How a fringe online claim about immigrants eating pets made its way to the debate stage
Around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, tens of millions of television viewers watched as Donald Trump spread an unsubstantiated and racially charged rumor running wild online.
Around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, tens of millions of television viewers watched as Donald Trump spread an unsubstantiated and racially charged rumor running wild online.
“In Springfield they’re eating dogs,” the former president said, referring to an Ohio city dealing with an influx of Haitian immigrants. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating … the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
The extraordinary moment — the airing of a claim worthy of a chain email while participating in a prime-time presidential debate — probably puzzled most of the 67.1 million people tuned in for Trump’s clash with Vice President Kamala Harris. But the rumor, which has been criticized as perpetuating racist tropes, was already thriving in right-wing corners of the internet and being amplified by those close to Trump, including his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
No one involved in Trump’s debate preparations or in a position to speak for his campaign agreed to discuss the strategy on the record or answer questions about how it mutated from a fringe obsession to a debate stage sound bite.
“Just, suffice to say, he was aware of it. He decided to bring it up,” Tim Murtaugh, a senior Trump adviser, told NBC News. “Now it’s a major story. We would otherwise probably not be talking about immigration if not for that.”
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