Vice-presidential GOP nominee J.D. Vance is already noticeably unpopular among American voters, and he did not help his cause by suggesting that he makes up “stories” to get the media to talk about his campaign’s issues.
The Ohio senator routinely polls at a steady “unfavorable” ranking. In the most recent surveys, conducted this month, Vance has a negative rating that falls between five and 17 points above the “favorable” rating.
Vance made the remarks during an appearance with Dana Bash on the Sunday September 15 edition of the “State of the Union” on CNN. When asked about his participation in repeating rumors of Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs, Vance suggested that he embellished the story so the media would report on it.
He said mainstream media “totally ignored” the rumors—which are unsubstantiated at best—before he and his colleague, former president Donald Trump, “started talking about cat memes.” Vance then dug his grave a little deeper when he said that he would “create stories” in order to ensure that the media “pays attention” to “suffering” endured by citizens.
When Bash repeated his apparent admission that he “created” the viral story about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, eating American pets, Vance defended the rumors, saying they were “firsthand accounts” from his “constituents.” In reality, the original Facebook post from a local said that a neighbor’s daughter’s friend had found her lost cat hanging from a tree in the backyard of a house occupied by immigrants.
He added that “creating a story” meant that he and Trump present it in a way that would get the “American media focusing on it.” Vance continued, saying that he “didn’t create 20,000 illegal immigrants” who reside in Springfield, noting that Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies “did that.”
The Biden administration is notorious for its “open border” policies which controversially allow immigrants to stay in the United States pending asylum dates or, in the case of many Haitians, having temporary protected status to seek refuge from unrest in their region. He also said that—despite his team having “created the actual focus” of the cats and dogs tale—such rumors never led to the bomb threats that have been received by nearby government buildings and hospitals.
