The Bulwark's A.B. Stoddard delivered a scathing rebuke of the closing message Republicans have chosen for the 2024 presidential campaign, which she sums up in her latest column as, "We'll lie to you."
She singles out the recent falsehoods that former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) have told about Haitian immigrants and the government's response to Hurricane Helene as particularly egregious.
"Last week Trump claimed that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp couldn’t reach President Joe Biden in the midst of the Hurricane Helene emergency. He claimed that 'the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor' of North Carolina were 'going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.' He claimed that Harris and Biden 'stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season.' None of this is true."
She then said that Trump and other Republicans' "lies were so egregious — and potentially so dangerous, if they mislead people desperate for help — that even some Republicans, like Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina, felt forced to debunk the distortions, conspiracy theories, and 'outrageous rumors' for the sake of their constituents’ safety."
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Stoddard also expressed amazement at Vance for continuing to spread lies about Haitian immigrants even after they were completely debunked.
"After Vance copped to lying about the Haitian residents in Springfield — 'If I have to create stories... then that’s what I’m going to do' — he kept spreading lies about them, including about their legal status," she writes. "Even following all the harassment, intimidation, bomb threats, evacuations, and school cancellations that resulted from the first lies about pet-eating, Vance dug in more—calling the Haitians 'illegal aliens' even though they are living and working in the United States legally on a temporary basis."
She also notes that neither Trump nor Vance are likely to let up in the near future because "political lies are the campaign now."