Thursday’s bomb threat came after Trump repeated unfounded rumor that immigrants were ‘eating the pets’
'Your pets are safe': Springfield Mayor slams Trump and says 'we need help, not hate'.
The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, has said that the bomb threat made on Thursday that forced the evacuation of the city hall, two schools, and other buildings was explicitly anti-immigrant and hostile to the city’s Haitian community, following Donald Trump’s stoking of a rightwing conspiracy theory that some residents’ pets are being eaten.
Rob Rue, the mayor, accused national Republicans who are amplifying wild rumors from a far-right provocateur that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are hunting and eating other people’s pets of “hurting our city”.
The bomb threat on Thursday morning “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community”, Rue told the Washington Post, and added that Springfield “is a community that needs help”.
No bomb was found after the threat was made. But Rue told the local Fox outlet that, in the threat, “there was enough negative language toward immigrants, towards Haitian folks that would bring enough concern. And then when it followed up with … at the end, of a bomb threat … It was pretty much just the beginning of the conclusion that they’re going to threaten to harm people.”
Springfield has been the subject of national attention in recent days after the false social media rumor about the Haitian community.
Trump even referenced the conspiracy theory in Tuesday night’s debate with opponent Kamala Harris. Trump repeated the inflammatory falsehood, saying: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats … They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” His move triggered a wave of anger and ridicule.
Ohio's Republican junior Sen. J.D. Vance, wrote Monday on X that "months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio."
"Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country," he said. "Where is our border czar?"
Mayor Rue held a press conference on Tuesday condemning the rumors as totally false, with “zero” verified reports of such disparaging claims. ABC’s debate moderator, David Muir, made the same fact check live on Tuesday night after Trump’s remarks.
Mayor Rue told CNN anchor Laura Coates that he has received hateful messages and calls.
"Some of the commissioners and I have received hateful phone calls, hateful emails, some of us not wanting — particularly my, I'll speak to my own voicemails and emails — they don't want us around anymore. 'Please die. You and your family.' Heinous stuff like that."
"We need help — not hate," pushed back against claims the "vibrant" city is "imploding," and called for dispelling the rhetoric.
"These rumors, they're just not true," he said. "Springfield is a beautiful place and your pets are safe in Springfield."
When Coates played a clip of Trump repeating the conspiracy theory at a Thursday rally in Tucson, Rue denounced the former president.
"You have a stage. Let me just say, any political leader that would stand and take a microphone and even say 'Springfield' with a bit of a hate and with a bit of a like, 'Springfield!' — I mean that's just frustrating. We have a beautiful city. And we need the national stage to pay attention to what their words are doing to cities like ours. Legacy cities in Ohio."
Rue told the Springfield News-Sun: “Rumors like this are taking away from the real issues such as issues involving our housing or school resources and our overwhelmed healthcare system.”
Meanwhile, during a Springfield city commission forum, Nathan Clark, the father of an 11-year-old boy who was killed last year when a minivan driven by an immigrant from Haiti collided with his school bus, told Trump and Vance to stop using his son’s name for “political gain”.
