Trump, Vance and American blood and soil

A myth about migrants eating pets masks a calculated political bet.

- Edward Luce

It has been raining cats and dogs in America. The myth that immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, has triggered an outpouring of memes. An early example showed US presidential candidate Donald Trump hugging a kitten and a goose. These were soon swamped by plays on the absurdity of the claims. The silver lining to this postmodern version of blood libel is that humour remains an effective tool.

Beneath it, though, lies a momentous twist in American politics.

Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign with an attack on illegal immigration. He has gradually expanded that to include legal migrants who come from the wrong culture. Refugees from Haiti, which Trump once called a "hole", are a soft target. Though most of the 20,000 or so Haitians in Springfield are in the United States legally, they have arrived in short order.

It is easy to suppose that Trump will lose votes for indulging this pet-eating chimaera. But his dark rhetoric masks a calculated bet.

His first campaign was based on federal incompetence: The US, he said, should uphold the rule of law by policing its southern border. His revised case is that US lore must be defended from outsiders. American culture needs protecting from unwanted strangers, even if they are legal.