JD Vance Doubles Down On Debunked Cat-Eating Immigrants Lie
JD Vance isn’t letting facts or common decency stop him from spreading a racist lie about Haitian immigrants.
In fact, he’s doubling down — despite it being debunked.
On Monday, the Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential nominee claimed without evidence that “people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”
Vance’s false assertion is based on a widely shared social media post supposedly from someone in Springfield, Ohio, who alleged that their neighbor’s daughter’s friend had lost her cat, only to find it “hanging from a branch” at a Haitian neighbor’s home, “carving it up to eat.”
Although the local police are aware of the post, they told the Springfield News-Sun on Monday that they haven’t received any reports related to pets being attacked and eaten.
Still, the bogusness of the claim hasn’t stopped Vance and other Republicans, such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, from amplifying it.
On Tuesday, Vance posted on X, formerly called Twitter, that his office “has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants.”
Of course, he added the caveat that “it’s possible” that “all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” before using the rest of the post to attack Kamala Harris’ immigration policies.
In a follow-up post, Vance encouraged his followers to continue platforming his racist lie, as well as to not “let the crybabies in the media dissuade you, fellow patriots,” adding, “Keep the cat memes flowing.”
People on X were aghast that Vance was doubling down on the falsity, and they let their feelings — and skepticism — about it be known.
One person even had some helpful advice for