The Dark, Neo-Nazi Origins of Trump’s Migrant Pet-Eating Conspiracy

A neo-Nazi group is taking credit for creating and spreading the racist conspiracy that Haitian immigrants are killing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

The leader of the group Blood Tribe, Christopher Pohlhaus, celebrated on his Telegram channel on Wednesday, after the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris the day before where Trump brought up the false rumor.

The neo-Nazi group “pushed Springfield into the public consciousness,” Pohlhaus, known as “Hammer” to his followers, wrote on Telegram, according to NBC News.

“The president is talking about it now,” one of Blood Tribe’s members wrote on Gab, a social network popular with the far right. “This is what real power looks like.”

While the exact origin of the rumor is unclear, it was at least amplified and spread by the neo-Nazi group. In late June, local Facebook groups in Ohio were posting about Haitian children chasing geese and ducks. In the next few weeks, darker rumors spread about the ducks and geese going missing and possibly being eaten by Haitian immigrants.

In August, Blood Tribe picked up on the rumors and started posting about them on Telegram and Gab. Members of the racist organization marched in Springfield in Ohio in early August and spoke at some of the town’s meetings.

From there, the false story was picked up by the right-wing End Wokeness account on X, which last week posted a screenshot from a Facebook post and a picture of a man holding some kind of bird walking down a street. The picture wasn’t from Springfield, though: It was taken in Columbus, Ohio, on July 28, and the photographer has apologized and admitted he doesn’t know the ethnicity of the man.

Still, a post on Reddit made the rumor go viral, with right-wing influencers soon creating A.I.-generated pictures of Trump protecting pets, specifically cats. Politicians from Ted Cruz to vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance picked up on it before Trump mentioned it in Tuesday night’s debate. Now the increased attention is causing problems in the town, leading to threats against town buildings and elementary schools, as well as a condemnation from the mayor. A family’s deceased son has been used as a political tool, much to their outrage. Republican leaders need to face the fact that this false story is not ammunition for their immigration policies but is rooted in racism and needs to stop.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Republican-run North Carolina state Supreme Court have majorly sabotaged the democratic process in the key battleground state. 

The court ruled 4–3 on Monday to remove Kennedy from the ballot in that state, requiring election officials to destroy nearly three million ballots that included Kennedy’s name and to redesign 2,348 ballot styles. 

“To protect this important right, the elections process should ensure that voters are presented with accurate information regarding the candidates running for an elected office,” wrote Republican Justice Trey Allen in his majority opinion. “Where a ballot contains misleading information or inaccurately lists the candidates, it risks interfering with the right to vote according to one’s conscience.”

Not only will this last-minute change delay the distribution of ballots, it will also cut into early voting for North Carolina residents in violation of state and possibly federal laws, according to Slate.  

State law requires early voting to begin on September 6, and federal law requires that absentee ballots be mailed overseas by September 21—a deadline election administrators are now unlikely to meet.

Allen alleged that the state board of elections had purposefully rushed to print ballots featuring Kennedy’s name, noting that they had not halted production the second he announced he was “suspending” his campaign. But in his speech announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race, Kennedy made no mention of dropping out in North Carolina and did not file for removal until five days later. 

Since “suspending” his campaign, Kennedy has sought to take his name off the ballots in states where his presence will hurt Donald Trump’s chances at winning but keep his name on the ballot where it will help him. Even in suspension, Kennedy is insistent on running a spoiler campaign against the Democrats. 

“We acknowledge that expediting the process of printing new ballots will require considerable time and effort by our election officials and significant expense to the State,” Allen wrote in his  opinion. “But that is a price the North Carolina Constitution expects us to incur to protect voters’ fundamental right to vote their conscience and have that vote count.”

The far-right’s pet-eating Haitian migrant conspiracy is having real-world ramifications for the town of Springfield, Ohio.

