GOP senator tries, fails to defend racist theory about pet-eaters

There were a great many low points for Donald Trump in Tuesday night’s presidential debate, but two days later, one continues to stand out. After having been triggered by Vice President Kamala Harris’ comments about his rally crowds, the Republican thought it’d be a good idea to embrace a racist anti-immigrant conspiracy theory.

“In [Springfield, Ohio] they’re eating the dogs,” the former president said as part of a longer rant. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

In reality, of course, Trump had no idea what he was talking about. He might’ve convinced himself that the crackpot theory has merit, but it does not, and local officials have thoroughly discredited this ugly nonsense.

Nevertheless, roughly 24 hours after the debate, Sen. Bill Hagerty sat down with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who asked the Tennessee Republican whether his party’s presidential nominee would’ve been better off avoiding the racist theory for which there is no evidence. The senator replied:

This reminded me of a story from eight years ago.

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump was speaking in Ohio when a man rushed the stage, prompting Secret Service agents to intervene. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the incident proved inconsequential.

But the then-candidate insisted at the time that the man in question had ties to ISIS, pointing to online evidence that turned out to be false. As longtime readers might recall, NBC News’ Chuck Todd asked the Republican about his willingness to substantiate odd claims with bogus evidence.

“What do I know about it?” Trump replied. “All I know is what’s on the internet.”

It was a powerful, pre-election summary of one of Trump’s most important flaws: He has no meaningful critical thinking skills, and he lacks the wherewithal to assess the reliability of random nonsense he finds online. Before, during, and after his presidency, the Republican has shown that he’s not much different from that weird guy you know via Facebook who keeps sharing wild-eyed, all-caps tirades about some new conspiracy he uncovered in the fever swamps.

But just as importantly, Trump’s refrain — “All I know is what’s on the internet” — is a phrase that now summarizes how too much of the Republican Party processes current events.

For example, when a madman nearly murdered House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer in 2022, a variety of GOP officials disseminated disinformation about the violent attack. Why? Because they saw some garbage online.

It wasn’t an isolated incident. Ask Republicans why they continue to believe ridiculous election conspiracy theories, and they’re likely to point to nonsense they found online. Ask them about their opposition to Covid vaccines, and you’ll probably get a similar response. Ask those caught up in the QAnon delusion how they slipped into the madness, and many will say the same thing.

The point is not that all online news is wrong. I publish online commentary for a living, so I’m the last person who’d encourage folks to reflexively disregard information from the internet.

Rather, the point is that major political parties and politicians seeking the public’s trust need to be able to distinguish between credible information from legitimate outlets, and sheer madness that happens to reinforce their preconceived ideas.

Republicans, in other words, not only need to choose good information over bad, they also need to understand how to choose good information over bad. As Bill Hagerty helped demonstrate, it’s a skill too much of the party seems to lack right now.

As national security attorney Bradley P. Moss lamented, “The Party of Lincoln and Reagan has been reduced to ‘I saw something online.’”

This post updates our related earlier coverage.