Worst campaign in US history?

Where to start? Agreeing to debate Biden early, allowing the Dems to remove Joe. Picking the Cat Lady Guy. Talking about eating cats. Blasting Swift the most popular young person alive.

When he does talk about the border, crime, high prices, etc he's so bombastic that he sounds ridiculous. Yup he's determined to lose. Maybe he's shorted Trump Media stock?

Trump Posts Disdain for Taylor Swift, Vance Defends Pet-Eating Claims

Republicans had planned to campaign on the economy but that topic is getting less attention

By Jacob Gershman, WSJ

Sept. 15, 2024 2:24 pm ET

The controversy around an unfounded Republican talking point about immigrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, shadowed Donald Trump’s campaign over the weekend, with the state’s Republican governor on Sunday calling the pet-eating rumor “garbage,” and Trump running mate JD Vance defending his circulation of the claims.

“This is a piece of garbage that was simply not true,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday during an appearance on ABC News’s “This Week.”

“I think these discussions about Haitians eating dogs and cats and other things needs to stop…It’s just not helpful,” said DeWine, who added that Trump would be better off talking about the economy and inflation.

Republicans hoping for the Trump campaign to sharpen its policy attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris over the weekend found their message veering off course.

In his debate last week against Harris, the former president said Haitian migrants were coming to places such as Springfield, Ohio, and eating cats and dogs.

Pop star Taylor Swift, who drew the ire of former President Donald Trump after she endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images

The small city outside Columbus has dealt with bomb threats—prompting hospital lockdowns and school evacuations—and a media frenzy since Trump amplified rumors that had been circulating in far-right circles.

City officials say there is no evidence for the pet-eating claim and the city’s mayor faulted “federal politicians” for defaming his city and its migrant residents.

In addition to the Springfield episode, Trump on Sunday declared his enmity for Taylor Swift days after the global pop star endorsed Harris. “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!,” the former president posted on his Truth Social website.

After last week’s presidential debate, Swift told her 283 million followers on Instagram that she believed Harris is “a steady-handed, gifted leader.” She signed the post with “Childless Cat Lady,” a reference to comments Vance made earlier that were viewed as disparaging to women who had cats and no children.

Trump said in a television appearance last week that the pop superstar would probably pay a price in the marketplace for her endorsement.

On Sunday, Vance defended his circulation of the pet-eating claims, saying that he was merely echoing reports he had heard from Ohio constituents, whom he didn’t identify.

“The evidence is the firsthand account of my constituents who are telling me that this happened,” the Ohio senator said in a CNN interview.

“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat meat,” Vance said. “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 because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast.”

Vance later clarified that he didn’t mean that he had concocted the story but had shared what he described as “verifiable and confirmable” allegations made by residents concerned about an influx of migrants into the city.

“I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it,” he said.

Vance said he condemned the bomb threats against Springfield and expressed sympathy for Springfield’s mayor, but denied that he had spread lies.

DeWine, the Ohio governor whose traditional brand of Republicanism has at times clashed with Trump’s MAGA movement, said Springfield employers don’t consider the migrants to be a nuisance but rely on them to fill manufacturing and retail jobs.

Write to Jacob Gershman at jacob.gershman@wsj.com