To justify his misinformation, the Republican vice presidential candidate cited a report from a woman whose lost cat turned up, very much alive, in her own basement.
[Ed. Note: Yeah, it’s completely ‘baseless’… It’s not like it’s on f***ing video or anything.]
by Jacob Sullum
Reason.com
“Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R–Ohio), Donald Trump’s running mate, averred on X the morning of September 9, referring to rumors that Haitian immigrants were eating stolen cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio. That same morning, Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck told The Wall Street Journal, a Vance staffer called to ask him, “Are the rumors true of pets being taken and eaten?”
Heck’s response was unequivocal: “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.”
Heck’s rebuttal did not stop Vance from re-upping those claims the very next day. “My office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants,” he wrote on the morning of September 10.