Anything goes in this American presidential campaign – including a squirrel erected as a national icon. Peanut was already a social media star. Now, he's on his way to becoming a symbol of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), tasked with cutting federal spending, which Elon Musk is to co-run. It all began in 2017, when a man named Mark Longo took in a baby squirrel in New York and tried to set it free but found the rodent on his doorstep. He decided to keep the wild animal – without a permit, which is forbidden in New York state – and parade it on social media. His Instagram account has over 900,000 followers.
The story might have ended there if the Department of Environmental Conservation, a Democrat-run New York State agency, had not shown up at Longo's home on October 30, to seize Peanut and his raccoon buddy Fred. Authorities claimed to have received complaints that the animals were being held illegally. The case provoked an outpouring of criticism, the scale of which was magnified when Longo and his wife, in tears, announced on Instagram that Peanut and Fred had been euthanized. Authorities explained that the squirrel had bitten an officer, necessitating a rabies test, which can only be carried out postmortem. The test was negative. Longo was furious and promised legal action.
On November 2, candidate Trump's TikTok account posted images of the squirrel, against a backdrop of mournful music, with the words "RIP Peanut" and "Needlessly murdered by Democrat bureaucrats in New York." There was also talk of "avenging" the rodent at the ballot box. The post was viewed more than 9 million times. On the eve of the election, Musk wondered how it could be, "that we live in America, supposedly the land of the free, and the government can barge into your home with guns" – if you resist, you'll be shot – "and take your pets and execute them." The concerned agents' union reported "violent threats" against them.
On November 16, the controversy bounced back to the ring at Madison Square Garden, New York, where the Ultimate Fighting Championship, an MMA competition, was taking place. Jim Miller, a master of the discipline, could not have been more serious when, having just defeated his opponent, he demanded "justice for Peanut," to the cheers of the crowd, and called on the DOGE to "clean house" at the state level. The message was clearly heard by Musk, seated in the gallery with Trump, who was quick to retweet it. As for Longo, he denied using the story to boost his online business in porn. A GoFundMe fund-raising campaign, launched in his name to finance an animal shelter he set up, has raised nearly $270,000.