JD Vance mocked for call to ‘love our neighbors’ as Ohio schools evacuated amid false rumors he helped spread

Trump running mate and Ohio senator JD Vance is being mocked on social media for calling on Americans to love their neighbors, after a community in his home state has been besieged with violent, hateful threats based off a racist conspiracy theory he helped amplify.

On Monday, Vance spoke at at the Georgia Faith & Freedom Coalition dinner in Atlanta, where he referenced the famous Biblical commandment to love one’s neighbors.

“At this moment in time, in 2024 with all the violence and all the negative political rhetoric, we need to remember above and beyond that we must love our neighbors, that we must treat other people as we hope to be treated, and that we must love our God and let it motivate us in how we enact public policy,“ Vance told the crowd.

As some on social media pointed out, that sentiment seemed at odds with Vance’s actions in recent weeks, which included amplifying an unfounded conspiracy theory about foreign-born members of his own constituency.

Both Donald Trump and Vance have used social media on multiple occasions to amplify racist claims that Haitian and African migrants in Ohio are eating household pets and neighborhood animals like geese.

Local officials, including the police, have said there’s no evidence behind the claims, which originated in a fourth-hand rumor on a local Facebook group that was amplified by local neo-Nazi groups.

Following these claims spreading widely among right-wing social media users and elected officials, the town of Springfield, Ohio, has received 33 seperate threats, prompting the closure of schools and government buildings.

Some on social media argued this context made Vance’s comments on Monday hollow.

The MeidasTouch, a liberal news site, put Vance’s face on a