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The anti-immigrant dog and cat eating conspiracy Donald Trump referenced during last night’s presidential debate has been circulating in the trenches of Pump.fun for a couple of days.
Despite this, meme coins referencing the disproven claim flopped during the debate. Interestingly, most of them saw their peak hours before the Republican nominee brought it up.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs—the people that came in—they’re eating the cats,” Trump said during a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our county.”
Trump goes off the rails: “THEY’RE EATING THE PETS” #Debate2024 pic.twitter.com/tmba7AXiLK
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 11, 2024
This comes from a racist and unfounded narrative that immigrants from Haiti have been abducting and eating pet cats, dogs, geese, and ducks in Springfield, Ohio.
A city official said that they were not able to verify reports of Haitians cooking wildlife in local parks and that a viral video of a woman who allegedly killed and ate a cat was in fact not an immigrant at all. Bryan Heck, Springfield city manager, has personally shot down the claims—only to have them amplified by Trump and vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH).
And when there’s buzzy electoral schadenfreude, meme coins tend to follow.
Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio.
Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar? pic.twitter.com/rf0EDIeI5i
— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 9, 2024
The first token, Only Haitians in Ohio (OHIO), was created on September 9 on Pump.fun and has been attempting to spread the false claim. Despite the anti-immigrant rhetoric rampant in the token’s Telegram chat, the token failed to make significant headway. It survived for almost three volatile days or price swings, only to go to zero as Trump’s rant was immediately fact-checked by an ABC debate moderator.
The Haitian Cats (hCAT) meme coin has seen a bit more success. It graduated to decentralized Solana exchange Raydium 24 hours after being posted on Pump.fun, eventually climbing to a market cap of $187,000. But this was hours before the debate started. It’s since fallen 84% from its peak.
For what it's worth, the TRUMP meme coin hasn't fared well either. Onchain data analytics provider Kaiko noted on Twitter that its price fell 13% during the course of last night's presidential debate. But the drop pales in comparison to what the lesser known, and less liquid, conspiracy theory meme coins have seen.
Crypto markets moved last night during the first US Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.$TRUMP coin fell over 13% following the debate between the two candidates, according to Kaiko Market Metrics data. pic.twitter.com/fnhaaxkyKg
— Kaiko (@KaikoData) September 11, 2024
In the hour leading up to the debate, hCAT climbed 86% from a $40,000 market cap to $76,000, but fell 32% during the first half an hour of the presidential face-off.
When Trump eventually referenced the disproven conspiracy, the token spiked 125% in 4 minutes to a market cap of $123,000. But it was fleeting. The token saw its market cap drop 90% over the next half an hour.
With this, the finger pointing began on Telegram.
“Motherfuckers dumped the farm. This could send to a million easily,” one user on a now-deleted account said. “You guys suck dick. Broke ass,” another said.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.