‘What Is This Guy’s Obsession?!’ Joe Scarborough Mocks JD Vance For Flip-Flopping On Cats After Pushing Haitian Immigrant Conspiracy

MSNBC’s Morning Joe crew mocked Republican running mate Senator JD Vance (R-OH) for his flip-flopping on cats after expressing concern for the animals when amplifying the false claim that Haitian illegal immigrants are eating Ohioan residents’ cats.

The false claims which consumed MAGA influencers and lawmakers alike on Monday that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were killing and eating pets spread like wildfire, carrying right to the Trump campaign pushed the claim out in a mailer that afternoon in a bid to attack Harris on immigration. The claims were debunked by a Springfield police statement, which confirmed there had been no reports of such incidents.

After a somber opening reflecting on the passing of legendary actor James Earl Jones , host Mika Brzezinski sought to pivot to politics and analysis ahead of Tuesday evening’s election debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris .

“Also ahead,” she said, “we’re going to explain the false claims about migrants and pets that are being amplified by the Trump…”

Co-host Joe Scarborough interrupted: “Wait, wait, hold on.”

I mean, this is — I mean, I don’t even know where to begin,” Brzezinski replied.

“You know, it used to be, I think, in 2018 or 2020, the lie about immigrants and illegal immigrants, Katy, was that they were bringing leprosy to America,” Scarborough laughed. “Which, of course, they were not. Now, it’s that they are eating your dogs.

“Cats!” co-host Katty Kay corrected.

“They are coming to America and eating your cats,” Scarborough said.

“Yeah, don’t live in Ohio with a cat because it might get eaten, obviously,” Kay replied.

“Little mittens is going to be dinner,” Scarborough added.

“It’s sweeping the country,” Kay continued. “It’s terrible… terrible… This is absolutely ridiculous and scraping the bottom of the barrel. And JD Vance has been amplifying this. Apparently, this has been going crazy on the right-wing social media sites.”

Recalling Vance’s “childless cat ladies” trope, used to smear female Democratic lawmakers, Scarborough mused: “This is how things have changed… Now you have JD Vance running around going, ‘They are eating your cats.’ What is this guy’s obsession about cats? First he hates them, then he likes them, then he’s trying to save them. I don’t get it.”

“Maybe too many women like cats rather than JD Vance,” Kay suggested. “Cat women.”

Scarborough further, playfully: “Now he is the great protector of cats.”

Journalist Sam Stein reflected on the change to the media environment in contributing to how the story exploded: “Makes sense if you think about it that way. To your point, yeah, they all have microphones. They all have huge platforms of their own, right? Used to be they’d have to call a press conference or do sit-down interviews to spread lies. Now, in succession, there’s ten official accounts or unofficial accounts associated with the trump campaign that amplifies this completely manufactured… complete lie.”

Later in the show, reflecting on the contributions of immigrants to the US economy, Scarborough took aim at Vance: “The person who knows this the most, the guy who has this singular obsession with cats – first talking about childless cat lady, and now talking about the eating of cats – JD Vance knows better than anybody else the contributions immigrants have made to this country. The immeasurable contributions. Because he worked with them for years in Silicon Valley and got rich doing it. So he knows he’s lying. He knows this is nonsense. He knows he is playing to the lowest common denominator.”

Watch above on MSNBC.