.WHEN DONALD TRUMP uttered the word "Springfield" thirty three minutes into the American governmental controversy on September 10th, David Muir, the co-moderator, was readied. During that small Ohio city, Mr Trump proclaimed, illegal aliens are "consuming the pet dogs, they're eating the pet cats, they are actually consuming the animals of individuals who reside there". Mr Muir quickly answered that, according to Springfield's city manager, there were no credible records of pet-eating. The previous head of state's insurance claim should have struck a lot of audiences as peculiar. However bunches of Mr Trump's fans were keyed for it: the accusation had been moving around in conservative groups on social media sites, boosted by Elon Musk, the owner of X. Exactly how did the town happened at the centre of a right-wing conspiracy theory?