Sixty Seven million people tuned in to the U.S. 2024 presidential debate on Tuesday. During the nearly two-hour event, both candidates dodged direct questions about kitchen-table issues.
However, only one candidate ran off the rails when confronted with his lies and legal woes.
Vice President, Kamala Harris, baited former President Donald Trump’s allusions to Hannibal Lecter at his rallies and confronted his obsession with crowd size. Harris’ shiny lure proved irresistible for Trump who frequently veers off-script, much to his advisors’ dismay.
Trump demeaned Harris’ crowds, saying they were bussed in and paid to make appearances. He then flailed at immigration policy under the Biden-Harris Administration with a wild, unsubstantiated rumor.
“In Springfield [Ohio], they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in [Haitian immigrants]. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
ABC News moderator, David Muir, broke in with reports that the news bureau reached out to Springfield’s city manager. At the time of Trump’s assertions, there had been “no credible reports of specific claims that pets had been harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
Trump refused to back down. “Well, I’ve seen people on television saying ‘my dog was taken and used for food.’”
Springfield City officials denied Trumps claims and even reported to Newsweek that recent Haitian arrivals have helped revitalize the city's moribund economy.
False rumors about pet-eating Haitians stretch back months, fueled by X-posts by Vice-Presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, and other MAGA supporters, and perpetuated my heartless memes. One shows two frightened-looking kittens clutching each other along with the caption: Please vote for Trump, so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.
After the debate, a CNN debate focus group polled a dozen undecided voters from the bellwether county of Erie, Pennsylvania. One pastor said that Trump’s rhetoric demonizes people who are different from him.
“It makes them into an other,” the pastor said. “That’s no way to lead our country forward.”