Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance on Sunday backtracked after CNN’s Dana Bash pressed him for saying he had to “create stories” about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio — claims that have been dunked.
“Donald Trump repeated on the debate stage that — and he didn't say anything about the policies that you're talking about,” Bash said in response to Vance defending talking about Springfield in order to criticize Harris on the border. “He just said, Haitians are eating dogs and cats. Can you affirmatively say now that that is a rumor that has no base — basis with evidence?” Bash asked Vance.
“The evidence is the firsthand account of my constituents, who are telling me that this happened. And, by the way: I've been trying to talk about the problems in Springfield for months and the American media ignored it,” the Ohio senator said. “until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do.”
“You just said that you're creating the story,” Bash responded.
“I say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it,” he said. “We created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris' policies.”
Despite being confronted last week with the reality that the pet-eating claims has no basis in fact, Vance has continued to urge his supporters to post about it. “Don't let the crybabies in the media dissuade you, fellow patriots. Keep the cat memes flowing,” he said on Twitter/X.
With the surge in hate, however, Springfield — including two area colleges Monday — has faced bomb and shooting threats, which caused the evacuations of multiple buildings in recent days. The city also announced that it canceled CultureFest, its annual celebration of culture and diversity, due to “threats and safety concerns.”
