Peanuts In My Pocket

What bothers me most about modern politics is the constant stream of lies, amplified by the press and social media. I can’t stomach it. It’s like going to the market for a steak and finding nothing but rot and maggots. The Trump/Harris presidential debate is a prime example. Harris was mostly truthful— I didn’t catch her in an overt lie. Trump, on the other hand, rarely spoke the truth, and some of his lies were so egregious that they had to be fact-checked in real time.

“They’re eating the dogs — the people that came in — they’re eating the cats,” and “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country.” — Donald J. Trump

I knew of Trump’s statement before I even watched the debate. It was hard to miss the headlines. This was the kind of thing you’d expect from a senile old grandfather repeating nonsense at the dinner table. It reminded me of my own grandfather in the 1970s. He once told me, “The boat people are eating ducks right out of the park’s pond.” As a member of the John Birch Society, he frequently used racist dog whistles to tell us how the world was falling apart because of minorities. Back then, his audience was limited to family and friends. Now, with social media, “grandpa” can reach millions.

I still remember sitting at the dinner table, listening to my grandfather spin his outlandish stories about the world falling apart. As a kid, I didn’t question them. He was my grandpa—why would I? He’d talk about immigrants, the government, and secret conspiracies with such conviction that it seemed almost believable. But looking back, I realize those dinner table stories were my first brush with the kind of misinformation that now floods our social media feeds. Back then, his audience was just us, the family. Today, people like him have a platform that can reach millions. What used to be contained to the family dinner now shapes the national conversation, and that’s the real danger.

The original story—about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio—was based on an unfounded Facebook rumor by Erika Lee. She posted about a missing cat allegedly found butchered near a Haitian neighbor’s home, but later admitted she had no direct evidence. In fact, the cat, Miss Sassy, was found alive in her owner’s basement.

“Erika Lee shared the story, but confessed she had no direct evidence supporting such a claim.” — Newsweek

This baseless rumor spread like wildfire, eventually reaching Donald Trump. Despite his campaign fact-checking the story and finding it false, Trump still repeated the lie during the debate. His vice-presidential pick, J.D. Vance, then echoed the claim and even defended his willingness to lie to attract media attention.

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” — J.D. Vance

I’ve mentioned before how embarrassed I was by the debate, even though Kamala Harris was the clear victor. American politics has fallen so far from the ideals we once held, it’s almost unrecognizable. Having lived and worked abroad, I know how we’re perceived now. We’re the laughingstock of the civilized world. “MAGA” has become a disease, with symptoms like ignorance, hate, and lies. It manifests in bomb threats against schools and harassment of immigrants. Are we the good guys in this story, or the villains? I want to believe we’re better than this. I hope voters will reject the lies and stop listening to their crazy uncles and grandparents. Their lies hurt us all.