Posted in: Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: cnn, donald trump, JD Vance, kamala harris, tim walz

CNN: Vance Willing to "Create Stories," Defends Pushing False Claims

During an interview with CNN's Dana Bash earlier today, JD Vance admitted that he's willing to "create stories" if it helps his narrative.

Just when the ex-reality show host, multi-impeached ex-POTUS, debate-dodger, and convicted felon thought he had his tiny hands full with the Laura Loomer mess causing civil war within the right-wingers, Donald Trump's VP side piece JD Vance just admitted that he's more than willing to "create" and peddle a story even if it's not true if it serves some kind of  "greater purpose." It was a topic that CNN's Dana Bash confronted Vance with earlier this morning – with Vance showing no remorse for throwing a community under the bus for the sake of a percentage point.

Over the past few weeks, both Trump and Vance have been pimping this dangerous lie about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, kidnapping and eating people's pets. It's not an understatement to call it dangerous since we've already seen schools and local centers needing to either be evacuated or closed due to threats of violence. In addition, hate groups have used Trump and Vance's claims as an excuse to peddle their garbage around the community – despite Mayor Rob Rue and others not only debunking the trash that Trump and Vance have been peddling but also calling them out for how they have been enflaming issues in the city for the sake of scoring cheap political points.

"Before Donald Trump talked about eating dogs and cats on a debate stage, it was you, Senator, who first elevated this baseless rumor," Bash said to Vance during their 16-minute CNN one-on-one. "These are your constituents. So why are you putting them at risk by continuing to spread claims about Haitian immigrants despite officials in your state saying that there's no evidence and pleading for you to stop?"

In response, Vance noted that "approximately a dozen separate concerns" were brought to him, with the Ohio Senator noting that "10 of them are verifiable and confirmable" (though he offers no further proof other than that we should trust him) and that he's also heard from people "that they're seeing these things." Just to be clear – he metaphorically shits on a community over ten concerns that he claims are legit and some anecdotes. But it's when Vance decides to shift the conversation to lies involving geese (yup, seriously), Bash steps in with some fact-checking that we wish we had seen over the summer.

"The Clark County sheriff and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reviewed 11 months of 911 calls. They only identified two instances of people alleging Haitians were taking geese out of parks. They found zero evidence to substantiate those claims," Bash responded to Vance's baseless claims. From there, the focus shifted to the bomb threats that have plagued Springfield's school and hospitals over the past several days – an exchange that would prove to be one of the more heated ones from the interview.

"Nobody is disputing that the that the town of Springfield, Ohio, needs help. But you're not just a bystander. You're the senator from Ohio. So instead of saying things that are wrong and actually causing the hospitals, the schools, [and] the government buildings to be evacuated because of bomb threats, because of the cats and dogs thing, why not actually be constructive in helping to better integrate them into the community?" Bash asked, noting that Vance was in a position to actually do some good instead of lobbing even more hate into the situation – a question from the CNN interviewer that clearly triggered Vance.

"I think [that's] frankly disgusting and is more appropriate for a Democratic propagandist than it is for an American journalist! There is nothing that I have said that has led to threats against these hospitals, these hospitals, the bomb threats, and so forth. It's disgusting. The violence is disgusting. We condemn it," Vance said, attempting to thread the needle by making the case that there's a difference between stirring up violence and being responsible for violence – and failing miserably.

After Bash rightly notes that all of this happened after Trump and he began peddling their hate-mongering against Springfield's Haitian community, Vance attempted to push back by claiming that "all I have done is surface the complaints of my constituents," asking rhetorically, "Are we not allowed to talk about these problems because some psychopaths are threatening violence?" When "these problems" are actually imaginary, and the violence is inspired by the lies being spread? No, you don't get to peddle your steaming pile of hate. You're a senator. You're supposed to represent your entire constituency.

But this is where Vance decided he was going to be honest – and the thing that social media is buzzing about as I write this. "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, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast," Vince said. Yes, you read that correctly – "cat memes."

Thankfully, the CNN journalist wasted little time with a confirming follow-up that he just said that the story was something he created – to which, Vance offered an enthusiastic "Yes!" When Bash pressed further – in a way, giving him a chance to realize what he just said – Vance attempted a clean-up that went as well as the rest of the interview.

"Dana, it comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it. I didn't create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield thanks to Kamala Harris's policies. Her policies did that. But yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris's policies," Vance responded.

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