Dear Media: You ‘Debunking’ Racist Lies From Trump Fans About Haitians Eating Pets Is Part Of The Troll

There has been no shortage of cable news segments debunking the MAGA-world smear that immigrants from Haiti have been abducting and eating household pets thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris — but there is a shortage of media figures calling it what it is.

The Trump campaign, Trump VP pick Sen. JD Vance and Trump super-fan Elon Musk have led the charge in spreading the false claims. On Monday, the campaign sent an email that attacked migrants who were granted humanitarian relief by the Biden administration, and which included the unfounded smear that migrants are “kidnapping (Springfield, Ohio) residents’ pets — then eating them.”

Vance posted the smear on X/Twitter, writing “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”

Musk and others have been posting memes referencing the smear, including AI images of Trump and the pets in question:

The smear has prompted outrage and mockery , as well as copious debunking . Jen Psaki called it “insane” and its promoters “plain weird.”

One thing that has been absent from coverage of this, especially cable news coverage, has been a willingness to call out the naked racism of this attack.

CNN’s Tom Foreman came close in a package that ran Monday night, as well as on Tuesday’s edition of CNN News Central , during which he noted the smear “could easily prey upon racist and xenophobic fears”:

Even in the toxic political climate of our times, this is a wild claim. Republican vice- presidential candidate JD Vance, who has railed about a large influx of Haitian immigrants into the rather middle-sized town of Springfield, Ohio, posted, “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”

And this claim, which focuses on kittens and ducks, has exploded in the far-right echo chamber, amplified by the Trump campaign, conservative commentator, Senator Ted Cruz, Donald Trump Jr., Elon Musk, and more.

They are saying and or implying, if you elect Vice President Kamala Harris, her immigration policies will put your pets at risk. But to be clear, this allegation against these immigrants is patently false, a far-right fever dream which could easily prey upon racist and xenophobic fears.

According to Springfield city officials, there is no foundation for any of this. In a statement they said, “We wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community. Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”

Yet, when CNN asked Vance’s office why he is pushing such a blatant lie, they said, “Senator Vance has received a high volume of calls and emails over the past several weeks from concerned citizens in Springfield. His tweet is based on what he is hearing from them.” But again, there is no truth to what he is hearing. And that is easy to check.

Really Tom? Do ya think?

It’s an obvious but important point, because it is literally the only thing you need to know about this. The point is not to fight back on behalf of kittens or to win an argument about the truth of this smear or to even believe it. Hell, Trump’s most recent high-profile endorsement is from a guy who posed for a photo with a dog he allegedly ate.

The point is to spread the feeling — the underlying racist messages about the Black refugees who hail from the same region VP Harris traces her roots, that they are uncivilized and lawless and unclean — the kind of people that Democrats look out for instead of looking out for straight White people.

When you just debunk the smear and call it “insane,” all you are doing is promoting it for free because you’re still delivering the message that the best thing you can say about these refugees is that they haven’t actually been caught feeding on kittens. You’re not addressing the racism at the heart of the claim.

You could argue that these people relish being called racist — that this, too, is part of the troll. Fair enough, but it is a part of the troll that decent people can see through.

Watch above via CNN News Central .