PolitiFact wrote that Trump took his anti-migrant border policy criticism to a new level “with a brazen disregard for facts” when he amplified the “pets” claim before 67 million television viewers in the Sept. 10 presidential debate.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said early in the debate. “The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”
The Springfield News-Sun first got wind of the social media rumor about Haitian immigrants eating pets the weekend before.
A Springfield woman named Erika Lee had made a Facebook post with the title “Warning to all about our beloved pets and those around us,” claiming that her neighbor’s daughter’s friend had lost her cat and later found it hanging from a branch at a Haitian neighbor’s home, being carved up to be eaten.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
By the morning of Monday, Sept. 9, the News-Sun had gotten a response from police and written our first article saying police had no evidence of any such reports. The News-Sun wrote dozens of stories over the next two weeks, quoting city, county and parks officials, Haitian residents, speakers at city meetings, and others, confirming that there was no evidence to support the claims. Lee, the original social media poster, acknowledged her own claim was false.
The News-Sun also wrote numerous articles about the real concerns created by the arrival of 10,000-plus Haitians — strains on the area’s schools and health care system, as well as public benefits and roadway safety.
PolitiFact said part of the reason they chose the Trump-Vance Haitian-pets claim as their lie of the year, was that as story after story made clear that it wasn’t true, Trump and Vance stuck with the lie for their campaign.
“When challenged by voters and interviewers, Trump said he heard it on TV; Vance said constituents had called his office with the claim,” PolitiFact wrote. Vance later said in an interview that to get media attention, sometimes “I have to create stories.”
PolitiFact said the pair’s persistent lies created major consequences, including threats to city officials, and schools closing due to bomb threats, and the stigmatization of a town and its residents “in the name of campaign rage.”
PolitiFact, which is operated by the Poynter Institute, has issued a year-end lie of the year report for 16 years.
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