.WHEN DONALD TRUMP uttered words "Springfield" thirty three minutes into the American presidential argument on September 10th, David Muir, the co-moderator, was prepared. In that tiny Ohio city, Mr Trump stated, illegal aliens are "eating the pet dogs, they are actually consuming the felines, they're eating the family pets of the people who stay there". Mr Muir immediately responded that, according to Springfield's city manager, there were actually no trustworthy files of pet-eating. The former president's insurance claim need to have attacked a lot of audiences as bizarre. But considerable amounts of Mr Trump's fans were actually primed for it: the allegation possessed been circulating in right-wing circles on social networks, increased by Elon Musk, the manager of X. Just how did the community become at the center of a conservative conspiracy theory?