Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is campaigned in North Carolina ton Friday where she continued to mock former president Donald Trump for the comments he made during their debate on Tuesday, from his “concepts of a plan” to eliminate the Affordable Care Act to his claim that Haitian immigrants are eating dogs and cats in the town of Springfield, Ohio.
[Note: The mayor of Springfield, the police chief, and the Republican Governor of Ohio have all debunked the dog-eating story, which has triggered bomb threats in Springfield.]
North Carolina: It’s not just the presidency on the ballot.
There are many important races happening now. pic.twitter.com/BZzhuKgPk5
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 12, 2024
Pundits on the Left say Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (who has also spread the pet-eating tale), continue to tell the story to stoke outrage against migrants and to divert attention away from Harris’s other main assertion: That on numerous important issues, Trump isn’t offering specifics about his plans, the vague “concepts of a plan” admission being only one example.
Changing the narrative is a time-honored political maneuver, and Republicans doing post-debate clean-up — after a Trump performance widely seen as subpar — are working to redirect voters’ attention away from Ohio pets and onto more Trump-positive subjects.
Trump-supporting U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) went on FOX News this week and spun a new story to host Jesse Watters that cast doubt on the qualifications of the female Secret Service agent who was in charge of Trump’s detail at the Butler, PA rally in July when there was an assassination attempt on former President.
Now a whistleblower alleges that the lead advance agent for President Trump’s entire trip to Butler, PA had failed training exams when she first joined the Secret Service.
And the Secret Service Director won’t even level with what’s going on here. It’s absurd. pic.twitter.com/Zu0BNvOQsL
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 13, 2024
Hawley told Watters: “Now a whistleblower alleges that the lead advance agent for President Trump’s entire trip to Butler, PA had failed training exams when she first joined the Secret Service.”
Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, who has not joined her husband on the campaign trail this year and is promoting her memoir, Melania, also stirred the conspiracy theory pot in a video this week.
https://t.co/ZCTwZSqZND pic.twitter.com/KKA6anTEYC
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) September 10, 2024
The former First Lady said: “I can’t help but wonder why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?” She added, “There is definitely more to this story and we need to uncover the truth.”
Ms. Trump’s suggestion that there is “more to the story” is virtual catnip to conspiracy theorists. It also marks a change in tone from her initial reaction to the assassination attempt, when she wrote on X: “I am grateful to the brave secret service agents and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives to protect my husband.”