Kamala Harris hit Donald Trump where it hurts early in the debate.
“I’m going to actually do something unusual, and I’m going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies,” Harris began. “People start leaving his rallies early, out of boredom and exhaustion.”
The moderator had asked about immigration – Trump’s favorite topic – but when Harris wrapped her remark with a jab about Trump’s crowd sizes, the former president could not help but take the bait. First, Trump claimed without evidence that Harris paid people to attend her rallies. Clearly wound up, he began to ramble – about immigrants eating people’s pets.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” said Trump. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
Trump’s claims about immigrants allegedly killing and eating the pets of US citizens originated, apparently, with a viral video of a resident of Springfield, Ohio, claiming before the town’s council that immigrants in the community had killed ducks from a local park for food. The unsubstantiated and inflammatory video was shared widely on rightwing accounts, evolving quickly into a viral meme featuring AI-generated images of Trump surrounded by cats and dogs, appearing to protect them.
Prominent figures in Trumpworld seized quickly on the meme. The vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, who had previously spoken about the influx of Haitian people to Ohio, posted on X: “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 tsar?”
Later, in an email to supporters, the Trump campaign promised “the largest mass deportation operation in US history”.
The false claim quickly spread this week, with Republicans attempting to make light of the racist attack on immigrants. The Republican party of Arizona announced on Tuesday it had launched 12 billboards in the Phoenix area imitating Chick-fil-A’s advertising with images of cats in cow costumes and the words: “Eat less kittens, vote Republican!”
During the debate, when Trump again introduced the topic, David Muir – one of ABC’s two moderators – quickly fact-checked him.
“You bring up Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News did reach out to the city manager there,” said Muir. “He told us there had been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”