Missing cat at center of Springfield conspiracy theory found hiding in basement
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00:00The Vance campaign pointed the Wall Street Journal to a missing cat.
00:05The Wall Street Journal then went to Anna Kilgore's house on Tuesday,
00:10and she said that her cat, Miss Sassy, who went missing in late August,
00:15had actually returned a few days later, found safe in her basement,
00:19not eaten at all by anyone.
00:22And then this woman did the right thing.
00:25She took her daughter and a translation app
00:28over to her Haitian neighbor's home and apologized for what she had done,
00:32something we will not see from Trump and Vance.
00:35But these two guys have wreaked such havoc on this community.
00:40They should, of course, not go, but they don't care.
00:43They shouldn't go for political reasons.
00:45They will get a terrible news cycle out of this.
00:48The more we're talking about it, the worse it is for those swing states,
00:52suburban voters, mainly women, who are really repulsed by this kind of stuff.
00:57But they also just shouldn't go because it's such bad form.
01:00It's just such bad manners.
01:02So, of course, they'll go. They'll go.
01:04I mean, to your point about, you know, going there.
01:08So, of course, Vivek Ramaswamy went there tonight and had a town hall.
01:12But just to give you a taste of what the town is saying back to him
01:17about what this all has done to them, listen to this.
01:22Since this story leaked, and this is something that everyone needs to hear,
01:25the hateful language in this community has spiked.
01:28It's really, really bad.
01:30I'm half black. I'm half Hungarian.
01:32I'm half black, half white, whatever you want to say.
01:34I've become a target of the hate.
01:35I can probably count on my hand, both hands,
01:37how many times a racial slur has been said in my whole life.
01:40I've been called the N-word twice this week by just people who group me.
01:43It happens.
01:45Even though my skin may be lighter, I think people just group us together.
01:48There's horror stories of people who are darker skinned
01:50that have been chased down by people who are white saying,
01:53get out of this country, friends of mine, friends of friends,
01:55and say, like, get out of here, you're Haitian, we don't want you here,
01:57even with a six-month-old baby at a grocery store.
02:00So regardless, I find it shameful, and I find it inappropriate,
02:03whether I'm Haitian or American.
02:06He's lived in Springfield his whole life.
02:08Yeah, but there's also, I mean, a lot of people who live in Springfield
02:10who do want them to come, and the response was...
02:12Who do want who to come? Trump and Vance?
02:14Yeah, there are people.
02:15I mean, Trump, Vance is the senator who won Springfield in the election.
02:18But, I mean, can you respond to what he just said there?
02:20Sure.
02:21You want to claim that this is broadly about immigration.
02:24He is saying this is about hate.
02:26And he is a victim of hate that was ginned up by a lie, a bald-faced lie.
02:32Well, the police report wasn't a lie.
02:34The accusation was, and it manifested.
02:36There was a lot of people on social media...
02:38The police report and the accusation, by the way,
02:40first of all, we don't know if they're the same thing,
02:42but it also was investigated, and they found no evidence.
02:45It's a lie.
02:46It's not a lie.
02:47I'll do respect.
02:49We don't have to sanitize it.
02:51No, seriously, though, because the reality is
02:54there are black and brown people in that community right now
02:57who are less safe because of something that is untrue.
03:00I know everybody's playing for their sides.
03:02There's a red gang.
03:03We don't have to sanitize it.
03:04We don't have to make it seem like it's okay.
03:06Well, we can say that we can call upon the former president
03:11and his running mate to say that this stuff didn't happen,
03:14and they can try to repair that community
03:16through words, rhetoric, and action.
03:18But if we give them a soft bed to land on
03:21by talking about why that in any way
03:24represents any type of sphere of reality,
03:27then we're codifying it.
03:28We're saying that it's okay to make up lies
03:31about a whole segment of the population
03:33and make them unsafe.
03:34I get that there are political differences,
03:36but we have to at least be able to agree
03:38that we don't want to do that.
03:39So, Senator Vance represents the city in the Senate.
03:41He won the city in his election.
03:43We don't know what he would say,
03:44and he has every right to be there, as does Trump.
03:46And I think that back in 2016,
03:49there was a moment where there was a ravaged area
03:51of working class part of Louisiana,
03:53and Trump was the only candidate to go to it.
03:54Trump is the only candidate to go to parts of Ohio
03:56that dealt with the railroad issue.
