Little Lies, the Big Lie, and the Debate
Dave Pell — For more than eight years, we’ve seen a familiar news cycle. Trump or someone connected to him pushes a ridiculous story. It is widely shared by his supporters and it is widely trashed by Team Reality. Then the mainstream media posts articles with evidence that debunks the false claim. Meanwhile, we’ve spent another news cycle debating something utterly ludicrous. Since the playbook never changes, the claims have to become more extreme, more absurd, and often more racist and xenophobic, to go viral. No matter how often these lies are refuted, discredited, or disproved, the messenger who delivers them is still treated like just another politician sharing a viewpoint. That’s how we got to the latest claim being pushed by Team Trump: That Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are kidnapping and consuming your pets.
Next, you’re gonna tell me that children are undergoing transition-related surgeries during their school day. Oh wait, Trump already suggested that over the weekend. First come the weird, fake social media posts from some obscure account. Then that lie gets shared. Then it gets boosted, bigly. JD Vance himself tweeted: “People have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” (Because really, if you’re going to have your pets abducted and eaten, it should only be by people born and raised right here in the U S of A!) Then come the major media headlines debunking the story. NBC News: Ohio police have ‘no credible reports’ of Haitian immigrants harming pets, contradicting JD Vance’s claim. Once it becomes clear that the heinous story was a flat out lie, then the spreaders of that lie apologize profusely. Ha ha. Even today, JD Vance is suggesting that his office has received many inquiries from actual Springfield residents who have said their neighbors’ pets have been abducted, adding, “It’s possible, of course, that all these rumors will turn out to be false.” Vance is just playing his part in the scheme. He, “however, is hardly alone.
The Haitians-are-eating cats meme was seized upon by all the usual suspects — Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Elon Musk, the Trump campaign, and even the official account of the House Judiciary Committee GOP — who also ‘fell’ for the bogus tale.” These stories are not actually rumors. As Charlie Sykes explains, They Didn’t “Fall” for Anything. This story is the latest example in a never-ending misinformation campaign that keeps on keeping on because the media keeps covering a serial liar and convicted criminal like he’s an ordinary candidate and, in some bizarre quest to be unbiased, has normalized nonstop lies as if they were a regular part of everyday political discourse. And all the little lies, along with the one very Big Lie, are remarkably effective. Consider this: Republicans are more likely to trust Trump than official election results. If someone predicted we’d still be seeing polls like this 4 years after the insurrection, I would have said, “If that happens, I’ll eat my cat.”
+ Tom Nichols on the absurdity of even holding a debate that includes a person who rejects the foundations of the American system of government. “Debates are based on good faith and shared assumptions about democracy. Trump bellows at us, over and over, that he couldn’t give a damn about any of that. He’s running because he wants to stay out of prison, get revenge on his enemies, exercise untrammeled power, and gain access to even more money. Are we really expecting a give-and-take about, say, child care (a subject on which Trump was spectacularly incoherent a few days ago) between a candidate who will govern as a traditional president and a would-be junta leader who intends to jail his opponents—including, possibly, the woman standing next to him and the reporters grilling him?”
+ One interesting tidbit about tonight’s debate. It’s the first time Trump and Harris will meet face-to-face. (It’s also the first time in years I’ll be forced to hear Trump’s voice without immediately changing the channel.)
