Donald Trump and JD Vance’s relentless pushing of the debunked pet-eating conspiracy is not just meant not “distract” the public, but also to “disgust us,” said MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Thursday.
Maddow stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday, where she explained why she thinks the former president won’t stop pushing the narrative that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are “eating cats and dogs,” despite the fact that “the Republican mayor of that city says ‘stop it, it’s not true, it’s not happening.’”
Trump and Vance's reasoning comes down to “two things,” Maddow told Colbert. “First of all, I think it’s helpful to note that this is a recurring racist urban legend that happens every few decades from the late 1970s through the late 1980s,” she explained. “There were multiple instances of ‘Refugees Eating Dogs And Cats.’ They’ve used this against Haitians before, they’ve used this against Indonesians, they’ve used this against Southeast Asian refugees.”
Maddow then pointed out that the urban legend’s resurgence this time around in Springfield “has direct ties to [local] Nazis.”
“So they’re taking their cues from Nazis?” Colbert asked.
“Yes!” Maddow replied. “The Trump-Vance campaign is taking their cues from a literal Nazi group that started this thing in Springfield. So that tells you all you need to know.”
Maddow went on to describe what she thinks is the primary reason Trump and Vance won’t let the rumors die, even amid backlash, safety concerns in Vance’s governing state, and consistent evidence to the contrary.
“The other part of this is a hallmark of the Trump era,” she explained. “All politicians are good at changing the subject when they need to if the topic of conversation in politics is something that isn’t what that politician wants to be talked about.” The difference with Trump, she said, is that “Trump doesn’t just do that like a normal politician. He doesn’t do something new to distract us. He picks something new to disgust us—to offend us. He does something abusive and damaging.”
Maddow explained that while distracting the public is a “normal political tactic,” Trump’s way of doing it is not. “When Trump does it, it’s because he’s abusive and repulsive and hurtful.” Furthermore, it’s a call to action, Maddow continued. “It calls on our conscience and demands that we not sit there silently and refuse to object. It calls on us to stand up and say no.”
