Fox News finally fact-checks Donald Trump over something that was never true to begin with
Even Fox News has had enough of Donald Trump’s lies. During a recent interview, Fox News host Howard Kurtz finally confronted Trump over his Haitian immigrant lies.
Trump’s false narrative on Haitian immigrants began in September during the presidential debate between him and Vice President Kamala Harris. He claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH, were eating residents’ pets. He stated, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats.” Of course, the moderators immediately fact-checked him, telling him there were no confirmed reports of migrants eating pets. However, Trump and his running mate, J. D. Vance, refused to admit they knew the claims were false. Right-wing extremists quickly latched onto the conspiracy theory, throwing Springfield into the national spotlight and resulting in bomb threats and death threats towards officials, leaving Haitian immigrants in fear for their safety.
There has never been any evidence to Trump’s claims. While a Canton, OH, woman was accused of eating her neighbor’s cat, she was not from Springfield and was not an immigrant. Now, Fox News has finally questioned Trump for spreading the debunked rumor.
Fox News confronts Donald Trump over his lies
On October 20, Trump sat down with Fox News host Howard Kurtz for an interview on MediaBuzz. During the exchange, Kurtz confronted Trump over his “viral” claim of pet-eating immigrants. He asked Trump, “When you said, and you know it’s gone viral, that ‘they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats,’ you said you were just reporting what had been said. But why not say, now, ‘Well, look, that turned out not to be true.'” It’s an excellent question. While Trump can feign that he thought the claim was true at the time he made it, he has never provided a reason for why he refused to confirm he was wrong when the claim was debunked.
Trump clearly wasn’t expecting the question and appeared flustered. He claimed to still not know if what he said was true. However, Kurtz wasn’t going to let him off easy. He asked incredulously, “You don’t know if it’s true or not true? It’s been debunked by the officials.” Trump then started rambling on about the geese in Springfield, claiming “they’re all missing” and stating something about “one guy with two geese.” The claims of immigrants stealing geese from parks were also debunked.
Finally, Trump admitted, “I have no idea. I said something.” He then tried to change the subject, claiming he was just trying to point out the “big problem” of putting “30,000 people into a 50,000-person town or city.”
Undeterred, Kurtz pointed out for the umpteenth time that the claims were debunked. In response, Trump lashed out at him, stating, “I don’t think it’s been debunked at all. I think nobody talks about it except you.” The thing is, a lot of people have been talking about his lies. He just didn’t realize it because most conservative news hosts weren’t willing to question him on the topic. Yet, even when called out publicly on Fox News, Trump still can’t just admit that he was wrong. He’d rather appear daft and claim to still not know what’s true than finally put his egregious rumor to rest. It’s unclear which is worse, his tendencies to make up blatant lies about people or the fact that he will never, ever get his followers to back down by admitting to a lie.
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