JD Vance Admits to Being a Serial Liar in Disastrous Sunday Cable Run

Vance admitted to “creating stories” about Haitian migrants in Ohio on CNN's State of the Union. He also admitted Trump hasn’t “discussed” a national abortion ban with him on NBC's Meet the Press. 

By Kylie Cheung  |  September 16, 2024 | 11:59am
Photo: Getty Images Politics JD Vance
JD Vance Admits to Being a Serial Liar in Disastrous Sunday Cable Run

On Sunday, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance went on a cable news interview run so humiliating, I’d almost feel sorry for him if it weren’t for, well, everything about the man. 

First, with very little pressing at all, Vance admitted that the entire pogrom he amplified about mythical, undocumented Haitian migrants eating people’s pets was a lie. “The American Media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about a cat meme,” he told CNN’s State of the Union. “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.”

By “cat meme,” Vance is talking about how, last week, in a series of tweets, he amplified the viral, racist conspiracy theory that migrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Donald Trump then pushed the conspiracy theory during the presidential debate by needlessly screaming, “They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats.” Shortly after, Haitian residents in Springfield began reporting targeted harassment and attacks. Government buildings and at least three schools were evacuated or told to remain home amid escalating threats on Thursday and Friday. On Monday, the city announced it was forced to cancel an upcoming, annual festival celebrating diversity and the arts. Springfield police have continued to say that they haven’t received any such reports, while Ohio’s very own Republican governor, Mike DeWine, told reporters last week that the rumors had “no credible evidence.”

Despite quite literally admitting he “[created] stories,” Vance tripled down: “Are we not allowed to talk about these problems because some psychopaths are threatening violence?” he insisted. “We can condemn the violence on the one hand, but also talk about the terrible consequences of Kamala Harris’s open border on the other hand.” Of course, the “problems” and “terrible consequences” of Biden and Harris’ border policies which Vance is referring to are made up: There is no crisis of Haitian migrants running Springfield into the ground and stealing pets—only a crisis of racist violence that Vance and Trump’s desperate fearmongering has inflicted on a small, working-class town of Vance’s own constituents.

That wasn’t even the only lie Vance fessed up to on Sunday. On NBC’s Meet the Press, Vance addressed Trump’s dismissive claim during the debate that he hadn’t “discussed” whether he’d sign a national abortion ban if elected—after Vance, in August, vowed that Trump would not. “I don’t mind if [Vance] has a certain view, but I think he was speaking for me … but I really didn’t [say that],” Trump said on Tuesday.

Asked about this, Vance pathetically said, “I think that I’ve learned my lesson on speaking for the president before he and I have actually talked about an issue. What he has said at the debate, which is quite explicit, is he doesn’t support a national ban. He thinks it’s ridiculous to talk about vetoing a piece of legislation that isn’t going to come before the president in the first place.” Vance maintained that “a national abortion ban is not on the table,” and called it “a ridiculous hypothetical because if a national abortion ban was brought before the United States Senate right now, it would get, at best, 10 senators out of 100.”

But, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced and co-sponsored a national 20-week abortion ban in 2021. And Graham, specifically, has introduced legislation to ban abortion nationwide since 2013, even introducing a 15-week ban after Roe v. Wade was overturned. But then Republicans performed poorly in the 2022 midterms, largely due to their disastrous abortion bans, and 2024 became the first full session of Congress where Graham didn’t introduce a national abortion ban. Suspicious!

More importantly, asking what Trump would or wouldn’t sign is the wrong question. Trump’s advisers at the far-right Heritage Foundation have outlined a plan for all the world to see, detailing how a Republican president will bypass Congress and fully wield the executive branch to impose a national ban. It’s called Project 2025. 

In the same Meet the Press interview, Vance, pressed again about his racist lies, claimed his constituents have shared stories of pet-eating Haitians with him, conspicuously neglecting to get into any details. “I trust my constituents more than I trust the American media, which has shown no interest in what’s going on in Springfield until we started sharing cat memes online,” he said. I, personally, am going to trust journalists and local authorities whose job is to verify sweeping claims, but to each their own I guess. 

 
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