Lauren Boebert mocked for repeating Trump’s ‘dog-eating’ claims: ‘We expect the stupidity’

Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert has parroted Donald Trump’s recent debate claims that migrants are eating cats and dogs in Ohio.

Boebert, the US representative for Colorado’s third congressional district, repeated the conspiracy theory in a post on X/Twitter while discussing Tuesday’s (10 September) televised debate between the former president and vice-president Kamala Harris.

During the debate, Trump picked up on and ran with the wild internet claims about Haitian migrants in Ohio supposedly abducting other people’s pets and eating them. There is no evidence for the story and local authorities in the area have insisted more than once that no cases have been reported.

Nonetheless, Boebert repeated the racist dog-whistle in a series of posts the following day, writing: “No one was eating your pets when President Trump was in the White House.”

She finished the post by calling for the deportation of “all illegal invaders”.

Animal-theft awareness group Pet FBI estimates that nearly two million pets are stolen each year in the US, with the most common reason being for the prospect of a reward for returning it or reselling a purebred dog.

Social media users weren’t buying Colorado representative Boebert’s claims. “Wow, you’re all really that crazy,” one person wrote, while another said: “You are so dumb.”

Someone else pointed out: “No one is eating them. But you are ignorant enough to keep spreading the lie when it’s been debunked. At minimum, we expect the stupidity.”

The conspiracy theory first arose earlier this month with right-wing pundits targeting the Haitian community in Springfield, which has a population of about 58,000.

According to The Independent, it originated in a Facebook group from a user who had no evidence to back it up nor had been a witness to any incidents. Instead, they said they heard it from their neighbour’s daughter’s friend, who lost her cat and allegedly later found it hanging from a tree.

Local police have received no reports indicating that any pets in the area have been harmed, according to WCMH.

Now, Springfield mayor Rob Rue has shamed those spreading the story, saying: “As a human being, can you imagine being talked about like this? We’re letting these rumours, this national rhetoric, come into our community and divide us.”

Boebert is known for her hard-line right-wing beliefs and fervent support for Trump, as well as for being escorted from a live performance of Beetlejuice.

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