.WHEN DONALD TRUMP said the word "Springfield" thirty three minutes into the American presidential debate on September 10th, David Muir, the co-moderator, was prepared. Because little Ohio community, Mr Trump announced, illegal aliens are actually "eating the pet dogs, they are actually consuming the pet cats, they are actually consuming the animals of people that reside there". Mr Muir without delay answered that, depending on to Springfield's mayor, there were actually no legitimate files of pet-eating. The former president's case have to have hit a lot of audiences as unusual. However considerable amounts of Mr Trump's followers were keyed for it: the accusation possessed been moving around in conservative groups on social networks, increased by Elon Musk, the owner of X. How performed the city happened at the center of a right-wing conspiracy theory?