsAs the nascent EV production process matures, automakers will find efficiencies that will reduce the manufacturing time. Meanwhile, while the EV market is growing, sales have been slower than expected, and some Michigan plants have recently laid off workers or scaled back employment figures.In his critique of EVs, Pannebecker, the Trump-backing former UAW member, pointed out the most obvious caveat to research showing they take more hours: batteries and their components largely are not made in the US at the moment, so they are not of use to the UAW.“No matter which way you look at it, it’s a losing proposition for autoworkers,” Pannebecker said.As much as 80% of lithium ion batteries are estimated to be produced in China, but that is changing. A slew of battery plants are scheduled to come online in the US in the coming years in addition to more than 30 already operating, and five of those will be in Michigan.Even if those plants are built, Pannebecker noted, many of them are not unionized and only pay $15-$18 an hour. Near Youngstown, Ohio, an Ultium battery plant near the once-storied GM Lordstown plant suffers from high turnover because of the low pay that workers there say is in line with a local Waffle House.But that is also changing. Late last year and early this year the UAW made battery plants a priority in its negotiations with automakers, and the plants’ workers can now unionize.Meanwhile, the Chips and Science Act aimed at reshoring the semiconductor industry that produces critical components to EVs is also helping shift component production to the US. Combemale said there is some potential for autoworkers to be retrained or take on jobs in semiconductor plants or other higher tech settings than a shop floor.Still, this broad narrative does not seem to be reaching many Michiganders, whether in a union or not. The most recent polling shows only 56% of Michigan union members approve of the EV transition – far below the 74% of Democrats who approve of it. Meanwhile, union members’ families disapprove by a 51-45% margin, and support among independent voters is even lower.But it’s not too late to change the messaging for this election, and into the future, said EV Politics’ Murphy. Part of the problem may be generational within union ranks – older guys are less supportive because they won’t be around as the EV transition progresses, Murphy said.Democrats need to stop making EVs an environmental issue, which will “divide the voters in half”, Murphy said, and instead push the job creation narrative. His focus groups found an up to 19-point improvement on EV approval rating when messaging focused on the latter.“It’s a very powerful way to reframe the argument,” Murphy said. “It’s one of the best bragging rights they’ve got. This isn’t hard, it’s just a story no one knows.” More

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      ‘I know the dangers of a Trump presidency’: Palestinian solidarity groups pressure Harris as election looms

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      In the days leading up to last month’s Democratic national convention (DNC), some pro-Palestinian groups and individuals expressed cautious excitement about Kamala Harris’s ascent to the candidacy. Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that there was “a sense that there’s an opening” with the vice-president, referring to a possible shift in US policy on Israel’s war on Gaza, while others voiced more measured optimism.However, following the convention, during which party officials refused to allow a Palestinian to speak on the main stage, and where Harris hawkishly affirmed her support for arming Israel, many of those groups’ initial hope has turned into a belief that Harris will remain in line with Joe Biden’s Israel policies. The result has been a splintering of sorts: some organizations are still attempting to push Harris toward a more anti-war stance; others have decided to support Harris through the election regardless, citing the risk of a Donald Trump presidency.Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, a group that formed in early August in support of Harris, disbanded after the DNC, saying that it could not “in good conscience” continue to support the candidate. But a week later, the organization changed its position, writing in a statement: “With less than 70 days until the November election, we have to be honest with ourselves about what is at stake here for Muslim women.”In a statement to the Guardian, Muslim Women for Harris-Walz said that the group had received an outpouring of support from Muslim and Arab Americans who shared its desire for a change in Gaza policy, but who also urged the organization to not give up on the ticket.“As Muslims, it is our duty to advocate for what is right and against what is wrong, and that often requires nuance and pragmatism. We continue to try and do the best that we can with what we have. We believe that Muslim Women for Harris-Walz has, and will continue to, play a positive role in these elections, including in our ability to advocate for the causes that matter to Muslim Americans.”But some Palestinian solidarity groups have disagreed with this approach. Tarek Khalil, a board member for the Chicago chapter of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), said he didn’t understand Muslim Women for Harris-Walz’s decision to backtrack and support the Democratic nominee.“I don’t know the logic behind that,” Khalil said. “If the logic behind disbanding [initially] is ‘You’re part of this administration that’s enabling this genocide and you’re doing nothing about it,’ that still remains true today.”Khalil added that he and others involved in the Palestine solidarity movement remain critical of Harris and the Democratic party at large, especially as the vice-president has not provided any policy shifts away from the Biden administration.