Viral debate moment sparks 'Simpsons' memes

Springfield, Ohio, was mentioned during the debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday night. And another Springfield, the fictional town from The Simpsons, thereby attracts attention.

During the debate, Trump repeated a widely circulated claim that had been debunked earlier that day by officials in Springfield, Ohio: that undocumented Haitian immigrants had been eating local pets there.

“In Springfield, they eat the dogs, the people who came here. They eat the cats. They eat, they eat the pets of the people who live there,” Trump said during a debate section on immigration policy. The Republican candidate wanted to underscore one of the central principles of his platform, namely that illegal immigrants pose a threat to America.

Harris couldn't hide her surprise at the unsubstantiated claim about Springfield's unusual eating habits, a claim that gained momentum Monday when Trump's running mate JD Vance repeated it on X. And laughter also erupted on social media.

“Best line ever spoken during a presidential debate,” wrote one user on X (formerly Twitter), where “They eat the dogs” quickly trended during the debate and had garnered 118,000 posts three hours after it ended.

Springfield residents Homer and Bart Simpson, as well as pets from the fictional town, appeared in a series of X-posts. Some viewers of the debate resorted to the oft-used meme of Homer slowly backing into the bushes until he is completely hidden, while another showed Bart repeatedly writing “They eat the dogs” on a chalkboard. This is a parody of the long-running gag in The Simpsons In the opening, the cheeky Bart has to repeatedly write sentences like “I will not skateboard in the halls” and “I will not start a revolution” in chalk.

“Could be a Simpsons episode,” said one debate observer of Trump’s comment, and it very well may be.

The claim, which led to one of the night's oddest debate moments, was amplified when Vance repeated on X a claim he had previously made on Facebook that residents of Springfield, Ohio, had seen Haitian migrants eating wild animals such as ducks and geese, as well as domestic animals such as cats.

“The pets were reportedly kidnapped and eaten by people who were not supposed to be in this country. Where is our border czar?” Vance wrote, referring to a Republican barb against Harris to bolster their argument that she and President Biden had not done enough to secure the U.S. border.

However, Springfield authorities denied these allegations.

“In response to recent rumors that the immigrant population in our city is engaging in criminal activity, we want to clarify that there are no credible reports or specific allegations that pets belonging to individuals from the immigrant community have been harmed, injured or mistreated,” Springfield police said in a statement.

The Springfield News-Sun reported that the rumors stem from a woman in another Ohio city, Canton, who was arrested and charged with killing and eating a cat.

While this accusation is anything but funny, viewers of the debate – especially those who were not previously aware of the rumor – couldn't help but be amused when the subject of dog eating came up as a topic of conversation during a debate for the highest office in the land.

In one of the most creative responses, British actor Christopher Tester turned Trump's words into a highly dramatic monologue, accompanied by melancholy music. Another X user created a new Facebook tag for the occasion, “Marked Safe.” “Marked Safe” messages, which can be posted via the platform's Crisis Response section, allow users to reassure their online circles that they will be OK after natural disasters and other emergencies, read: “Marked Safe, my pet will not be eaten today.”