Trump on migrants: ''They're eating dogs!''

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump clashed in a lively debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, with the November election just weeks away. The debate covered a wide range of issues but caught attention online for two controversial moments: rumors about Harris's earrings and Trump's unfounded claims about Haitian immigrants in Ohio.

During the debate, some viewers speculated that Harris was wearing hidden earphones disguised as pearl earrings to get help during her answers. One person even posted a link to a pair of pearl earphones, claiming they looked like Harris's earrings. However, there's no proof of this. The earrings Harris wore appeared to be a gold version from Tiffany & Co., not earphones. This wasn’t the first time Harris faced such rumors; just last week, she was seen using wired headphones during a phone call, which led conservative commentators like Tomi Lahren to suggest she was avoiding the press. Harris has reportedly used wired headphones for years because she believes Bluetooth devices pose a security risk.

Immigration became a heated topic during the debate when Trump repeated a baseless rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents' pets. He claimed that up to 20,000 Haitian migrants "let loose" in the city were eating dogs and cats, a rumor that has been spread by his running mate, JD Vance. Although these claims spread quickly on social media, local authorities have said there's no truth to them. Springfield’s mayor, Rob Rue, admitted the city has been struggling with issues like overcrowded schools, hospitals, and housing due to the arrival of many migrants over the last few years, but local police have denied any reports of pets being eaten or other strange rumors.

Trump's comments during the debate, saying, "They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats," caused Vice President Harris to laugh, and moderator David Muir to step in, clarifying that there were no credible reports of such incidents. Despite this, the phrase "THEY'RE EATING THE DOGS" began trending on social media platform X.

Stereotypes about immigrants eating strange foods have been used in the U.S. for years to target different groups, from Italians being called "garlic eaters" to Asians being falsely accused of eating dogs. A recent study from Stanford University shows that Republican rhetoric on immigration has become harsher, similar to language used against Chinese immigrants in the 1800s. The debate highlighted how these kinds of claims and conspiracy theories, from false rumors about Harris’s earrings to unverified stories about immigrants, are still being discussed at the highest levels of American politics.

[With information from NPR.com and Metro.co.uk]