‘If I have to create stories’: Vance defends racist hoax about Springfield

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance admitted on Sunday to creating the racist lie about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating pets. Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Vance then insisted that he had based this creation on information from his constituents, but he made it clear that he was more interested in creating a media narrative than in being truthful.

"If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do," Vance told host Dana Bash.

Bash told Vance that Republican officials on the ground in Ohio were upset over his and Donald Trump’s false claims, which have led to multiple threats of violence in the small Ohio city. On Monday, the city was forced to cancel its yearly cultural celebration due to “threats and safety concerns.”

But in the interview, Vance responded that he wasn’t going to stop repeating his false narrative just because his words were putting people in danger.

"Are we not allowed to talk about these problems because some psychopaths are threatening violence?” Vance said.