JD Vance put out wildly mixed messages Monday in his continued attempt to defend unfounded rumors of Haitian immigrants stealing pets and eating them in Springfield, Ohio.
The Ohio senator, who is Republican Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, attacked the media for actually investigating to disprove the claims and later complained that too few in the media investigate the truth.
Vance spewed the contradictory thoughts in the battleground state of North Carolina.
“I wish the American media was half as interested in the stress on the local schools, the stress on the hospitals and unaffordable housing as they are in debunking a story that comes from the residents of Springfield,” Vance told a rally.
He said constituents from Springfield who say “this thing’s going on” were afraid to give their names because the media will “descend” on them.
Then directly addressing reporters, he said: “Did you ever think about listening to people instead of harassing them? … Did you ever think about listening to people speak their truth instead of listening to some bureaucrat and assuming that everything that they tell you is true?”
Vance, of course, conveniently failed to mention the townsperson who spoke her “truth” in a police report that apparently fueled many of the racist lies but admitted later that she found her cat in the basement.
“It’s about investigating the truth, and unfortunately far too few reporters do that today,” Vance said.
Again, reporters actually reached out to people in the know to squash the harmful conspiracy theories that Trump and Vance continue to resuscitate.
“There’s no reason for us other than to tell you the truth. We care about our community,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told CNN on Monday. “We don’t want lies spread around like has happened for the last 12 to 13 days.”
Vance also danced around a question about North Carolina’s embattled GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, who allegedly called himself a “Black Nazi” who gets off on secretly watching women shower.
“Will you continue to support Mark Robinson in this campaign?” a reporter asked.
“I’ll continue to support the people of North Carolina,” Vance said. “That’s what my job is as their next vice president.”
The subject came up again, and Vance attempted to deflect the issue.
Fast-forward to 28:20 for Vance’s remarks about Springfield: