aAnimals have always played a role in American political lore. Whether it’s a series of adorable and cuddly White House pets or Teddy Roosevelt’s love of horses that helped establish his solid public image.
But as the country’s shocking 2024 election unfolds amid warnings of a democracy under threat, multiple assassination attempts on Donald Trump, and concerns about civil unrest, the U.S. The political treatment of animals in politics also seems to be taking a disturbing turn.
It was revealed last week that Kevin Roberts, the architect of the far-right policy blueprint Project 2025, told colleagues he once killed his neighbor’s pit bull with a shovel. Mr Roberts said this was a “patently false and unsubstantiated story without any evidence”.
But Roberts was not the first right-winger to be involved in dog riots. He followed in the footsteps of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. She was nominated to become President Trump’s running mate because she reused a 20-year-old story made to explain her determined leadership of shooting and killing a hunting dog that bit her family instead of hunting. I missed it.
However, this was not the most horrific example of animal abuse associated with political actors in 2024, including animals that had already died.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent environmental activist turned Trump supporter, has revealed that he was the architect of a 10-year-old plan to fake a bicycle accident and leave a dead bear cub in Central Park. Kennedy, who had plans to skin the bear, called it “the redneck in me.”
Then another RFK Jr. scandal resurfaced, in which he cut off the head of a dead whale with a chainsaw and transported it from Cape Cod to his home in New York, which is now attracting the attention of authorities.
Mr. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, was also not innocent. He said the country was “effectively run by Democrats, oligarchy, and a bunch of childless cat ladies,” which was seen as an insult to women across the country.
But Vance reinforced the negative animal theme by bringing up a false and racist rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating their neighbors’ pets. Trump himself repeated the false story to the 67 million Americans who watched his presidential debate with Kamala Harris. Civil life in Springfield was disrupted by bomb threats in the days that followed.
Democrats were not immune to the animal story’s tendency to go in the wrong direction.
As Joe Biden discovered, out-of-control pets are a bad reflection on their owners, or their perceived owners. His personal approval rating was at its lowest point this summer when his dog, Commander, was sent off for biting 30 people, including White House staffers and Secret Service agents. One of the agents needs stitches. The East Wing tour was delayed.
“Pets and wildlife have always had a special place in presidential politics,” said Hank Sheinkoff, a veteran Democratic strategist.
But typically they have enhanced a positive image for White House officials. There was also President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Scottish terrier Fala, aka Fala Hill’s outlaw Murray, and Harry Truman’s cocker spaniel. After the Lewinsky scandal broke, Bill Clinton sought companionship from his brown Labrador, Buddy. George W. Bush had Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beasley.
“House pets are part of Americana,” Scheinkopf says.
But what is unusual is that they are slaughtering bears and claiming that people are eating their pets. “You got a big fuss because you don’t eat your pets, right? That’s not what you do. This left the presidential candidate and the vice presidential candidate exposed to ridicule and disbelief.”
Animals have become powerful political codes this election cycle, but pets are also a way to show commonality with many voters. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 70% of U.S. households own a pet, and 80% of them consider their pet to be part of the family.
Vance and Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, each own a dog and a cat. Waltz’s Labrador mix, Scout, became internet famous for being locked in his bedroom. He was taken to Dairy Queen for a puppy cup. The Waltz family told Vogue that if Scout had a motto, it would be, “If you can get it, you can eat it.”
However, neither Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris own pets.
President Trump, whose daughter-in-law Lara is an advocate for rescue dogs and helped abolish greyhound racing in Florida, told a crowd in Santa Fe that he wanted to get a dog, but that walking with one was “a little… It looks like a lie,” he said. White House lawn.
Instead, President Trump “choke like a dog,” “barked like a dog,” “sweated like a dog,” “lied like a dog,” “dog He used dog-centric language such as “I was dumped like that” as a political insult. “Dismissed like a dog” and “cheated like a dog.”
Sadly, that’s much more in the spirit of the 2024 campaign than a cute photo shoot with a dog or cat.
“That’s ridiculous,” Scheinkopf said.