The epicenter of the conspiracy shut down three of its schools on Friday, reported ABC News. Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary were evacuated after receiving unspecified information from the Springfield Police Division, while Roosevelt Middle School was closed from the beginning of the school day due to similar threats, reported the Springfield News-Sun.

“The District is in the process of a controlled release to dismiss students to their parents,” the Springfield City School District said in a statement. “Additionally, Roosevelt Middle School was closed prior to the beginning of the school day in relation to the information received from the SPD.”

The educational gridlock comes one day after several other schools and a significant portion of Springfield’s government facilities—including City Hall, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Ohio License Bureau, the Springfield Academy of Excellence, and Fulton Elementary School—were shut down due to bomb threats.

Authorities have not directly tied Friday’s evacuations to the conspiracy, which accuses Haitian migrants who have settled in Springfield of stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets. The blatantly racist conspiracy has drawn national attention in recent weeks thanks to Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, both of whom have repeatedly elevated the evidenceless attack.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said during the presidential debate on Tuesday. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

Meanwhile, Vance—who, again, represents Ohio—spent considerable time on the conspiracy this week. On Tuesday, the Republican shared that his office had received “many inquiries” from Springfield residents who were complaining about migrants eating their pets.

“It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” Vance said before continuing on his diatribe against Haitians.

Multiple city officials and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine have stated that the conspiracy is false. But that hasn’t stopped the Republican presidential ticket from endangering an entire town’s worth of people.

Kamala Harris has officially pulled ahead of Donald Trump, according to … Fox News?!

Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer reported Thursday evening that the former president had lost his edge in two key battleground states: Georgia and North Carolina. The conservative news network now considers them to be “toss-up” races, alongside Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, and Wisconsin.

As a result, Harris had taken the lead in Fox’s Power Ranking predictions with 241 electoral votes to Trump’s 217. Hemmer noted that this was the first time Harris had pushed past Trump in their predictions.

Josh Krashaar, editor in chief of Jewish Insider, joined Hemmer and noted that Harris had considerably more paths to 270 electoral votes than President Joe Biden. “Now, with Georgia and North Carolina looking a whole lot more competitive, there are a lot more possibilities for the Democrats,” Krashaar said. “You could—you could win Georgia and not have to win Pennsylvania. And a lot of the Sun Belt states open up a whole slew of possibilities for the Democratic ticket.”

Last month, the Cook Political Report changed North Carolina’s status from “leaning Republican” status to “toss-up.” Shortly after, Fox News published polling from Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina that found that Harris had significantly tightened the gap across those key states. That polling saw Harris up by two points in Georgia.

Alt-right activist and virulently racist conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer’s entrance into Donald Trump’s inner fold has shaken some of his longest-term allies, but the intra-MAGA fight is starting to turn seriously ugly.

After Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Lindsey Graham came down hard on Loomer for a string of racist online posts about Vice President Kamala Harris (who Loomer said would make the White House “smell like curry”), the self-described “proud Islamophobe” decided to take some pot shots at MAGAworld’s longtime figureheads.

“Lindsey Graham has never been loyal to President Trump,” Loomer wrote on X Thursday. “He got booed in his own state at a TRUMP RALLY and was booed off stage because he is DISLOYAL to Trump and the American people. He probably shouldn’t be giving out advice to Donald Trump.”

But the attacks only got more childish from there, with Loomer overtly questioning the South Carolinian’s leadership by probing his sexuality.

“When is Lindsay [sic] coming out of the closet?” Loomer said. “We all know you’re Gay, Lindsey.… And that’s ok. It’s ok. It’s 2024. There’s nothing wrong with Gay people. I like men too. You and I have something in common we can bond over. Just be honest about it. Nobody is going to judge you for being open about who you are.”

The insult was in direct response to reports that Graham had called Loomer a “toxic” presence and had reportedly warned Trump to “make sure” that her appearance in his entourage during a 9/11 ceremony “doesn’t become a bigger story.” (Loomer has repeatedly claimed that 9/11 was an inside job.)

