‘If I Have to Create Stories’: JD Vance Admits Making Up Pet-eating Claims
Trump’s been repeating falsehoods about Haitian immigrants since last week’s debate
Republican Sen JD Vance admitted that he invented the stories of Haitian immigrants eating pets in his home state of Ohio.
Donald Trump’s running mate made the acknowledgement during a highly contentious interview Sunday with CNN host Dana Bash.
Trump has been repeating bizarre, racist and false claims he and his running mate have been making about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating their neighbors’ pets.
The former president — and current Republican presidential nominee — has been insisting on repeating the falsehoods, despite being advised during the presidential debate last Tuesday by the moderators that the claims simply weren’t true.
Officials in Springfield and at the state level in Ohio have been complaining because they say that spreading these falsehoods have caused bomb threats and direct threats to the Haitian immigrants in the region.
Vance admitted to making up the pet-eating stories, complaining that the US news media is “letting Kamala Harris coast.”
“Dana, the evidence is the firsthand account of my constituents who are telling me that this happened. And, by the way, I have been trying to talk about the problems in Springfield for months, and the American media ignored it,” Vance claimed. “There was a congressional hearing just last week of angel moms who lost children because Kamala Harris let criminal migrants into this country who then murdered their children.
“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,” Vance added.
“But it wasn’t just a meme, sir,” Bash corrected.
“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, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast,” Vance claimed. “You had one interview with her. You talk about pushing back against me, Dana. You didn’t push back against the fact that she cast the deciding vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which is why a lot of Americans can’t afford food and housing.”
The Republican vice-presidential nominee grew increasingly combative with Bash.
Here is more of the exchange:
BASH: “You just said that you’re creating a story.”
Vance: “We ought to be talking about public policy.”
BASH: “Sir, you just said that you’re creating the story.”
Vance: “What’s that, Dana?”
BASH: “You just said that this is a story that you created — ”
Vance: “Yes.”
BASH: “So, the eating dogs and cats thing is not accurate?”
Vance: “We are creating — we are — Dana, it comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it. I didn’t create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield, thanks to Kamala Harris’ policies. Her policies did that. But yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris’ policies.”
Tim Miller, a prominent “Never Trumper” who worked in Republican politics for years before the Trump era, condemned Vance’s behavior in that interview, calling it “the most shameful performance that I’ve seen in politics.”
“It’s just a purely Machiavellian defense of his lie,” Miller added.
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