In a blunder that will go down in the history ofUN General Assemblies, the transitional president of Haiti fell for a blunder, who instead of drinking water from the glass available to the speakers on the podium, drank water from the decanter.
In the viral video, the Haitian politician failed to notice his mistake, resulting in water spilling onto his suit, which he then had to dab dry.
The incident occurred just as Haiti’s interim president wanted to address Donald Trump’s false claims that Haitian immigrants are eating domestic animals in Springfield, Ohio, a position that cost the U.S. presidential candidate significantly during his debate with Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
“I would like to extend my fraternal greeting to the friends of Haiti who have shown solidarity with the immigrants from my country and especially those living in Springfield, Ohio,” Phils said at one point in his speech.
He had expressed his anguish for Haitians in the U.S. and around the world and the prejudice they face in the wake of Trump’s fake news.
What Trump had said
When the conversation at Donald Trump’s debate with Kamala Harris, it got to the immigration Trump claimed that immigrants from Haiti living in Ohio are kidnapping and eating animals, a position first espoused by his vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance.
“They eat dogs. They eat the cats. They eat the animals of the people who live there,” was Trump’s takeaway from what he says is happening in Springfield, Ohio.
Trump’s claim both prompted a grin from Harris who called it an “extreme position” and – a first for a debate – forced the debate moderator from ABC to rebut the Republican candidate.
“ABC contacted the mayor of Springfield, who told us there is no substantiated complaint about allegations of animals being abused or injured by people in immigrant communities,” the reporter said, with Trump, however, insisting that “I was told, I was told ‘animals are eating us.'”
How the false rumor started
First to make the untrue claim was J.D. Vance in a post on X in which he said his office “has received several issues of Haitians kidnapping animals.”
The Vance rhetoric began on September 6 when a post appeared on social media in which someone allegedly described how a neighbour’s friend had seen a cat hanging from a tree to be skinned and eaten by migrants.
“Reports now show that people’s animals are being kidnapped and eaten by people who should not be in our country. Where is the immigration czar?”
Vance wrote in a post pointing to Harris who was in charge of this issue in the Biden administration.
“In response to recent rumors of alleged criminal activity by immigrants in our city, we want to make it clear that there have been no substantiated reports or specific allegations of animals being injured or abused by members of the immigrant community,” the mayor of Springfield said in a statement, with local police also announcing that they have not received any complaints of animals being stolen or eaten.