So far, Graham and Greene are the only two Republicans to publicly express anger at Loomer’s increased presence. But other Trump insiders worry her new spot at the Republican presidential nominee’s side is a sign that the campaign is struggling—and that staffers are more concerned with keeping their jobs than keeping Trump on track.

Donald Trump’s supporters, still upset about the former president’s poor debate performance on Tuesday, are now alleging that ABC News gave Kamala Harris questions before the debate.

On Thursday, right-wing influencer and January 6 participant Philip Anderson posted on X a “confirmation” claiming that a whistleblower at ABC signed an affidavit alleging that Harris received debate questions ahead of time, was assured that Trump would be fact-checked while she wouldn’t be, and that “several other factors were built into the debate to give Kamal a significant advantage.”

Anderson didn’t name his source, although a different X user, Black Insurrectionist, posted the same message two hours earlier. Another right-wing website, Leading Report, picked up the rumor, which was then boosted by billionaire Bill Ackman. The conspiracy theory may have originated from the Trump team, or Trump himself, who told Fox News on Wednesday that Harris was “awfully familiar” with the debate’s topics. He also threatened to shut the network down.

ABC News has denied the allegations, with a spokesperson telling The Daily Beast, “Absolutely not. Harris was not given any questions before the debate.”

The debate’s rules, released by the network on September 4, specify, “No topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates.” ABC’s spokesperson also said that the debate’s moderators, Linsey Davis and David Muir, were not in contact with anyone from the Harris campaign.

It’s more desperate flailing from MAGAworld, who can’t accept that Trump simply struck out Tuesday night and may have advanced cognitive decline, which even experts have noticed. Perhaps Trump’s die-hard supporters need to accept a difficult truth: Harris set a trap, Trump fell for it, and it could be the convicted felon’s final unraveling.

After getting flack this week for her 9/11 conspiracy theories and her history of racist and inflammatory remarks, instead of being quiet, Laura Loomer is doubling down. 

Loomer made headlines this week as Donald Trump allowed the conspiracy theorist to accompany him to an official 9/11 memorial service on Wednesday. Loomer previously claimed that she believed the September 11 attacks were an “inside job” by the U.S. government. 

After the incident caused a schism in the Republican Party, with both Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Lindsey Graham calling out Loomer and urging Trump to distance himself, Loomer is instead digging a bigger hole for herself.  

“23 years later, and there’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” she wrote on X Friday morning. “The 9/11 documents are still classified to this day. The American people deserve to know the entire truth. Not just what our lying government chose to tell us.”

Attached to the tweet is a video of Trump speaking with WWOR/UPN 9 News on September 11, 2001. “How could [a plane] possibly go through the steel?” Trump can be heard saying in the video. “I happen to think that they had not only a plane but bombs that exploded almost simultaneously.” 

“It was almost like a can of soup,” Trump added. “It’s an amazing thing.” 

It seems as though Loomer believes she thinks she’s in good company to continue to push her conspiracy theories, whether that be about 9/11, mass shootings, or immigrants. 

“PS: Whatever you do.… Do NOT google Building 7,” wrote Loomer on X, expanding on another aspect of her 9/11-truther dogma. 

Springfield, Ohio, Mayor Rob Rue is setting the record straight after his town’s city hall was evacuated due to a bomb threat.

Rue spoke with CNN’s Laura Coates Thursday night to hit back at the outlandish claims that Haitian immigrants had begun eating their neighbors’ pets. He asserted that while it had been “difficult” to adjust to the influx of new residents, the city was certainly not “imploding” on itself.

“Unfortunately, right now we have to focus on making sure this rhetoric is dispelled, that these rumors are just—they’re just not true. You know, Springfield is a beautiful place and your pets are safe in Springfield,” Rue said, laughing slightly at how insane it all sounded.

