Donald Trump is no stranger to lying. In fact, he has arguably built his entire political career off telling half-truths and blatantly spreading misinformation. Many of these lies have had extremely negative consequences — think about the stolen election lie and the Jan. 6 insurrection. This time, however, Trump and his running mate JD Vance, the junior senator from Ohio, have been spreading a dangerous and blatantly made-up story that already had scary real-life consequences and, if left unchecked, has dangerous implications for this country.
If you were watching the presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10, then you probably remember hearing Trump say something that sounded absurd. When asked a question about immigration, Trump responded with, “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.” The moderators of the debate immediately responded by noting that there have been no credible reports of such and, indeed, it was not true at all, but it was too late and Trump’s lie began to take hold.
It was spread over social media in memes of people making fun of the former president, but, more maliciously, was being reported as truthful by numerous Republicans and Trump supporters, including Binghamton’s own congressman, Marc Molinaro, as it continued to be parroted by Trump and Vance. The claim seemed so outrageous at first that it became a joke to some. However, the lie that continued to be spread — even by trolls who knew it was wrong or Trump supporters who genuinely believed it — was dangerous and has already begun to have negative consequences.
On Friday, Sept. 13, bomb threats to several public schools, deliberately targeting immigrants in the city of Springfield, Ohio — where Trump and Vance claimed that the pet-eating was taking place — forced numerous schools and other public buildings, including the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, to be evacuated and closed. The mayor of Springfield said that he, his family and other city leaders and officials are now receiving death threats. Two hospitals in the area were also the recipients of bomb threats, and two universities in Springfield have moved to remote learning as a result of the threats.
Vance admitted on CNN’s State of the Union program on Sunday, Sept. 15 he didn’t care if the claims were false and creating harm, stating, “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.” Vance and Trump are aware that these stories are not true, but they don’t care — as long as it gets them in the news and as long as their followers believe it. Highlighting the “suffering of the American people” that doesn’t exist has actually created more suffering.
What is so dangerous about this sort of rhetoric is that it has a double-pronged effect.
The first effect of Trump and Vance’s words will be the continual spread of misinformation, which we have seen proliferate ever since Trump began his 2016 campaign. His actions and blatant disregard for the truth have inspired more politicians and other influential people to be simply indifferent to and ignore the truth in favor of anything that gets them more votes and more power. People like Elon Musk are using their platforms, such as X, to give an even wider audience to Trump’s lies and are doing nothing to curb the hate being promoted.
Second and more obviously, the problem lies in the fact that the concrete policy behind this rhetoric would be more anti-immigration laws, and preexisting damaging and racist stereotypes against immigrants already exist here, further contributing to xenophobia — the rhetoric has real consequences on people. The uptick in bomb threats after the spread of this baseless story is no accident — in fact, it was probably the intended effect of Trump and Vance. They know their words have power, and they know — as we saw on Jan. 6 — that people will take their lies at face value and act violently as a result. The motive for spreading this lie may be to increase deportations, as Trump has claimed as policy, but Trump is also building on previous stereotypes to increase hatred against all immigrants. People supporting these lies can now find someone in power who supports their racism, even if they know it is not true. Misinformation spreads beyond online lies and becomes real through violent acts, through further confusion of what is real and what is not and can contribute to political divisiveness.
Words inspire actions, and Trump and Vance’s continual spreading of hateful rhetoric will only continue to lead to an uptick of xenophobia and a palpable feeling of hostility in this country. Continuing to fact-check and report falsehoods, especially if friends or family believe them, has never been more important. Voting this November will show Trump and his allies that their lies do not go unnoticed and one cannot reach the White House by spreading divisive falsehoods and rhetoric.
Samantha Rigante is a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.