Leah Feiger: That’s right. Obviously, the one that I think at least caught our attention in the WIRED politics Slack room as we watched in disbelief was the conspiracy and lie that Haitian immigrants were illegally crossing the border into the United States and camping and stealing and eating. dogs, cats, and people’s pets.
Donald Trump (Archival audio): They eat the dogs. The people who come in, they eat the cats, they eat the pets of the people who live there.
Leah Feiger: This is not happening. It’s not happening by any means, but it’s a talking point that’s been bubbling up for the past 36 hours. JD Vance adds fuel to the fire. He tweeted about it. Congress. It’s all over. Trump entered the debate. That’s wild, you guys. It was so wild. It’s like a fever dream.
Makena Kelly: The difference between how it played out online before the debate and how it was received when Trump actually said it, was wild. Because when you look online, when people are talking about all these conspiracies about cats and eating them and stuff, all of that, for the most part, it’s just a joke. It seems silly to most of these creators posting about it. Then just to see it so seriously and literally on the debate stage with Trump, I think the change of perspective made everyone like, what the hell is he doing?
Marchman Team: Yes, I have a conspiracy theory about this, which Trump has been vocal about defining it, but stay away from it. Being so early in his first statement, he mentions Springfield, Ohio, very pointedly where the conspiracy theory says it’s happening. He looked stuck and self-satisfied as he said that. My base, the people in social reality—
Leah Feiger: They will know.
Marchman Team: … they know what’s going on in Springfield. But he didn’t say anything. Then he starts talking about it after Harris baits him by mentioning people leaving his rallies early, that they’re endless and boring and repetitive. He starts getting a little angry and he just goes pale, he talks about how terrible the economy is and how terrible post-apocalyptic America is, and he says, “In Springfield,” he can’t bring himself to say it. He said in Springfield, then he would just say, “They eat cat. They eat dog.” So crazy and ridiculous. Then what he does after that is, he almost meekly says, “People said on television, they took their dog to eat.” It sounded almost childish. This is truly an incredible moment. I really got the impression that he knew he shouldn’t be talking about it, I guess.
Leah Feiger: I think you are right. For me, it never really became childish. It comes as a grandparent or an elderly relative like you, Grandma turned off Fox News. that’s not true. That’s not right. He felt old at that moment. He was wandering, he wasn’t sure. I guess my question here is, in all these conspiracies he reiterated, as he did in the June debate with Biden, that Democrats support abortion after nine months, which it certainly does not. true Actually, there are so many that get in and get listed. My question is, does it matter? The internet was taking a lap, the liberal internet was thrilled. The pundits on CNN and MSNBC were like, “This is wild. Harris truncated him, et cetera, et cetera.” I don’t know. This race isn’t actually about who speaks better or who can tell the truth better or more, and that’s pretty naive at this point. It’s really about who can mobilize their base. The question will be whether Trump successfully mobilized his base on his litany of conspiracies tonight. Is he convincing?
