Tens of millions of television viewers tuned in as Donald Trump on Tuesday at around 9:30 p.m spread a baseless and racially motivated rumor wild run online.
“They eat dog in Springfield,” the former president said, referring to the Ohio city that has been dealing with an influx of Haitian immigrants. “They eat cats. They eat the pets of the people who live there. This is what is happening in our country and it is a shame.”
An unusual moment – posting a claim worthy of a chain email while attending an event prime time presidential debate – probably confused many 67.1 million people rooted for Trump’s clash with Vice President Kamala Harris. But the rumor, which has been criticized as perpetuating racist tropes, was already circulating on the far right of the Internet and was fueled by those close to Trump, including his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
No one involved in Trump’s debate preparation or who could speak for his campaign agreed to discuss the strategy on the record or to answer questions about it. turned from a fringe obsession to a debate stage sound bite.
“Suffice it to say, he was aware of it. He decided to bring it up,” senior Trump adviser Tim Murtaugh told NBC News. “Now it’s a major story. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be talking about immigration.”
Others close to Trump have expressed doubts about the execution.
“We need to talk about immigration because Harris has failed as border czar,” said the Trump adviser, who, like others, was granted anonymity to speak publicly. “Is this issue brought out in the best way? Probably not. But this is not something to avoid.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally from South Carolina, questioned the former president’s focus.
“I don’t know about dogs and cats,” Graham said in an interview Thursday. “But there are many young women here who have been abused and killed by people in our custody illegally, and we let them go.” I was going to talk about it. It should be the face of a broken immigration system, not cats and dogs.”
While the result is a combination of confusion and anger, the current moments are rooted in the grievances that have long defined and animated Trump and his followers, and the platforms on which those grievances have flourished.
Trump started his first presidential campaign with such a speech is widely characterized Mexican immigrants as dangerous criminals took center stage in his third White House address on immigration and border security.
Meanwhile, the right-wing social media ecosystem that rose around his 2016 election has been calcified as an additional and disruptive force: Trump now own social media networkTruth Social and its ally Elon Musk control X, formerly Twitter. Vance, in particular, enjoys fighting online culture wars and other right-wing causes, and often adopts a trolling stance on X while acting as an information filter between the fringe and the mainstream.
Vance and others close to Trump argue that even if the allegations are false, they served a purpose by bringing the Springfield story into the spotlight.
“Until we turned it into a meme about cats, the media didn’t pay attention to the carnage caused by these policies, and that shows that the media doesn’t care about what’s going on in these communities,” Vance said. told CNN after Tuesday’s discussion. “If we have to report it to make the media care, we will continue to do so, because the media can, and should, care about what’s going on.”
The case in Springfield, about 45 miles from Columbus in southwest Ohio, involves thousands of Haitian immigrants who have settled in the city in recent years. Many of them are there legally under federal programs after fleeing violence and political turmoil. Residents and political leaders, including Vance, have raised economic and public safety concerns for months, arguing that the city could see an influx of up to 20,000 immigrants by 2020. the population was 59,000 people has tight resources.
Allegations of stealing, butchering and eating pets are more recent.
Blood Tribe, a national neo-Nazi group, was among the first purveyors of the rumor in August, posting it on the extremist social networks Gab and Telegram. Although the group’s leader took credit for Trump’s acceptance of the allegations, the extent of the Blood Tribe is unknown; his accounts on these sites have less than 1,000 followers.
Some Blood Tribe members have also planned several real-world events, including a small march in Springfield on Aug. 10 protesting Haitian immigration and a speech at a city commission meeting later that month.
The rumor soon spread to major social media like Facebook and X. Disinformation monitoring firm NewsGuard traced the origin to an undated post from a private Facebook group. shared in the screenshot Sent to Kha on September 5.
“Remember when my hometown of Springfield Ohio made all the national news for Haitians?” user wrote. “Did I say all the ducks are disappearing from our parks? Well, now it’s your pets.”
Around that time, other social media posts about the rumor circulated and went viral, some of which were partially substantiated. comments from residents at public hearings. As of September 6, X had 1,100 posts about Haitians, migrants or immigrants eating pets, cats, dogs and geese, according to research firm PeakMetrics. The next day was 9,100 – a 720% increase.
On Monday, the number of posts rose again to 47,000 when Vance He put forward the rumors about X.
“Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants using social services and generally causing chaos in Springfield, Ohio,” Vance wrote, referring to comments he made at a Senate hearing. “Reports are now showing people’s pets being kidnapped and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”
Vance, as he notes in his post, has been raising the issue for months, but in less provocative terms.
“Now go to Springfield, go to Clark County, Ohio, and ask the people there if they were enriched by 20,000 new arrivals in four years,” he said. right-wing nationalist conference. “The apartment is through the roof. “People, middle-class people who have lived there for generations sometimes in Springfield, can’t afford a place to live.”
Springfield police officers shortly after Vance posted Monday He told the Springfield News-Sun — and later, NBC News and other national media — they were received no authoritative report from events like this. Vance was released follow up post the next day, he wrote that his office had received reports of “pets or local wildlife” being “stolen by Haitian migrants.”
“Of course, all these rumors may turn out to be false,” he added.
But by then, Trump fully agreed with them. At 5:19 p.m. Tuesday, less than four hours before his debate with Harris, Trump appeared on Truth Social a meme showing cats armed for war and wearing MAGA hats. Fifteen minutes later he shared a second meme depicts him surrounded by cats and ducks.
Then came the debate. When asked by ABC News moderator David Muir about his opposition to the bipartisan border bill, a distracted Trump initially insisted on responding to Harris’ jab about people leaving the campaign trail early. His hasty reply eventually turned to Springfield, where he said “they eat dogs… and cats.”
The anxiety and displeasure of Trump’s Republican colleagues was soon felt.
“I want to be clear about this. It’s a very small, small issue that happens in the United States,” Trump-loyal Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida told NBC News when asked about the pet peeves in the post-debate roundhouse.
Those looking for the culprit have suggested several suspects. Laura Loomer, right-wing political activist and conspiracy theorist who posted about the rumor, went to a discussion with Trump on Tuesday.
“Why do you want to talk to me? I don’t work for President Trump,” Loomer responded when contacted by NBC News.
A source familiar with the trip said Loomer and Trump did not speak on the plane. And one Trump aide noted that Loomer was “not a member of our staff.”
“The president is the most read man in America, and he has a pulse on everything that’s going on,” the aide added.
The Springfield rumor “reached his desk. He was informed about what these residents said.”
Others focused their suspicions on Vance, considering he forced the issue into focus.
“It’s all JD,” said a source close to the campaign.
Another source close to Trump’s campaign said Trump and Vance did not discuss Springfield before the debate.
“I don’t know what he’s thinking,” said a different Trump ally of his choice to bring up the Springfield rumor without a reason.
According to this person, only Trump is to blame.
“You’re not making Donald Trump,” the ally added. “You can make suggestions.”