Kamala Harris On Bomb Threats At Schools In Springfield, Ohio: ‘It’s A Crying Shame’

Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that her “heart breaks” for the people of Springfield, Ohio, as they weather bomb threats and school evacuations ― all because of racist lies being fanned by Donald Trump and other GOPers about immigrants there eating people’s pets.

“It’s a crying shame,” Harris said of the situation. “I mean, my heart breaks for this community.”

The vice president, who made her remarks during an interview at a National Association of Black Journalists event, noted that Springfield elementary schools were being evacuated on the same day that kids were supposed to get their class pictures taken.

“It was school photo day. You remember what that’s like? Going to school on picture day? Dressed up in their best? Got all ready? Knew what they were gonna wear the night before?” Harris said. “It had to be evacuated. Children. Children.”

Trump and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have both amplified racist fearmongering about Haitian immigrants in this small Ohio community, where life has been upended in the last couple of weeks.

Trump has vowed that if he wins in November, he’ll begin his plans for mass deportations with immigrants in Springfield, where the Haitian population is mostly legal. He pretends not to know about the bomb threats that he’s helped to stoke: “I don’t know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it’s been taken over by illegal migrants, and that’s a terrible thing that happened,” he said Saturday.

Vance, who grew up an hour south of Springfield and who represents the people of this community in the Senate, has admitted there is no basis for the lies he’s been spreading about Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets. But he’s still encouraged his supporters to keep spreading offensive cat memes that went viral amid the lies about Springfield immigrants.

Harris said their recklessness reminded her of something she learned a long time ago as a public official: the weight that her words carried.

“I learned at a very young stage of my career that the meaning of my words could impact whether somebody was free or in prison,” she said, referring to her time as a district attorney and later as California’s attorney general.

“When you are bestowed with a microphone that is that big, there is a profound responsibility that comes with that ― that is an extension of what should not be lost in this moment: this concept of public trust,” Harris said. “It means that you have been invested with trust, to be responsible in the way you use your words, much less how you conduct yourself.”

Without naming him, Harris said Trump has failed to demonstrate that he cares about or has even earned the public’s trust with his rhetoric about immigrants.

“We’ve got to say that you cannot be entrusted standing by the seal of the president of the United States, engaging in that hateful rhetoric that as usual is designed to divide us as a country, designed to have people pointing fingers at each other,” she said.

The Democratic presidential nominee echoed her campaign’s core message by adding that it’s time to “turn the page” on the era of Trump’s ugly lies and attacks, and remember that “the vast majority of Americans” have much more in common than what separates them.

“This is exhausting, and it’s harmful, and it’s hateful and grounded in some age-old stuff that we should not have the tolerance for,” Harris said. “Let’s turn the page and chart a new way forward and say you can’t have the microphone again.”

At another point during Tuesday’s interview, Harris was asked if she has full confidence in the Secret Service to keep her safe, in light of Trump facing a second threat of an assassination attempt.

“I do,” she said, before turning the conversation back to Springfield.

“But I mean, you can go back to Ohio. Not everybody has Secret Service,” said Harris. “There are far too many people in our country right now who are not feeling safe.”