The largest political lie of the year, as determined by its readers, has been published by a leading fact-checking organization.
On Tuesday, the nonpartisan organization PoltiFact named “they’re eating the pets” the 2024 winner.
During the campaign, Vice President J.D. Vance spread the idea that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eat cats and dogs, and President Donald Trump enthusiastically promoted it.
With almost 67 million viewers, Trump even propagated the myth during the presidential debate with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris on September 10.
Trump replied, “They’re eating the dogs in Springfield.” the individuals who entered. The cats are being eaten. They are consuming the pets of the residents at that location. And this is what’s taking place in our nation. It’s also unfortunate.
The accusations sparked a hate campaign in Springfield, an aging industrial city that had welcomed immigrants to work in factories and revitalize the downtown area. Bomb threats were sent to companies and schools, government leaders were inundated with death threats, and immigrants were afraid to leave their homes.
Vance would subsequently admit that he was aware that the bold claim was untrue, but he added that occasionally fabricating things is necessary to get media attention.
After 2020, between 12,000 and 20,000 Haitian immigrants arrived in Springfield under the Biden administration’s legal temporary protected status program.
Trump’s pet-eating hoax worked. Springfield is located in Clark County, where voters gave Trump more support in 2024, according to PolitiFact.
According to The Guardian, Haitian immigrants have been escaping Springfield since Trump’s election out of fear that they will be singled out under the president-elect’s mass deportation plan.
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