‘I was just saying what was reported that’s been reported‘: Trump justifies pet-eating conspiracy theory with nonsensical feedback loop
In a recent town hall-style Q&A, Donald Trump wouldn’t back down from his unsubstantiated claims when questioned about the conspiracy theory that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating people’s pets. Trump first dropped this mistruth bomb during his September debate with Kamala Harris. There, he claimed that Haitian migrants living in Springfield were “eating the pets of the people that live there.” Despite multiple sources debunking the this, Trump won’t admit he was wrong.
The former president’s latest town hall was intended to address the issues of hispanic voters, and many topics were touched upon. One man, who self-identified as a currently-undecided registered Republican, expressed concern about the conspiracy theories being thrown around this election cycle. He asked Trump if he still believes that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating pets. What he got in return was a rambling answer and Trump refusing to back down.
Trump attempted to side-step culpability for spreading these rumors, responding, “I was just saying what was reported that’s been reported.” To support his claims, Trump said the rumors were “in the newspapers and reported pretty broadly,” though it’s worth noting that it was only broadly reported because he said it during the debate. He also added that the Haitians were “eating other things too that they’re not supposed to be,” but provided no context, examples, or sources.
This conspiracy theory has been widely discredited. Rumors of migrants eating pets can be traced back to debunked social media posts that mentioned incidents that had nothing to do with the Haitian immigrant community and never took place in Springfield. Even Springfield’s Republican Governor, Mike DeWine said there was “no credible evidence” to support Trump’s claims.
While Trump is clinging to this conspiracy theory like a stubborn child, his running mate, JD Vance, has also stuck to his guns regarding the false claims. “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,” Vance said in a September CNN interview. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
Though Trump doubled down on his claims during his recent Q&A, his answer rambled on far longer than it needed to be, and the former president shared a number of other mistruths about the immigrant situation in Springfield. He claimed Springfield was a town of 50,000 people that was flooded by a wave of 32,000 Haitian immigrants. Trump asserted that the influx of Haitians was overwhelming hospitals and schools, while somehow also preventing residents from affording rent and buying groceries.
However, as per usual, Trump’s facts are way off base. His estimates for the Springfield population weren’t too far off, the city is home to approximately 58,000 people. However, the total immigrant population (not just Haitians) is estimated to be between 12,000 and 15,000 people—but that’s in all of Clark County, an area with a population of 136,000 people.
Not only did Trump claim that the city of Springfield contains twice as many migrants as exist in the entire county, the picture he painted of their impact is far from accurate. Haitian immigrants aren’t having the disastrous effect on the community that Trump claims. In fact, there are already ten new businesses in the city opened by Haitian immigrants, and Governor DeWine described the recent immigrants as “very hard workers.” There also hasn’t been an influx of crime related to the migrants, as the most recent data reveals of all the 199 inmates in County Clark jails, only two are Haitian.
Trump’s claims are in no way factual, and it’s frustrating to hear his defense that he’s just “reporting” on what others have said. His constant spewing of lies creates a nightmare feedback loop—he spouts misinformation, then media outlets pick it up, and then Trump cites their reporting as the source. JD Vance mentioned “creating stories” that are attractive to the media. It makes sense, if an issue doesn’t exist, creating stories is the only way to actually make it an issue.
(Featured image: Univision Noticias/YouTube)
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