# Theyre Eating The Dogs They're Eating the Dogs is a catchphrase pulled from Donald Trump's September 10, 2024 debate against Kamala Harris, where he claimed Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating residents' pets. The line was fact-checked live on ABC News and spawned two meme formats within hours: absurdist X reactions and TikTok videos of dogs listening to the clip. ## Origin The clip comes from the September 10, 2024 debate on ABC News, streamed by The Wall Street Journal on YouTube[1]. Around the 33:10 mark, while talking about immigration, Trump said, 'In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there and this is what's happening in our country and it's a shame.' The claim referenced an unverified rumor about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio that had been passed around on social media in the preceding days[5]. One of the ABC News moderators pushed back live, telling Trump that no credible reports of pets being eaten existed[1]. - **Platform:** ABC News debate (source) / X and TikTok (viral spread) - **Creator:** Donald Trump - **Date:** 2024 ## Overview They're Eating the Dogs is a catchphrase from Donald Trump, spoken during the September 10, 2024 presidential debate against Kamala Harris on ABC News[1]. While arguing about immigration, Trump claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating residents' pets, a rumor that had been circulating online in the days before the debate[5]. An ABC News moderator interrupted to fact-check him on air, telling viewers there were no credible reports of pets being eaten in Springfield[1]. The line spread within minutes on X, Reddit and TikTok[4]. The meme took two main forms: absurdist reaction jokes pairing the audio with dogs, cats or AI images of Trump with pets[6], and a TikTok trend where users filmed their own pets reacting to Trump saying the line[7]. ## How It Spread The quote started trending on X within minutes of Trump saying it[3]. On the night of September 10, user @PatrikSandberg posted a Simpsons clip in which the family dog and cat glance nervously at each other, a nod to the Simpsons town being named Springfield, and passed 29,000 likes in a day[2]. User @deadeyebrakeman's post, 'I can't believe "they're eating the dogs" was a REBUTTAL to "You say weird stuff at your rallies,"' cleared 187,000 likes in the same window[3]. The clip hit Reddit's r/ThatsInsane the same night and reached over 16,000 upvotes in a day[4]. Later that evening, X user @ellievhall shared an image of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama laughing, captioned as if they were retelling Trump's line, and pulled past 146,000 likes[6]. The second format kicked in on September 11: dog-reaction videos. X user @Tarquin_Helmet uploaded a clip filming their dog's response to the line[6]. On TikTok the same day, users started building videos around an original sound of the quote, with @thebossyaussies posting an early version featuring a startled Australian Shepherd that pushed past 225,000 views inside a day[7]. ## How to Use The format typically uses the audio of Trump saying 'they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats.' Common versions either cut to a pet reacting on camera[7], drop the line under an unrelated shock reaction shot (the Simpsons dog-and-cat look is the template starter[2]), or pair it with AI images of Trump surrounded by cats, ducks or geese[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Theyre Eating The Dogs? It's a catchphrase from Donald Trump at the September 10, 2024 presidential debate, which spawned reaction memes across X and a dog-reaction video trend on TikTok[1]. ### Where did Theyre Eating The Dogs come from? Trump said the line during his ABC News debate with Kamala Harris, repeating a debunked rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating residents' pets[1]. ### What does Theyre Eating The Dogs mean? The phrase points to Trump's on-air claim and the live fact-check that followed[1], and the meme uses the audio as absurd context for pet reaction videos[7]. ### How do you use Theyre Eating The Dogs? Play the audio clip of Trump saying the line over your pet reacting to it, or pair it with a shocked cat, dog or AI image of Trump with animals[7]. ### Is Theyre Eating The Dogs still popular? The meme peaked in September 2024 around the debate, when top posts pulled hundreds of thousands of likes on X and TikTok in a day[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgsC_aBquUE]() 2. [https://twitter.com/PatrikSandberg]() 3. [https://twitter.com/deadeyebrakeman]() 4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/theyre-eating-the-dogs]() 6. [https://twitter.com/ellievhall]() 7. [https://www.tiktok.com/@thebossyaussies]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/theyre-eating-the-dogs Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library