Politics

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

Published

2 years ago

November 12, 2024

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 crowdsthe 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 BLN’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:

Well, you talk about evidence. I’ve heard conflicting reports. There’s conflicting evidence. There’s a lot of information on the internet that this is happening. … The city officials aren’t the only source. There are plenty of people who are saying this is happening.

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 recallNBC 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 attacked 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.

Steve Benen

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an BLN political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

Politics

‘We are winning elections’: Bernie Sanders on Democrats’ progressive wing

Published

22 hours ago

September 6, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

‘We are winning elections’: Bernie Sanders on Democrats’ progressive wing

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Politics

Trump wants the Postal Service to radically overhaul mail voting. But ballots are already going out.

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump’s controversial demands for the Postal Service to overhaul and monitor millions of mail ballots hit another snag on Friday, when North Carolina became the first state in the nation to start sending out ballots for the November election.

In March, Trump signed the initial executive order, which aimed to crack down on mail-in voting — which he regularly alleges without evidence is a vector for widespread voter fraud — and assert an unprecedented amount of federal control over the upcoming elections.

Under this order and the subsequent rule drafted by the U.S. Postal Service, the USPS would refuse to deliver ballots to states that failed to provide lists of eligible mail voters or did not adhere to an approved envelope design style.

Since then, the order has faced legal challenges, and it remains paused by a federal judge’s orders. But the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the new rule to proceed — something current and former election officials from both parties say would be both a legal nightmare that oversteps the federal government’s traditional role in elections and a logistical one that is happening far too close to the November election to implement even if they agreed with it.

“Why the hell are you rocking the boat this late in the game?” said Stephen Richer, a former Republican recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, who has clashed with Trump allies for defending the security of the 2020 election.

Still, election officials are trying to project a sense of normalcy for voters, particularly in North Carolina, which serves as a test of whether established local election systems can operate normally amid intensifying federal scrutiny.

“I want to emphasize this point because there has been a lot of outside noise: Our county workers are ready,” Sam Hayes, a longtime Republican lawyer in the state and now executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in a Thursday afternoon press conference.

He added, “All we can do is what we’re doing. … It is business as usual as far as I’m concerned.”

Despite the legal challenges, the Trump administration has continued to press the courts to let it proceed. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift an order from a Massachusetts judge which temporarily prevents the USPS from enforcing their rule. It is the second time the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to step in, after winning an earlier victory in which the high court dismissed an earlier hold on the rule as premature.

“The uncertainty is coming from a single activist judge who continues to try and obstruct President Trump from implementing commonsense measures to protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans vote in American elections,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement. “These safeguards for mail ballots were proposed months ago giving election officials ample time to prepare for the 2026 election.”

The USPS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Election officials said that if the rule goes into effect this close to November, it would cause chaos and place added strain on the USPS and election officials. And an anonymous federal whistleblower said in a report circulated earlier this week by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that the USPS was moving forward in a “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process” to try to implement the new system ahead of the midterms.

In the coming weeks, states across the country will follow North Carolina’s lead. Nine other states will begin mailing ballots in the next two weeks, according to a tracker from the National Conference of State Legislatures — with the biggest day for mailing coming 45 days before the election in mid-September.

“It would be so outrageous to try to let this go into effect. It’s hard to even imagine,” said Ben Hovland, a senior fellow for democracy at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress and former Democratic commissioner with the Election Assistance Commission who was fired by Trump in July.

He added, “It would be a break-glass moment for our democracy.”

The rule would require meticulous changes to ballot handling and tracking practices that Hovland said are impossible to implement before Election Day in about two months, effectively disenfranchising millions of voters.

“Ballots are printed. Envelopes are printed. You can go on and on with all the practical reasons that show that implementing something like this at this time is not feasible,” he said.

Richer said he doubted the new rules would bring about more security. Even if the USPS received lists from the states, according to the postal service’s final rule, it would not do any additional vetting of the list, Richer said.

“It’s just that the mail ballots have to be on that list, and I don’t see what added value for election integrity that does,” he said.

He added, “It creates a lot of administrative burden, and I think it creates a lot more opportunity for error.”

While a decision looms in the courts, election officials and experts cast doubt on the likelihood of the rules going into effect before November. A more pressing issue, they said, is the confusion and uncertainty surrounding mail-in ballots, which could subvert and change the behaviors of voters.

“It makes things seem messy or difficult, and it can dissuade people from participating or coming out to vote,” Hovland said. “It certainly also helps establish a pretext to make bad faith claims about election results.”

Hovland said that while none of these claims of voter fraud are backed up with facts, they could cause Americans to lose faith in the voting process.

Still, some current officials contended they were well-prepared for whatever happens — and that they’d be able to communicate effectively with voters who have become increasingly buffeted by dramatic rhetoric about the once-unmentioned nuts and bolts of actually running an election.

“There’s always a lot of noise around elections, that’s not going to change, and it can be hard to differentiate that from what’s actually going on on the ground,” said Jason Tyson, director of external affairs for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

As Election Day approaches, Tyson and election officials said they urge voters to check their registration status and make a plan to vote.

He added, “I think we’ve got a really well-trained, solid staff who are ready, and who have gone through all of the checks and balances and points of contact that we need to do to get to where we are.”

Politics

Missouri Supreme Court pauses GOP gerrymander, likely netting Democrats 1 House seat

Published

3 days ago

September 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Missouri’s Supreme Court suspended a congressional map that state Republicans drew last year that would have netted the GOP an additional House seat, likely keeping the seat in Democratic hands this November.

The court ruled unanimously on Thursday that a referendum petition organized by Democrats to put the new congressional maps to a vote was incorrectly deemed insufficient by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, and ordered that the gerrymandered map be put to a vote in the fall.

Voters will ultimately decide the fate of the new lines in November. But in the meantime, it cannot be in place for the midterms, meaning Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s original Kansas City-based district will likely stay in Democrats’ hands this fall.