Coates played a clip of Donald Trump giving a speech in Arizona earlier Thursday, during which the former president claimed that Haitian immigrants had descended upon Springfield, “destroying their entire way of life.” Trump again claimed that migrants were snatching geese from local parks and “even walking off with their pets.”

Coates sighed, exasperated, while Rue shook his head. “If you could speak to the former president what would you tell him?” Coates asked.

“We need help, not hate,” Rue repeated. He criticized lawmakers who carelessly cast the city of Springfield in a negative light.

“We have a beautiful city, and we need, we need the national stage to pay attention to what their words are doing to cities like ours,” Rue added. “We don’t need this pushback that is hurting our citizens and hurting our community—I would say that to anybody who would take a mic and say those things.”

Donald Trump flubbed the last debate. His allies know it, his fundraisers know it—but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to admit it.

On Thursday, the Republican presidential nominee announced that he had decided not to debate Vice President Kamala Harris for a second time, writing in a lengthy rant on Truth Social that “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” (Apparently he’s counting his debate against Joe Biden.)

But less than 24 hours after the major reversal, Trump’s team was already working to explain away why the country would be getting less of their candidate.

“I admire President Trump for not debating her again,” South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem told Fox News. “He is recognizing the fact that it is a waste of time, that she is not going to say what she truly believes, she’s not going to be truthful with the American people, and he’s going to take his argument directly to families and to people that live in this country that are impacted by her policies.”

In an interview with CNN, former J.D. Vance Senate staffer Ryan Girdusky argued that Trump was vindicated in his decision on the basis that the vice president is “the least vetted candidate” in U.S. history.

Former Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard touted a stale campaign line, telling Fox News that the debate was fundamentally flawed because of the presence of two ABC moderators.

“President Trump went into a debate where it was three versus one. It was completely biased,” Gabbard said. “Why would he walk into that again?”

(In reality, ABC actually allowed Trump to speak for six minutes longer than his Democratic opponent over the duration of the debate.)

But Republican donors saw through the act. Behind the scenes of the political theater, conservative fundraisers saw Trump’s reversal as a candidate left with no other options following a “disaster” debate performance.

“I think a lot of the donors, or at least the ones that I was texting with the night of the debate, were not exactly thrilled about how that debate went down,” GOP fundraiser Noelle Nikpour told Fox News Thursday. “What I will tell you, I do think it’s smart for Donald Trump not to do the debate. I think that that was a good decision with the campaign, and I’ll tell you why. Because depending on when that debate will be scheduled, and if he has another repeat performance like he did, I don’t know if the campaign can recover that quickly. I don’t think they have enough time to recover from that.”

CNN made a video comparing Donald Trump’s debate answers against Hillary Clinton in 2016 and his answers from Tuesday’s debate with Kamala Harris eight years later, and there’s a considerable difference in how the Republican presidential nominee spoke and conducted himself.

The video comparison, aired on Thursday night, shows how Trump would stay on topic and give coherent answers in 2016. In contrast, Trump earlier this week went off on tangents, rambling and avoiding specific ideas.

In particular, on immigration, 2016 Trump was able to hammer home his points about building a wall and stopping drugs from entering the country. On Tuesday, Trump ranted about the false rumor of Haitian immigrants eating pets in Ohio and a disproven story about a Venezuelan gang taking over an apartment complex in Colorado.

Trump’s performance during this week’s debate was widely seen as poor, as Harris was able to bait him into ranting about personal grievances, going against the game plan made by his advisers. At one point, he tried to combine right-wing talking points on transgender people, migrants, and criminals, and he also gave a word-salad answer about Afghanistan policy,

It’s a stark example of the convicted felon’s cognitive decline, which has become more pronounced during the current presidential campaign. Earlier this month, Trump appeared to forget at a Fox News town hall whether he was running against Harris or President Biden. A few weeks before that, he went on a weird rant about bacon and wind power and accidentally praised Harris’s record. As the 2024 presidential campaign enters its home stretch, it’s becoming more and more apparent to the public that Trump’s mind has lost a step.