Guru the cat, on a dining table, staged in Vernou-la-Celle-sur-Seine (Seine-et-Marne), September 23, 2024. GUILLAUME BLOT FOR LE MONDE
On September 10, during a debate with his opponent Kamala Harris, Donald Trump made a rather surprising assertion. “In Springfield, they are eating the dogs. The people that came in, they are eating the cats. They are eating the pets of the people that live there,” said the presidential candidate. Trump’s “they” referred to the Haitian immigrants living in this small Ohio town. Although the claim was formally denied by the local police, the mayor and Springfield’s Republican governor, the city’s Haitian community faced an upsurge in insults and threats. As the fake news went viral on social media, CBS reported on Sunday, September 22, that 69% of Trump voters considered the fake news to be “probably/certainly true.”
Trump’s strategy was all the more effective because Americans have a particularly strong bond with their pets. According to a Pew Research Center study conducted in July 2023, 62% of Americans live with at least one pet, and of these, 97% consider their pet a family member. “Donald Trump is tapping right into the racist stereotype of the barbaric immigrant,” said Grace Ly, writer and anti-racist activist, to Le Monde. “The idea is to say: They can live here, work, but deep down they’re savages, they’ll never be like us.” This kind of stigmatization isn’t limited to Haitians.
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