There’s around a half a million Haitian-Americans living in Florida, which is a little over two percent of the Sunshine State’s population. I’m not sure it’s a good look for Elon Musk and his Republican Party to be pushing the lie that Haitians are stealing people’s pets and eating them. Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, appears to be particularly enamored with spreading this conspiracy theory.
Vance added a reference to a now-debunked social media post. “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. 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 czar?” he wrote. Those reports are largely based on social media postings that were picked up by national figures including Charlie Kirk and Elon Musk over the weekend.
Just in case you thought there might be some truth behind this allegation, the Springfield, Ohio police department can reassure you that it’s complete bullshit:
Police there issued a statement Monday knocking down the claims, saying “there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
And the Biden administration is trying to tamp this down so no one gets killed over it.
The White House warned Tuesday that debunked claims about Haitian immigrants harming household pets could spill over into anti-immigrant violence, as Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance vowed to keep spreading the rumor.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing with reporters that the false claims about immigrants were a “dangerous” variety of conspiracy theory.
“This kind of disinformation is dangerous because there will be people that believe it no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is,” he said. “And they might act on that kind of information and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt. So, it needs to stop.”
But J.D Vance wants Republicans to continue to spread the rumor even though he acknowledges that it might be untrue.
“In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants,” Vance posted on X.
“It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” he added.
Vance added that he wouldn’t be dissuaded by debunkings in the news media.
“In short, don’t let the crybabies in the media dissuade you, fellow patriots. Keep the cat memes flowing,” he posted.
How’s that for responsible leadership? I bet Trump is proud.
But, again, there are a lot of Haitians in Florida. The latest Morning Consult poll from Florida has Trump up by two percentage points, so should he really be insulting two percent of the state’s population?
