Newly Released Emails Show How Trump’s ‘Eating the Pets’ Conspiracy Theory Led to a Deluge of Threats

To date, no evidence has emerged to substantiate the viral claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating the pets of their neighbors. That hasn’t stopped racist red-pilled idiots from using the debunked claim to harass, threaten, and otherwise make life miserable for, the denizens of Springfield—specifically the local elected officials. Now, newly released emails show the extent to which those digital rumors have wreaked havoc on the local community.

404 Media recently received a cache of emails from Springfield’s local government via a Freedom of Information Act request. The emails, which involve those sent to and by government officials in the days directly before and after the presidential debate (when Trump platformed the conspiracy theory on live TV), show a community roiled by vitriol and hate.

The viral rumor originated on social media in September and, not long afterward, it was picked up by J.D. Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate. In a post on X that was intended as a slight aimed at Trump’s opponent, Kamala Harris, Vance posted: “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?” Not long afterward, Trump made the problem substantially worse when he promulgated the theory during the presidential debate between him and Harris. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in,” Trump raved, sounding vaguely like a lunatic on a street corner. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there!”

404 Media’s email cache includes droves of emails that were sent to Springfield government officials by angry people who believed the lies about the local Haitian population. One depraved asshole said: “Since it’s obvious that you and the rest of the cowards on the city council are too afraid to handle this invasion citizens will apparently need to do so themselves.  Purchase of Belgian Malinois and Cane Corsos should skyrocket along with protection training. If the dog goes in its yard and invaders are there, well, I guess lunch time it is.”

Another person said: “You have immigrants harassing your citizens, going into parks and taking and killing animals, taking people’s pets, skinning and eating them in public places, flipping over cars, taking over citizens yards, etc. Why in the world have you not called in the National Guard?”

One email, which was specifically targeted at Springfield’s city manager, was merely entitled “You are a liar” and stated: “You know your town is fucked by this illegal invasion … stop covering it up.”

404’s email cache shows that other organizations besides the local government were also targeted with threatening emails. A Catholic charity dedicated to helping the local Haitian immigrant population received the following screed: “You people are about as Catholic as Judas. You are human traffickers serving Satan and the wicked in high places. Apparently none of you thought to teach the Haitian cannibals you illegally placed in Springfield to refrain from hunting killing and eating household pets. You are exposed. You should all be in jail.”

The Trump team has made Kamala Harris’ purported failures as “immigration czar” one of the key planks of its campaign. Given that context, Trump and Vance’s distribution of these baseless, fear-mongering rumors could clearly be read as a propaganda effort to tar the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies. The irony, of course, is that in expressing concern for the community of Springfield, Ohio, beset as it is by fictional dog-eaters, Trump and Vance seem to have helped inspire a whirlwind of chaos and damage to the community.