.WHEN DONALD TRUMP uttered the word “Springfield” 33 mins into the United States presidential debate on September 10th, David Muir, the co-moderator, was prepped. In that little Ohio city, Mr Trump declared, illegal immigrants are “consuming the canines, they’re consuming the pet cats, they are actually consuming the family pets of individuals that live there”. Mr Muir promptly replied that, depending on to Springfield’s mayor, there were actually no credible files of pet-eating.
The past president’s case need to possess struck many customers as unusual. However great deals of Mr Trump’s followers were topped for it: the charge possessed been moving around in conservative circles on social networks, boosted by Elon Odor, the manager of X. How did the town become at the centre of a right-wing conspiracy idea?