Racist claims of people eating dogs in Springfield, debunked

So, how about that wild debate between old Donnie and Kamala Harris, huh? Trump made some pretty strange claims during the whole thing, such as the racist allegation that people are eating dogs in Springfield, which we’ll debunk in this article.

What the heck is the context behind Donald Trump saying that all-you-can-eat dog and cat dinners are happening in Springfield, Ohio right now? As expected, it’s white supremacy. According to Reuters, this claim originates from a viral post talking about Haitian immigrants being accused of pet theft in Springfield neighborhoods. Multiple social media accounts, such as @TheCalvinCooli1, spread the false account of ducks and geese being stolen and taken by immigrants.

Despite there being no evidence for it, the story spread quickly across the internet, with other animals in the mix, seemingly stoked by a lone news report of an Ohio woman killing and eating a cat. Both Springfield officials and police officers have discredited this narrative and have said that they have no evidence of Haitian immigrants doing anything of this sort. Things got so bad that they even had to make an official statement about it to try and stop the story from being proliferated. Even Springfield Mayor Rob Rue issued his own statement, calling the claims without merit.

Unfortunately, this didn’t stop white supremacists like J.D. Vance from weaponizing these lies anyway, like in this tweet of his:

Some other users on Twitter followed suit with their own weird, thinly veiled racist posts about the situation.

Luckily, many other users were quick to point out the racism in the situation.

As reported by AP News, Trump himself peddled this myth again during the debate with Kamala. “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said in a now widely mocked and memed quote across social media.

The idea that immigrants are eating pets is an age old racist myth born explicitly to dehumanize the Other. As you’re probably familiar with, there’s also an orientalist myth about certain Asian groups such as Chinese people eating dog, something entirely born from racist stereotypes about non-white groups with not much basis in reality. This extends to how Haitian immigrants are being perceived by white nationalists right now.

It’s important to remember that the world of white supremacy isn’t based on “facts and logic” like they purport. The principle creators and perpetuators of these narratives are often aware that what they’re saying isn’t true. The goal is to distort reality as they please, solely to exterminate undesirable groups as they please. This is what makes fascism so insidious.

So while it may be funny to laugh at a couple memes related to Trump on this topic, it’s important to remember that there’s very real harm behind all of this rhetoric, which is no laughing matter.