Trump campaign's line on 'migrants eating cats' is proof of how weird they really are

Donald Trump is currently touting himself as America’s one true saviour. Not of the country itself, however, but of its pets and poultry.

Confused? You should be. The MAGA commander-in-chief's Republican loyalists, including VP hopeful JD Vance, are peddling one of their weirdest conspiracy theories to date: that migrants are stealing and eating people’s cats and ducks.

And, of course, they are stressing that this is all the fault of Kamala Harris and the Biden administration.

So what exactly is going on here? And where did the rumour come from?

What is the rumour all about?

In a nutshell, right-wingers are alleging that Haitian migrants living in the town of Springfield, Ohio are capturing defenceless animals then cooking and eating them.

It allegedly began with a Facebook post (the source of all reliable information), in which a local resident claimed that her neighbour’s daughter’s friend had lost her pet cat and found it hanging from a tree at a Haitian neighbour’s home. Their intention, the author claimed, was to carve up and devour the poor puss.

She also alleged that ducks and geese from a local park were succumbing to a similar fate, citing “Rangers & police” to back up her claim, theWashington Post reports.

From there, further pieces of “evidence” were thrown into the mix, including reports that a woman from Canton, Ohio, was arrested for allegedly killing and eating a cat, and a photo – circulated on Twitter/X – showing a Black man walking down the street, clutching a goose.

Is there any truth to the claims?

Shockingly, no.

To begin with, the woman arrested for eating a cat is a US citizen and there’s no indication that she has any association with Haiti. Furthermore, the town of Canton, where she was detained, is some 100 miles away from Springfield.

And the man carrying the goose was photographed in the city of Columbus a month ago. He is neither an immigrant from Haiti nor from Springfield, as the Washington Post notes.

Furthermore, local police confirmed to the Springfield News-Sunthat they had received no reports of pets being stolen and eaten.

So why are the rumours spreading?

Some big names have been fuelling the flames of this particular fire of disinformation, including Trump’s running mate and Elon Musk.

Vance took the opportunity to reshare a video from a Senate hearing which occurred earlier this year, during which he claimed “Haitian illegal immigrants” were draining public resources in Springfield.

He accompanied the clip with the comment: “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio.

“Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar?”

It’s worth stressing that bonafide reports don’t “show” this at all, and that the Haitian immigrants mentioned during the Senate hearing aren’t there illegally.

Meanwhile, Musk was busy stoking the fire, commenting on X/Twitter: “Apparently, people’s pet cats are being eaten.”

From there, the rumour mill went into overdrive, with social media platforms overrun by AI images of Trump protecting cute kitties and ducks, including one shared by his son, Donald Jr and another created by the Republican House Judiciary Committee.

What is the point in all of this?

Condé Nast’s Legal Affairs Editor, and self-styled master fact-checker Luke Zaleski, summed up the whole issue in a tweet as follows: “So someone who’s lived in Canton for a long time had some kind of episode in which she allegedly stomped on a cat and then bit it in front of the neighbors. No one knows whose cat it was. Gross. Sad. Disgusting.

“Separately years ago 20,000 Haitian immigrants settled in Springfield and assimilated well.

“That became: ‘20,000 Haitians descended on Springfield and are ritualistically eating pets and performing voodoo at mass scale because Kamala’.”

He continued: “That version of made up events was circulated to a billion or so views by Elon, Don Jr, the republican Congress, and literally every monetized rightwing propagandist on X relentlessly all day today.

“That narrative will never be unset. Regardless of the fact that it’s basically an AI constructed attempt to win alienated women voters JD Vance of Ohio called ‘cat ladies’ by convincing them black people are gonna eat their pets.

“It’s tragic.”

He then concluded: “There is no way to have a fair fight for the presidency in an atmosphere as polluted as American politics have become because of the toxic combination of Elon and Trump and Russia and dark money and social media.

“That’s election interference. That’s X.”

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