Springfield, Ohio, and the impact of a racist smear
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2024
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the past couple weeks, both former president Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), have pushed unfounded claims about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets in the small city of Springfield, Ohio. The story got its start with a viral Facebook post and quickly made its way from far-right corners of the internet into the Republican mainstream.
Since the presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, during which Trump repeated these claims, the town of Springfield has been struggling with the sudden national attention. More than 30 bomb threats have been made in Springfield in the past week, and some members of the Haitian community are fearing for their safety.
National correspondent Danielle Paquette traveled to Springfield last week to speak with Haitian immigrants about how their lives have changed since the debate, and today on “Post Reports,” Martine Powers talks with her about what she learned.
Then, democracy reporter Sarah Ellison explains exactly how this conspiracy took root online and how it spread so quickly.
Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter.
Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Did you watch the presidential debate this week? |
| 0:06.0 | Of course. |
| 0:07.0 | How did you react to what Donald Trump said? |
| 0:10.0 | I want to throw up, that's all. |
| 0:12.0 | Philamie Lewis I want to throw up, that's all. |
| 0:19.6 | Philamine Lewis is 53 years old, and last week she spoke to post reporter Danielle Pachete. |
| 0:20.6 | And why did you want to throw up? |
| 0:22.1 | Because the thing they say is not fair is not true. |
| 0:26.0 | Philamine moved to the U.S. from Haiti three decades ago, and for the last two years she has lived in Springfield, Ohio, where she owns a general store. |
| 0:41.0 | Like millions of Americans, Philamine watched the debate between Vice President |
| 0:45.2 | Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, and she was outraged by what Trump |
| 0:50.8 | said about the Haitian community in her home. |
| 0:54.0 | In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats, |
| 1:00.0 | they're eating, they're eating the pets of the people that live there. |
| 1:07.8 | There is no evidence to support Trump's claims and Philamine said she had never heard of anyone in the Haitian community eating |
| 1:16.1 | cats or dogs. We eat chicken, goat, beef, pork, fish, shrimp. |
| 1:27.6 | That's the thing we eat. |
| 1:29.9 | I watched that debate myself. |
| 1:31.6 | I heard Donald Trump say they're eating the dogs. watched that |
| 1:35.0 | I watched that debate myself. I heard Donald Trump say they're eating the dogs, |
| 1:36.0 | and I'd already heard from city officials that there's no evidence to support those claims. |
| 1:41.0 | So I wanted to know what did life actually look like on the ground in Springfield, Ohio. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.