JD Vance didn't originate the rumors about Haitian immigrants in Springfield eating cats and dogs, but he's more responsible than anyone for their rise into the national political discussion.
After a week marked by threats against immigrants in the Ohio town, the senator and vice presidential candidate admitted to "creating a story" around Haitians during an interview with CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday.
When Vance was pinned down by the host over the smears he spread being entirely false, he didn't seem ashamed. He told Bash that he had to create a fiction to bring media attention to the way that his constituents are suffering (read: having to live alongside hard-working, legal immigrants to the United States in a newly revitalized town).
Vance claims he and Trump have to "create stories" about migrants eating cats and dogs "so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 15, 2024
There is then some awkward dead air as Bash tries to highlight the absurdity of what he just said pic.twitter.com/IN26ZGYsvE
“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 said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Vance downplayed the recent spate of bomb threats against Springfield's government buildings and hospitals and waved off a march held in the city by the Proud Boys. He also admitted that he hadn't been to the city recently. He met all examples of threats against Vance's constituents by attempting to turn the conversation back to the Biden administration's immigration policy.
"We can condemn the violence on the one hand but also talk about the terrible consequences of Kamala Harris's open border on the other hand," he said.
