Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, defending his claim that he spread a false, racist rumor about pets being kidnapped and eaten in a town in his native Ohio, made the startling admission that he had intended to “invent the story” during the campaign.
Vance’s comments came during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, in which he said he felt the need to “craft the narrative so that the media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people.”
When asked by CNN host Dana Bash if the false rumors about Springfield, Ohio, were “stories you made up,” Vance replied, “Yes!” He went on to say that the allegations were rooted in “constituency stories” and that he and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had spoken publicly about it to draw attention to Springfield’s relatively large Haitian population.
Vance’s comments drew swift condemnation from US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who supports Democratic White House nominee Kamala Harris in the November election.
“It’s a remarkable admission by J.D. Vance that he ‘invents a story’ (i.e. lies) to redirect the media,” Buttigieg wrote on X. “All of this to change the conversation away from abortion rights, manufacturing jobs, taxing the wealthy, and other issues that are clearly at stake in this election.”
Vance also insulted Haitians in Springfield as “illegals,” though the vast majority of them are in the U.S. legally through Temporary Protected Status (TPS), granted to them because of violence and unrest in their Caribbean home country. The status must be renewed after 18 months.
Rumors spreading from Springfield led to bomb threats aimed at local hospitals and government offices. Vance told Bash on Sunday that he was “disgusted” that the media would suggest his words led to those threats. He also used the same language against those who made the threats, but during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, he criticized the media for their accurate reporting, saying they “amplify the worst people in the world.”
Vance ultimately defended himself, saying he supported the Springfield lies while Harris was serving as Joe Biden’s vice president to draw attention to the White House’s immigration policies.
“I’m not angry at Haitian immigrants for wanting a better life,” Vance said. “We’re angry at Kamala Harris for letting this happen.”
Haitians in Springfield have been thrust into the spotlight in the U.S. political conflict after President Trump, during Tuesday’s debate with Senator Harris, alleged that some Haitians in Springfield are involved in the kidnapping and consumption of pets.
Town officials have vociferously denied the lie, and the woman who spread the rumor in a widely circulated Facebook post acknowledged it was unsubstantiated hearsay.
Nonetheless, Springfield has been the target of far-right conspiracy theories.
Springfield, a city of about 60,000 people, began to see an influx of about 15,000 immigrants around 2017 to work in local agricultural product packaging and processing plants. Demand for immigrants is particularly high at vegetable manufacturing companies and auto processing plants that are suffering from labor shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Haitians in Springfield are “here legally.”
“What employers are saying is, we don’t know what we’d do without them,” DeWine said. “They’re working. And they’re working very hard. And they’re adapting.”
Republicans, who find themselves in a weak position with voters over their handling of reproductive rights, nevertheless helped spread xenophobic rumours in Springfield, seeking to capitalise on voter dissatisfaction with the Democratic response to immigration issues.
Vance also tried to distance himself from the second controversy on Sunday, telling “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker that he didn’t like comments made by Laura Loomer, a far-right ally of the Trump campaign, that the White House would “smell like curry” if Harris won the election.
Harris is of Indian and Jamaican descent, and Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, is of Indian descent.
“I make a good chicken curry,” he said, but “I don’t think it’s offensive to anyone to talk about my dietary preferences or what I’d like to do in the White House.”
“What Laura said about Kamala Harris is not what we should be focusing on. We should be focusing on the policies and the issues.”
Vance has spent much of his vice presidential campaign on the defensive over his belief that it is pathetic for women to choose to pursue professional careers over their roles as head of a household.