Strategy: Is this the real reason Trump and Vance are telling the cats and dogs lie?
During his Tuesday, September 10 presidential debate with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, Donald Trump promoted the debunked conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are kidnapping residents' cats and dogs and eating them.
The debate was followed by bomb threats in Springfield, where Haitians living in the area have said they fear for their safety.
Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), however, have refused to apologize for promoting a debunked lie and doubled down on blaming Harris for tensions in Ohio — which journalist Marc A. Caputo, in a biting article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on September 15, describes as a glaring example of Trump and Vance's "cynical" campaign strategy.
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"Donald Trump's campaign is not displeased that they've been widely condemned for spreading the urban legend of Haitian migrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio," Caputo explains. "If the national media is talking about immigration, they reason, they're winning. The mastermind of the cynical, xenophobic strategy, Trump running mate JD Vance, acknowledged in Sunday show interviews that he platformed the unsubstantiated pet-eating rumors to force a conversation about the downsides of Vice President Kamala Harris' immigration policies."
During a September 15 appearance on CNN, Vance told host Dana Bash, "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I’m going to do. Because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast."
Caputo notes that the Ohio senator's appearances on CNN, NBC News and CBS News have "underscored the high-wire act Vance is performing as Trump's chief surrogate."
A Trump advisor, presumably interviewed on condition of anonymity, argued that the Ohio controversy benefits Trump's campaign because it focuses attention on immigration rather than abortion.
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The advisor argued, "We talk about abortion, we lose. We talk about immigration, we win…. We'll take the hit to prove the bigger point."
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Read Marc A. Caputo's full article for The Bulwark at this link.
