.WHEN DONALD TRUMP said words "Springfield" 33 moments into the American presidential debate on September 10th, David Muir, the co-moderator, was prepped. In that small Ohio town, Mr Trump stated, illegal immigrants are "eating the dogs, they're consuming the felines, they're eating the household pets of the people who reside there". Mr Muir immediately replied that, according to Springfield's city manager, there were no reliable documents of pet-eating. The past head of state's case need to have struck several visitors as unusual. But tons of Mr Trump's fans were primed for it: the charge possessed been actually circulating in right-wing groups on social media sites, boosted by Elon Odor, the owner of X. Exactly how did the town become at the facility of a right-wing conspiracy idea?