'A fourth-hand story from Facebook!' Morning Joe laughs out loud at GOP's latest outrage
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough burst into laughter at lurid claims made by high-ranking Republicans about Haitian immigrants in Ohio.
Some of the GOP's most prominent elected officials, including Donald Trump's running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), shared baseless claims that Haitian refugees who have recently flocked to Springfield were stealing and eating pets and waterfowl, and the "Morning Joe" host laughed at the absurdity of their claims.
"Republicans in recent days have been amplifying false claims about migrants eating pets and wildlife," said co-host Willie Geist. "The disinformation began spreading on social media over the weekend, fueled by a fourth-hand story that appeared to come from a Facebook group in Springfield, Ohio."
"What's wrong with these people?" added co-host Mika Brzezinski, as Scarborough cracked up.
"A fourth-hand story," Scarborough said through his laughter. "A fourth-hand story from Facebook."
"A random person in this local group posted their neighbor's daughter's friend had lost her cat, claiming Haitians used the pet for food," Geist continued.
"A screenshot of the Facebook post was shared on X Sunday by a conservative pundit, racking up 3 million views in 24 hours. The false claim then spread by other prominent supporters of Donald Trump, including Elon Musk, [who] amplified it, stating it as a matter of fact. Also, Sen. Ted Cruz and Republican congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio. This is congressional leadership amplifying this.
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"Then Trump's running mate J.D. Vance posted yesterday about Haitian immigrants, calling them illegal and echoing the false claims about pets being abducted and eaten. I'm not making this up. Springfield, Ohio, police said in a statement, there are no credible reports of Haitian immigrants harming pets. The city posted a statement saying the Haitians are in the United States legally under a humanitarian program."
Trump's family members also promoted the lies, and the Rev. Al Sharpton noticed the racism embedded in the smears against Haitian immigrants.
"Don't miss the racial angle here," Sharpton said. "Haitian immigrants, and J.D. Vance particularly zeroing in on Haitian immigrants. I think that this goes to, you know, [myths that] Blacks are cannibals and eat each other. It plays into all of that history of racism, which is part of what Donald Trump has appealed to since Charlottesville, since birtherism. It's not just immigrants but Haitian immigrants eating your pets, eating your animals, because you know they're cannibals. We can't miss that."
Scarborough pointed out that Trump and his allies whipped up fear and anger against immigrants every time he faced an election.
"This happens every two years," he said. "Preposterous claims, again, caravans always coming at election time. Donald Trump sending troops down to the border in 2018, thinking it was going to help him politically. It didn't, it just kept people in the military away from their families and away from their bases through Thanksgiving. But, you know, before it was leprosy, and now they're talking about, you know, eating pets, and, I mean, it's all a lie. They're not these people, as the town said, they're not illegal immigrants – they're here legally."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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