When Ohio Sen. JD Vance began his racist attacks against Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian immigrant community, one business owner stood up and defended them—Jamie McGregor. His impassioned defense went viral.
“I wish I had 30 more,” said McGregor to PBS about his Haitian employees. “Our Haitian associates come to work every day. They don't have a drug problem. They will stay at their machine. They will achieve their numbers. They are here to work. And so, in general, that's a stark difference from what we’re used to in our community.”
McGregor’s implication is clear: Mostly white locals hadn’t been up to the task, but legal immigrants are.
Now, the Republican, two-time Donald Trump voter is under siege by his own people.
The New York Times reports how McGregor has faced “death threats, a lockdown at his company and posters around town branding him a traitor for hiring immigrants.” The FBI has visited, warning of credible threats of violence against him and his family.
One message left on his company’s voicemail said, “The owner of McGregor Metal can take a bullet to the skull and that would be 100 percent justified.” Another said, “Stack all 20,000 Haitians inside Jamie McGregor’s factory at once and force him to praise the benefits of foreign labor while being crushed to death by Black bodies themselves being crushed to death.”
He has bought a gun for the first time, and had to pull his daughter out of school for shooting lessons. “I can’t imagine living my whole life like this,” McGregor told the Times. “You know, it’s got to end. It’s got to stop—hopefully after the election.’’
It is a sad reality that conservatives suddenly see the light when they themselves are under duress or hardship. McGregor had been happy to vote for Trump twice before despite his rank hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions. But of course, that was supposed to affect other people elsewhere. He was one of the good guys, until he wasn’t. MAGA conservatism brooks no dissent.
Let’s not forget that Vance and Trump know they’re trafficking in lies, but they don’t care.
“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,” Vance said, though the emphasis is mine.
They don’t care enough to even hide the fact that they’re lying, they don’t care about the immigrant communities that are now being targeted for hateful attacks, and they certainly don’t care about their own supporters caught in the crossfire. Heck, there is a special kind of fury directed at them for being “traitors” to their racist cause.
In fact, that is their entire campaign at this point. This was Trump yesterday, called out on his lies about the Biden administration refusing to send aid to Republican counties in response to Hurricane Helene.
They know these lies hurt people. They don’t care.
