How a fringe online claim about immigrants eating pets made its way to the debate stage

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : But by that point, Trump was fully on board with them.
57% : "Now go to Springfield, go to Clark County, Ohio, and ask the people there whether they have been enriched by 20,000 newcomers in four years," he said in early July, before Trump selected him as his running mate, at NatCon, a right-wing nationalist conference.
47% : Meanwhile, the right-wing social media ecosystem that rose up around his 2016 run has calcified as an additive and disruptive force: Trump now has his own social media network, Truth Social, and ally Elon Musk controls X, formerly Twitter.
41% : But the rumor, which has been criticized as perpetuating racist tropes, was already thriving in right-wing corners of the internet and being amplified by those close to Trump, including his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
38% : "While the fallout has been a combination of bafflement and outrage, the makings of the moment are rooted in grievances that have long defined and animated Trump and his followers -- and on the platforms where those grievances blossom.
35% : The blame, this person said, solely rests with Trump.
28% : Vance and others close to Trump have argued that, even if the claims are false, they have served a purpose by pushing the Springfield story into the spotlight.
26% : Trump, who launched his first presidential campaign with a speech that broadly characterized Mexican immigrants as dangerous criminals, has kept immigration and border security issues central to his third White House bid.
26% : Laura Loomer, a right-wing political activist and conspiracy theorist who had been posting about the rumor, traveled with Trump to the debate Tuesday.
23% : "Others close to Trump expressed misgivings about the execution.
17% : At 5:19 p.m. Tuesday, less than four hours before his debate with Harris, Trump posted to Truth Social a meme showing cats armed for war and wearing MAGA hats.
17% : Loomer and Trump did not speak on the plane ride, a source familiar with the trip said.
7% : Another source close to Trump's campaign said Trump and Vance did not discuss the Springfield issue ahead of the debate.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.