JD Vance needs to go back to school for a lesson in logic.
In a recent social media post about the unrest in Minneapolis, the vice president illustrates a classic fallacy embraced by his kind of MAGA conservatives. On one hand it is a smug certainty that he — and they — alone have all the facts. But on the other hand, it is setting up a straw man debate by ignoring important parts of the conversation.
In a word, Vance’s argument lacks context.
Mark Wingfield
Imagine walking up to two friends arguing over something and joining the conversation midway through. Although you lack the context for how the disagreement started, you may jump to conclusions about who started it based on your own friendship loyalties.
In my experience, MAGA loyalists almost always leave out the parts of the story that are inconvenient for their cause. For example, a conversation about immigration policy might begin with the question, “Do you want strangers wandering on to your property and violating your rights?” (This is a real conversation I’ve had with a Trump voter.)
Such a question assumes someone is indeed trespassing on your personal and privately owned property. The United States at large is not personal and privately owned property, so the comparison doesn’t work. But it can be effective because it strikes a fear of theft and danger.
The implication is that migrants and immigrants are all squatters who are going to come set up camp in your fenced-in backyard and eat your cats and dogs. That’s not what’s happening in real life.
“In my experience, MAGA loyalists almost always leave out the parts of the story that are inconvenient for their cause.”
Here’s how Vance used this technique in his recent social media post:
When I was in Minneapolis, I heard a number of crazy stories. But near the top of the list: A couple of off duty ICE and CBP officers were going to dinner in Minneapolis.
They were doxed and their location revealed, and the restaurant was then mobbed. The officers were locked in the restaurant, and local police refused to respond to their pleas for help (as they’ve been directed by local authorities). Eventually, their fellow federal agents came to their aid. This is just a taste of what’s happening in Minneapolis because state and local officials refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement. They have created the chaos so they can have moments like yesterday, where someone tragically dies and politicians get to grandstand about the evils of enforcing the border.
The solution is staring everyone in the face. I hope authorities in Minneapolis stop this madness.
Vance’s argument is the equivalent of a schoolyard bully running to the teacher to report a fight outside that he’s the victim of. Yet in fairness, the original victims of his bullying should not be criticized for eventually fighting back.
JD Vance, Donald Trump and the MAGA crew are the bullies. They sent undertrained and incompetent, power-hungry idealogues into a tinder box and should have known full well what could happen. They did not send them there to create peace or keep the law.
It seems to elude Vance’s grasp that those he thinks are creating chaos in Minneapolis are the victims, not the instigators. Because in his worldview, the story always begins where he wants it to begin.
“It seems to elude Vance’s grasp that those he thinks are creating chaos in Minneapolis are the victims, not the instigators.”
Roll back the view and you’ll see it is these so-called “federal agents” who started the fight. They showed up unwanted to enact a political vendetta against Minnesota’s governor and Minneapolis’ mayor, political enemies of the president. Their presence was not requested or wanted. And the problem they came to “solve” didn’t really exist.
Small wonder then that these “agents” faced resistance. They are the troublemakers and agitators.
Notice also how Vance blames local Democratic officials for refusing to “cooperate with law enforcement.” When his Secret Police are defying the law every day. And when technically ICE and CBP personnel are not “law enforcement” in the way we most often use the term.
MAGA’s version of “the law” becomes the only version of the law. Even if that version is wrong.
Vance and those around him are classic bullies who are experts in victim blaming. This is the same thing that happened when Kristi Noem, Vance, Trump and other MAGA talking heads tried to make Renee Good and Alex Pretti into “domestic terrorists.”
Such an absurd interpretation is possible only when you begin telling the story at the wrong place.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves.
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