Former President Donald Trump could’ve ended the week on his terms — he planned to give remarks at his golf club in California, attacking Vice President Kamala Harris on her own turf.
Then he took questions.
Trump threatened to deport Haitian immigrants who live in Ohio on Friday as he faced questions about his campaign stoking conspiracy theories and about elevating conspiracy theorists.
“We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio,” Trump told reporters. “We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country, and we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora.”
The Haitian migrant community in Springfield reportedly includes many immigrants with legal status. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he was including them in his statement and what those deportations would look like in practice.
Springfield has found itself at the heart of a viral conservative, race-based conspiracy theory that immigrants there are stealing and eating pets in recent days, boosted by the Trump campaign. The baseless theories have been disputed by local law enforcement, who have reportedly said no such case has been documented.
But on Friday morning, the theories took another dangerous turn as ABC News first reported that two schools in Springfield, Ohio, needed to be evacuated because of bomb threats.
Hours later, rather than tone down the rhetoric, Trump was just ramping up, arguing that “the people of Ohio are scared.”
It wasn’t the first time this week that Trump put a spotlight on the community. At his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, a flustered Trump shouted, “They’re eating our pets!” And his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, who is from Ohio, has also fueled the rhetoric on social media. It has permeated national politics to the point that Republicans are answering questions about it in Congress.
As a result, the citizens of Springfield have been collateral damage. Outside of attacks on its Haitian community, churches are in disarray, and other local facilities have received bomb threats, including city hall.
As Springfield stares down the calamitous consequences, over 2,000 miles away, Trump promised to deport its migrants to a country they didn’t come from.
“We’re going to get these people out,” he said. “We’re bringing them back to Venezuela.”
Trump also faced questions about Laura Loomer, a high-profile right-wing influencer who has recently been part of Trump’s entourage, including as a guest at this week’s presidential debate.
He denied seeing Loomer’s recent social media remarks, including a racist post about Harris and another questioning the Sept. 11 attacks, which she posted on Friday. She attended a memorial for the victims with Trump on Wednesday. Loomer also questioned the Sept. 11 attacks on social media last year.
“I don’t control Laura,” he said, downplaying how much he knew about her. “Laura has to say what she wants. She’s a free spirit.”
The presence of the divisive media personality was alarming to many, including some of Trump’s closest allies. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Sen. Lindsey Graham, both Trump surrogates, publicly bashed Loomer this week when asked about her appearances with Trump, arguing she will drag down the campaign.
But the former president doesn’t see the problem.
“Laura’s a supporter,” he said. “She’s a strong person; she’s got strong opinions, and I don’t know what she said.”
The Harris campaign clearly considered the press conference a win.
“Donald Trump took his trainwreck on the debate stage straight to California,” James Singer, a Harris campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. “He said ‘nothing was done wrong’ in Charlottesville when neo-Nazis marched there, defended hanging out with a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, and doubled down on the conspiracy theories ripping an Ohio community apart.”
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Ben T.N. Mause is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.