Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell melted down on Tuesday over a meme of Republican nominee Donald Trump with a duck and a kitten.
The House Judiciary GOP account posted an artificial intelligence (AI) photograph of Trump embracing a duck and a kitten with the caption, “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!” in response to unproven rumors of Haitian migrants stealing and eating those animals in public. Swalwell raged over the meme at the House Judiciary Committee hearing, accusing House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of “going down some crazy rabbit hole.”
“What in the hell is this?” Swalwell said, pointing to the meme. “The chairman tweets ‘Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!’ because he goes down some crazy rabbit hole, completely debunked that aliens are eating pets? My God! Are you okay Mr. Chairman? Because last year for a very long time, you tweeted and promoted Kanye West as he was calling for genocide against the Jews and you kept it up, and now when we have victims coming here, you’re tweeting this nonsense. I don’t know why you would do this. I hope you’re OK. I don’t know if the aliens who are eating your ducks are in the room with us right now.”
“But Mr. Chairman, this is a serious issue,” Swalwell continued. “These people have loved ones who have been lost and you tweeted this.”
The hearing, titled “The Biden-Harris Border Crisis: Victim Perspectives,” included testimonies from those impacted by the ongoing southern border crisis. The testimonies touched upon several stories relating to violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants and fentanyl overdoses.
Eric Swalwell really leaned into the theatrics today, complete with a disdainful forehead grasp and sighs of desperation over cat memes. His acting coach must be beaming inside. pic.twitter.com/h6gQAjyNwl
— WorldNetDaily (@worldnetdaily) September 10, 2024
The allegations began when a 28-year-old man said that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are beheading ducks at local parks and then eating them, according to the New York Post.
“They’re in the park grabbing up ducks by [their] neck and cutting [their] head off and walking up with them and eating them,” the man said during a Springfield City Commission in August.
A video went viral of 27-year-old Allexis Telia Ferrell, who was charged in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 16 for allegedly stomping on and eating a cat in front of her neighbors, according to Fox 12. Records to not indicate she is Haitian or a migrant, according to the Post.
Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance suggested on X that many of the reports on the cats and ducks could be false, but mentioned reports of an 11-year-old boy being killed in a school bus accident allegedly caused by Haitian migrant Hermanio Joseph in Springfield, Ohio, in August 2023.
“In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false. Do you know what’s confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here. That local health services have been overwhelmed,” Vance said.
“That communicable diseases–like TB and HIV–have been on the rise. That local schools have struggled to keep up with newcomers who don’t know English. That rents have risen so fast that many Springfield families can’t afford to put a roof over their head,” he continued.
In short, don’t let the crybabies in the media dissuade you, fellow patriots.
Keep the cat memes flowing.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 10, 2024
Musk also posted an AI image of a kitten and a duckling, calling on them to be saved.
Save them! pic.twitter.com/aLMPTJIPd9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2024
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posted a meme of two orange cats with the caption, “Please Vote For Trump So Haitian Migrants Don’t Eat Us.”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 9, 2024
Karen Graves, a spokeswoman for Springfield, denied there being any “credible reports” of pets being eaten in their community, according to The New York Times. The city’s police division said it has not received any reports of pets being eaten or stolen, according to the Springfield-News Sun.
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