Immigrants eating cats and dogs, says wound-up Trump during debate

Republican Donald Trump was put on the defensive during a combative presidential debate with Democrat vice-president Kamala Harris, according to news reports.

Among others, Harris claimed that people were leaving Trump's rallies early “out of boredom and exhaustion.”

She had made the remark when one of the two moderators questioned the pair about immigration, prompting a wound-up Trump to allege that Harris paid people to attend rallies.

The Guardian reported that he then “rambled” about immigrants eating local pets.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” said Trump.

“They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

The allegation stems from a viral video in which a Springfield resident made an unsubstantiated claim that immigrants had killed ducks from a local park for food.

The video, said the Guardian, was shared widely on rightwing accounts.

Soon a viral meme emerged depicting images of Trump surrounded by cats and ducks, where he appeared to be protecting them.

Subsequently, Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance took to X, posting: “Reports now show that people had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border tsar?”

Later, in an email to supporters, the Trump campaign promised “the largest mass deportation operation in US history”.

‘Baby killing’ democrats

Trump and Harris also locked horns on issues such as foreign policy and healthcare, but there was little information about policies.

Trump also called Harris a “Marxist” and falsely accused the Democrats of wanting to “execute the baby” by allowing abortions in the ninth month of pregnancy.

“That false claim was corrected by both Harris and the ABC News anchor Linsey Davis, who joined her fellow moderator David Muir in fact-checking some of Trump’s statements throughout the evening,” stated the Guardian.

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