“We are against the policies of this administration,” he said. “With Kamala Harris being the head of the ticket, we believe that because she has not provided any new agenda, any new vision, any new policy prescription, it’s just a different person expressing the same views.”Khalil also condemned the Democratic party’s platform as “utter hypocrisy”, citing the various horrors that are taking place in Gaza with US support.“The Democratic party platform talks about ending poverty and homelessness, healthcare as a human right and [having] more affordable housing,” he said. “Those very values and policies are being destroyed in Gaza right now, with US taxpayer money and US-made weapons.”If Trump is re-elected, Khalil said that AMP had “nothing concrete” planned. “Our grassroots organizing, our advocacy work, our educational work, all of that would just have to stay at its pace and, if need be, intensify,” Khalil said. “We’d stay the course.”The Muslim American and Arab American vote will play a crucial role in swing states during the upcoming election. In 2020, Joe Biden won Michigan, where 278,000 Arab Americans live, by just 154,000 votes. And in Georgia, where the Arab American population is at least 57,000, Biden won by 11,800 votes.During this year’s Democratic primaries, more than 700,000 voters across the nation cast uncommitted ballots or the equivalent to signal to Biden their dissatisfaction with his Middle East policy. Following a Michigan campaign where more than 100,000 voters marked their ballots “uncommitted” in February, the Uncommitted National Movement has since spread to two dozen states. The movement sent 30 uncommitted delegates to the DNC and has demanded that the US adopt an arms embargo and support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza in recent months.Following the convention, a survey of nearly 1,200 Muslim American voters found that respondents were evenly split in their support of Harris and the Green party candidate, Jill Stein, at 29% each.‘A retrenchment of efforts’As a Muslim and Palestinian American organizer, Georgia-based Ghada Elnajjar said that two months away from election day she remains undecided on whether she’ll cast a vote for Harris or Stein. While Elnajjar hoped that Harris would chart a new course on US’s Gaza policy, she expressed disappointment that Harris’s plans mirror Biden’s. “Unless President-elect Harris distinguishes herself from the current administration’s policy on Israel and Gaza,” Elnajjar said, “then nothing really changes in terms of how I’m approaching my selection.”When DNC leaders didn’t allow Ruwa Romman, the first Muslim woman elected to the Georgia house of representatives, to speak during the convention, it was “soul-crushing” for Elnajjar.“It was a huge disappointment and a letdown for many voters,” she said. “This was an opportunity for them to show that they want our votes.”Romman said that following the DNC she has seen “a retrenchment of efforts”. People who had been ambivalent or even optimistic about Harris before the convention are now suggesting that they will not vote at the top of the ticket or that they will vote third party.“These elections are determined by such tight margins in swing states,” Romman said. “There’s definitely a lot of anger [in] the community about what is happening. I’m really worried we’re not going to be able to win Georgia.”On 10 September, the civil liberties organizations Cair-Georgia, Georgia Muslim Action Committee, Georgia Muslims and Allies for Peace, and Indian American Muslim Council launched a campaign called “No Votes for Genocide. No Peace, No Peach,” to signal an ultimatum to the Harris-Walz campaign.The groups say they will withhold support for the ticket in the coming election if the Biden-Harris administration does not adopt an arms embargo on Israel, halt arms shipments to Israel and publicly demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank by 10 October. “We are Georgia voters who oppose Donald Trump and his bigotry, and have a desire to fight far-right fascism at home and abroad,” the group said in a press release. “At the same time, we will not tolerate the funding and enabling of a genocide.”‘I know the dangers of a Trump presidency’Layla Elabed, an Uncommitted National Movement founder, sees the DNC’s refusal to allow a Palestinian American to speak as a glaring mistake for the Democratic party and the Harris campaign. The US is complicit in its continued support of Israel, she said, which is only able to continue its siege on Gaza with US backing. “[Harris] continues to contradict herself by saying that she supports Israel’s rights to defend themselves,” Elabed said, “but also is working really hard for a ceasefire, but has no plans to stop or condition the fire that our government sends to Israel.”Harris’s campaign told Uncommitted leaders that they met with Palestinian families in February. But Elabed said that another meeting is needed with Palestinian families and Uncommitted leaders now that more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October. The Harris campaign has not yet agreed to the request.“If Vice-President Harris wants to signal to voters, not just Arab Americans or Muslim Americans, but to anti-war voters that she plans to work in good faith [toward] Palestinians deserving freedom and liberty and the right to self-determination,” said Elabed, “then I think that it would be a misstep for her not to meet with Palestinian American families now or Uncommitted leaders.”As the Uncommitted National Movement continues to await a meeting with Harris, Elabed said that the group will continue to pressure the Biden administration and the Harris-Walz campaign to adopt an arms embargo and to support a permanent ceasefire. She said she didn’t want Donald Trump to win the presidential election, but she believed that the Democratic party must also change course on Gaza policy in order to win the election.“I 100% understand and know the dangers of a Donald Trump presidency,” said Elabed. “That is why the uncommitted movement has worked so diligently about showing the Democratic party that they were going to be in trouble because of this disastrous Gaza policy under Biden. They might not have the support from their Democratic base in order to beat Trump in November.” More