.WHEN DONALD TRUMP completed the word "Springfield" thirty three moments in to the American presidential debate on September 10th, David Muir, the co-moderator, was actually prepared. In that tiny Ohio town, Mr Trump announced, illegal immigrants are "eating the canines, they are actually eating the felines, they are actually eating the animals of individuals who reside there". Mr Muir promptly answered that, according to Springfield's city manager, there were no credible reports of pet-eating. The former president's insurance claim need to have hit many audiences as peculiar. But lots of Mr Trump's supporters were topped for it: the claims had been circulating in conservative groups on social media, enhanced through Elon Musk, the owner of X. How performed the community come to be at the center of a conservative conspiracy idea?