Today started with what should have been bombshell news from the Wall Street Journal.

Last Monday, JD Vance's team contacted officials in Springfield, Ohio

to fact check claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets. The Springfield

City manager told Vance's people point blank that there was no verifiable

evidence or reports about immigrants eating pets.

The city manager told Vance's team

that the claims were baseless.

But still, JD Vance repeated them online. And the next day, Trump used one of the biggest

platforms in the world, an American presidential debate to push those claims again.

Claims his campaign knew were lies. This new reporting from the Wall Street

Journal should be devastating to the Trump campaign. But the stunning thing is

they probably won't care because Trump and Vance's invocation of Springfield was never about the truth to begin with

Springfield is less important to them as an actual place with actual people and more important to them as a symbol.

Like it that. You can see the four states that border Springfield, Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and

Kentucky.

Oh yeah!

The Simpsons famously takes place in Springfield, not any particular Springfield, just

Springfield. And that's because it's meant to be a stand-in for every town USA.

And in the real world there is a Springfield in 34 states in this country.

So Springfield really could be just about anywhere.

Active participation is the basis of good citizenship. Don't you kids realize that the

habit you form here at home are the ones you're going to take with you into your

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