Far-right flamethrower posted about pet-eating migrants. She was on Trump plane to Philly.

An intriguing question has followed viral video clips of Donald Trump‘s seemingly unhinged rant about immigrants hunting people’s pets: Who convinced the Republican nominee that the falsehood about migrants in an Ohio town was verified fact?

Was it running mate, J.D. Vance, the Ohio U.S. senator who espoused the fake news? Or maybe far-right activist Laura Loomer, one of the cohort of fringe social media pundits who parroted the outlandish and false reports about immigrants eating neighbors’ pets during Tuesday’s presidential debate with Kamala Harris?

The bizarre debate moment came as Trump rambled in defending his Make America Great Again rallies, calling America a “failing” nation, warning of World War III and decrying the flow of immigrants across the border — all within the span of a minute.

He then dropped this bombshell about migrants he said had descended on the Ohio town of Springfield.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump claimed. “And this is what’s happening in our country.”

Laura Loomer:How GOP House candidate explains her history of hate-speech, Islamophobia

Factchecks debunked far-right reports about immigrants eating people’s pets in Ohio town

Moderator David Muir of ABC News then pointed out the network had reached out to officials in Springfield who debunked the macabre accusation.

Trump’s allegation nonetheless became the viral moment of the night, with many political observers saying the former president appeared unhinged in making the bombastic claim.

The “report” likely came from extremist right-wing pseudo-news outlets and social media influencers, such as Loomer, a twice-failed Florida congressional candidate who unsuccessfully competed for U.S. House districts in Palm Beach County in 2020 and Central Florida in 2022. Another significant proponent of the falsehood was Trump’s own vice presidential running mate, Vance.

On Sept. 9, Loomer posted that “cannibalistic Haitians” in Ohio were “eating people’s pets.”

Loomer’s missive post was really a salvo aimed at Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who is in a hotly contested race to keep his seat on Capitol Hill.

But media reports, including from CNN and NPR, said Loomer traveled on Trump’s plane to Philadelphia, where Tuesday night’s debate was held, sparking speculation that perhaps Loomer was among those who placed the false story on Trump’s radar.

Loomer was with Trump during 9/11 ceremonies

Loomer has a well-earned reputation as a far-right flamethrower. When she won the GOP nomination for a congressional seat in 2020, militant extremist Proud Boys members and leaders attended her victory party. She was banned by the former executives of key social media companies for incendiary anti-Islamic and other comments, but restored to X, formerly Twitter, by its current owner Elon Musk.

Early this year, Trump allies and backers told NBC News they worried Loomer’s buzzing around the former president’s campaign orbit would be a liability.

Nonetheless, the Associated Press reported Wednesday that Loomer, who last year posted that 9/11 was an “inside job,” also joined Trump as he commemorated the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Pennsylvania.

Loomer, 31, told the AP that she was “invited as a guest” and doesn’t work for the Trump campaign. She did not respond to questions about her past statements about 9/11. The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Loomer’s inclusion in the commemorative events.

On Thursday, Sept. 12, Loomer upped the rhetoric on X with an inflammatory post that claimed Haitian immigrants also eat human beings. Curiously, in the missive she echoed Trump’s frequent rally speech references to a 1990s fictional movie about a serial killer: “Only Hannibal Lecter himself would want to bring more of them to the United States!”

Two Florida House members rip comments about Haitians

The comments from Trump, Vance and others about Haitian immigrants in America drew a rebuke from Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Palm Beach County. On Sept. 11, she called out the rhetoric and its “racist stereotypes.”

“Donald Trump is once again fixating on fictitious stories rooted in racist stereotypes in hopes of scaring Americans into voting for him. His outrageous comment about immigrants eating Springfield, Ohio, residents’ pets is nothing more than a desperate attempt to stoke fear and division. It’s insulting, it’s false, and it’s rooted in the worst kinds of stereotype,” Cherfilus-McCormick, the daughter of Haitian parents, wrote in a statement.

She added: “Let’s be clear: Haitians and other immigrants come to this country committed to education, hard work, and building a better life, not just for themselves but for all of us. They contribute to our economy, enrich our culture, and strengthen our communities. Trump’s comments are a distraction from the real issues we face, and we won’t be fooled.”

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, who is also of Haitian ancestry, also ripped Vance and Republican leaders for the absurd allegations and said Haitian-Americans and immigrants from the Caribbean nation “deserve leaders who will see them as human beings and will fight for them” rather than use them as pawns.

“Haitian Americans and folks of Haitian descent are our neighbors, family, friends, loved ones, and valued members of our communities. JD Vance and GOP leaders’ racially motivated attacks against Haitian people are disgusting, bigoted, and based on flat-out lies,” the Central Florida Democrat said in a statement. “That top Republican leaders in Congress and across the nation would bolster these lies online and attempt to frighten the American public to gain votes in the upcoming presidential election is disgusting — and proves that Republicans don’t give a damn about communities of color, they want to villainize us.”

Not the first time Trump repeats what he hears, prudent or not

Trump has a penchant for sponging up chatter he hears and turning it into podium talking points.

This spring, he unveiled a plan to end taxation of tips pocketed by service workers, he later said, based on a conversation he had with a waitress at one of his properties. He also mused about his self-perceived danger of being in a sinking electric boat, and whether it would be best to be electrocuted by the vessel’s battery or eaten by a shark.

Two years ago, Dr. Deborah Birx, Trump’s COVID response coordinator, revealed that the then-president’s infamous suggestion to bring “the light inside the body” during a White House pandemic briefing stemmed from an offhand remark made to Trump about a New York City playground.

Trump’s repeating of the strange allegation follows his equally dark equating of immigrants entering the United States via the southern border with Lecter, the fictitious character from “Silence of the Lambs.”

Regardless, Trump’s comment about feline-and-canine-munching-immigrants in Ohio led to perhaps the oddest exchange between a debate moderator and candidate in presidential election history.

After Muir’s fact-check, based on what Springfield’s city manager told the network, Trump doubled down.

“The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food. So maybe he said that and maybe that’s a good thing to say for a city manager,” Trump insisted.

“I’m not taking this from television,” Muir retorted. “I’m taking it from the city manager.”

“But the people on television say their dog was eaten by the people that went there,” Trump protested.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

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