.WHEN DONALD TRUMP uttered the word "Springfield" thirty three moments in to the American presidential argument on September 10th, David Muir, the co-moderator, was readied. Because small Ohio community, Mr Trump declared, illegal aliens are actually "eating the pets, they're consuming the kitties, they're eating the dogs of the people who live there". Mr Muir quickly responded that, according to Springfield's mayor, there were no trustworthy records of pet-eating. The past president's insurance claim should possess struck several audiences as bizarre. Yet bunches of Mr Trump's supporters were topped for it: the claims possessed been actually moving around in right-wing circles on social media, improved through Elon Odor, the proprietor of X. How performed the community become at the center of a conservative conspiracy theory?