Donald Trump’s now infamous “They’re eating the pets” comments from last week’s presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris have already inspired songs. Now, in true internet style, they have their own TikTok dance too.
The dance, a blend of jazz and hip hop, features hand gestures that mimic spooning something into the mouth, then placing both hands atop the head to form dog ears and opening and then extending the palms outward like cat claws — a move that would make dancers from Cats proud. There are hip isolations, jump turns and the all-around joyful silliness that generally ensues when TikTok users go all in on a viral moment.
“I love our generation for this,” one user commented on a video of a particularly polished rendition performed by a trio led by Los Angeles professional dancer Marlon Davila Avalos. As of this writing, it’s been viewed 4 million times.
The dance traces back to the segment of last Tuesday’s debate when Republican nominee Trump repeated a baseless viral claim that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been eating local pets. The remarks quickly turned into a frenzy of memes and jokes that are still proliferating almost a week after the debate. Trump’s assertion, however, has had very serious implications in Springfield, where the mayor attributed bomb threats to the right-wing conspiracy theory.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said during a debate segment on immigration policy. In doing so, the Republican nominee sought to underscore one of the central tenets of his platform, that undocumented immigrants pose a threat to America.
The day before the debate, the claim about Springfield’s unusual dining habits gained traction when Trump’s running mate JD Vance repeated it on X. Vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance defended his false claims about Haitian immigrants in a CNN interview on Sunday.
TikTok, A Hub For Viral Dances
That the bizarre notion of edible pets has sparked a TikTok dance shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise — TikTok is, after all, known for spawning countless viral dance trends. But these latest social media spins and sways could well be the first to originate with a presidential candidate.
The video sharing app did not immediately respond to a request for comment about who choreographed the “They’re eating the dogs” dance that’s currently gaining traction, though it appeared to start with this video from dancer Sebastian Gonzalez Molina that’s pulled in more than 18 million views. The moves are proving so irresistible one dancer with a broken leg couldn’t resist taking them on.
Julian Plunkett, who’s based in London and appeared in musicals from Mamma Mia to Heathers and Pippin, does the “They’re eating the dogs” dance sitting in a chair, throwing his entire upper body into it with the kind of abandon you’d expect from a musical theater pro. Can’t wait to see Plunkett’s interpretation once the limb’s all healed.