03:59For working class people, Trump is their candidate,
04:01and Trump will probably be their candidate now.
04:03Can he do better with his rhetoric?
04:04Absolutely.
04:05But the reason that that city is suffering as far as...
04:08Can he do better with his rhetoric?
04:10Can he not lie about...
04:11The reason that that city is suffering
04:13is because there are 15,000 Haitians
04:16because of Biden and Harris' policies.
04:18There are 60,000 people in that town,
04:21and they've had 33 bomb threats in a week.
04:23From overseas.
04:24That's bananas.
04:25From overseas.
04:26Your politics can be bad.
04:27That's bananas, man.
04:28The number of people...
04:29He put a target on that town
04:31to make a point about immigration in general.
04:33The number of...
04:34He put a target on the people in that town
04:36to make a point about immigration in general,
04:38to make Haitians into eaters of dogs and cats.
04:41That woman, who is a well-known Trump supporter,
04:44who's worn Trump shirts,
04:45who's very vocal about it,
04:46who lost Miss Sassy,
04:48you know, at some point,
04:49you have to check your sources,
04:50and apparently, you have to check your basement.
04:52Okay.
04:53Because that's where this cat was.
04:54So, the number of Haitians in Springfield
04:56who have gone...
04:57who are on Medicaid went from under 300
04:59to over 8,022.
05:00Are you still allowed to lie?
05:01So, that's...
05:02So, that's why...
05:03The reason that the town is suffering
05:05is because of the refugee process.
05:06Hold on.
05:07Hold on.
05:08Just one second.
05:09One second.
05:10This has nothing to do
05:11with the lie about cats and dogs,
05:13first of all.
05:14Second of all,
05:15the immigrants in...
05:17in Springfield,
05:18many of them are in this country legally.
05:20Yes.
05:21Many of them are not even refugees,
05:23not even on TPS.
05:24Some of them are green card holders.
05:25They're most on TPS.
05:26There was someone...
05:27There's someone that CNN spoke with just today,
05:29a business owner who has a green card,
05:32who is considering moving his business
05:34out of Springfield
05:35because he is Haitian,
05:36and he's experienced so much hate.
05:39You cannot change the subject
05:41from what started this,
05:42which was a lie.
05:43The subject was the fact...
05:45Listen, I agree with you.
05:46There is...
05:47I agree with you about this.
05:48All right, I'm going to stop you again
05:49because I have one more thing.
05:50I just said I agree with you, but...
05:51I'm going to just...
05:52I have one more thing I want to play
05:53because this is another part of the story
05:54that we don't hear a lot about.
05:56Back in August,
05:57guess who started talking about
05:59the way that this town was being overrun
06:03by Haitian immigrants?
06:04Well, white supremacist groups.
06:06Watch this.
06:09He's a literal Nazi.
06:10He marched...
06:11First of all,
06:12I would like to dispel the...
06:14I've come to bring a word of warning.
06:17Stop what you're doing
06:19before it's too late.
06:23Crime and savagery
06:25will only increase
06:27with every Haitian you bring in.
06:29And with it,
06:30public frustration and anger.
06:33You sound threatening to me.
06:34Based on the comments tonight,
06:36I'm sure I don't need to tell you that.
06:38You sound threatening
06:39if you go ahead and just peacefully be removed.
06:42That was August 27th
06:44at a Springfield town meeting.
06:46That woman in the video
06:48correctly says a literal Nazi
06:51showed up in their town
06:52to push these conspiracies and lies.
06:55Yeah, look,
06:56I don't think this is helpful politically.
06:58We've talked a whole lot,
06:59Essie mentioned this,
07:00about suburban voters,
07:02swing voters that Donald Trump
07:04is absolutely going to need
07:05if he wants to win this thing.
07:07I think a part of a lot of voters' concern
07:09with the former president,
07:10even if they may say
07:11we think he'll do better on the economy,
07:13we think he's stronger on foreign policy,
07:15or we think he's stronger on immigration,
07:18it's the vitriol,
07:19it's the rhetoric,
07:20it's the nature of the rhetoric,
07:21it's the nature of his overall critique
07:23that turns people off.
07:25Now, with that said,
07:26folks are here legally.
07:27We can't deny that fact.
07:29Now, a lot of the business owners
07:30in Springfield have said
07:31they need those workers there
07:32to fulfill those roles.
07:34So then my question becomes,
07:35as a conservative,
07:36from a policy perspective,
07:37then why is that?
07:38Why have so many people
07:39decided to leave that town
07:40and so many other towns
07:41across the country?
07:42If the critique is
07:43we're bringing in too many people,
07:44then what is the solution
07:45to that problem?
07:46And that's a good question.
07:47And that's a very different argument
07:48that I don't think
07:49the former president
07:50is actually presenting,
07:51but he should be presenting
07:52that argument,
07:53because I think it's one that
07:54people would want to engage with.
07:55I'll be honest with you,
07:56I'll be honest with you,
07:57he's not interested in that argument.
07:58He's not interested in making
08:00a substantive plea
08:01about how we should be
08:02immigrating people to...
08:04He's interested in scaring
08:05the hell out of people
08:06and making neighbors enemies
08:08so that people
08:09are afraid enough
08:10to go and vote for him.
08:11You know what's funny?
08:12It's like, we're having
08:13this conversation,
08:14and I get it, I understand,
08:15we have to talk about
08:16the political ramifications,
08:17we have to other-side it,
08:18we have to do all of that.
08:19There is somebody
08:20in Springfield right now,
08:22black people,
08:23who are less safe,
08:25bump their head,
08:26less safe and terrified
08:28because of something
08:29the leader of you guys' party said,
08:30and all you have to do
08:32is just go,
08:33all you have to do
08:34is just denounce it.
08:35It wasn't real.
08:36It wasn't real.
08:37And this is the craziest part
08:38because to Ryan's point,
08:40both of these issues
08:41inert to Donald Trump's benefit,
08:43the economy and immigration,
08:45would benefit him
08:47if only he could talk about them
08:49in the way that you two
08:51want him to talk about them.
08:53He would win on these issues
08:55because Americans
08:56are hurting economically,
08:57they are worried about
08:59a broken immigration system
09:00and a flood of migrants.
09:02He won't do it,
09:03and he's hurting himself
09:05with the voters he needs.
09:07He won't do it
09:08because he doesn't want to do it.
09:09He doesn't have to do it
09:10because people are going
09:11to make excuses for him
09:12to talk and speak
09:13the way that he does.
09:14Then he just may lose
09:15the election then.
09:16This being Trump's
09:17third presidential campaign,
09:18he has spoke more about immigration
09:19than any candidate
09:20in my lifetime,
09:21and he has given more answers
09:22and more offers
09:23from the RAISE Act
09:24to the border wall,
09:25the border wall
09:26that Kamala Harris
09:27is campaigning on.
09:28He has given more answers
09:29on how to protect this country
09:30with immigration,
09:31reduce immigration,
09:32put merit on immigration.
09:33The only candidate
09:34in my lifetime
09:35who said we should have
09:36merit-based immigration,
09:37skills-based immigration.
09:38To say that he has not
09:39said any issues
09:40is not true.
09:41No one said that.
09:42No one said that.
09:43He did.
09:44He literally did.
09:45No one said
09:46he hasn't talked about it.
09:47I said he should be
09:48talking about it
09:49like you are,
09:50and he's not.
09:51He's still on national television
09:52and screaming
09:53they're eating cats and dogs.
09:54There's a reason
09:55he's talking this much
09:56about immigration.
09:57It's because he has nothing else.
09:58There's a reason
09:59he killed the bill in Congress.
10:00He didn't kill it
10:01and killed that bill.
10:02The bill was already dead
10:03before the call was even made.
10:04It was not dead.
10:05It would have
10:06absolutely been signed.
10:07Well,
10:08the Republican senators
10:09My point is
10:12he wants to run on immigration.
10:15He has benefited
10:16by the border being open.
10:17He has benefited
10:18by saying that people
10:19are eating cats and dogs.
10:20He's benefiting
10:21by saying people
10:22are taking over.
10:23I don't think
10:24there's a benefit to that.
10:25I think there's a benefit
10:26to running on immigration
10:27being broken.
10:28There is definitely
10:29not a political benefit
10:30to eating cats and dogs.
10:31Then why do they
10:32keep talking about it?
10:33I have no clue why he said it.
10:34He said it because
10:35he thinks he can scare
10:36his people off the polls.
10:37As a logical person,
10:38there's no benefit.