Donald Trump Panders To The Birthers
Along with his hysterical ranting about China and OPEC, Donald Trump has now added a new song to his repetoire:
Donald Trump is raising questions about President Barack Obama’s citizenship.
Trump seemed to throw his lot in with the discredited rumors that President Obama wasn’t born in America, saying he’s a “little” skeptical of Obama’s citizenship and that every so-called birther who shares the view shouldn’t be so quickly dismissed as an “idiot.”
“Growing up no one knew him,” Trump told ABC’s “Good Morning America” during an interview aboard his private plane, Trump Force One. “The whole thing is very strange.”
None of this is true, of course, but it appeals to GOP voters who doubt the President’s citizenship.
I still don’t think Trump is running for real, but he’s certainly acting like he is.
We should have seen this coming, after the following bizarre statement at CPAC:
“Our current President came out of nowhere. Came out of nowhere. In fact, I’ll go a step further. The people that went to school with him never saw him; they don’t know who he is.”
Politifact takes this claim apart:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/feb/14/donald-trump/donald-trump-says-people-who-went-school-obama-nev/
But what we need to understand is that anyone who says “We don’t know who Obama is” is deliberately playing to the birthers. Actually, let me qualify that a little: there are certain analysts who say “We don’t know who Obama is” to suggest he has a nebulous political identity. Agree or disagree, that’s not birtherism. What’s birtherism is the idea that large chunks of Obama’s life have been ominously concealed from public scrutiny. Once Trump went in that direction during the CPAC speech, it was only a matter of time before he made his alleged suspicions more explicit.
Let’s see: Republican Litmus tests:
1) Birtherism
2) Global Warming Does Not Exist
3) Tax Cuts Increase Revenue
4) If We Need to Do Something and It Costs Money, It is OK to Borrow, and We Assert This Does Not Affect The Deficit.
Wow. Bleak. And I think I am being realistic, in that there is no chance that a candidate that doesn’t pander to or sincerely hold those viewpoints are non-starters.
>I think I am being realistic, in that there is no chance that a candidate that doesn’t pander to or sincerely hold those viewpoints are non-starters.
Romney hasn’t gone birther…yet.
Kylopod,
True, but Romney has little chance in my view, as his support for a health care plan largely indistinguishable from Obama’s as Governor of Massachusetts will doom him.
I find it amusing that making a birtherish comment = appearing to run for president.
I’m not disagreeing with Mataconis’ final point, just stepping back and thinking how amazing it is that one thing would logically lead to the other, when it should be quite the opposite.
Why hasn’t Jay Tea shown up to tell us all that this is really Obama’s doing? He usually pops up in birther threads to share his idiotic theory that it is really the president who keeps the birther idiocy going.
mantis, if you’re going to talk for me, get it right.
I’ve said that I suspect Obama allows the birther BS to continue because it suits his goals — it keeps the idiots wrapped up in something utterly harmless to him, and makes them — along with anyone else he can associate them with — look like idiots. Further, while they’re obsessing on that, they’re not digging into other matters, matters of actual substance. So giving any credibility or attention to the birthers is idiotic — unless you’re an Obama backer.
But I repeat myself.
I had no intention or desire to take Trump seriously as a candidate, and this just reaffirms that belief. Birthers aren’t to be pandered to; they’re to be either ignored or smacked around.
J.
‘Cuz my comment got eaten by the Positively Puritanical Spam Filter. Short version: birthers are idiots, the majority of people who give it any attention are Obama supporters, and I have no intention of taking Trump seriously as a candidate.
Later, if I feel like it, I’ll elaborate in a way that gets past the PPSF.
J.
OK, that’s four answers blocked by the site. I give up for now.
J.
Jay,
I see what’s happening. When you write a post that includes a link its getting caught and for review……
I’ve said that I suspect Obama allows the birther BS to continue because it suits his goals
Oh, so Obama allows Donald Trump to speak freely. How kind of him.
Of course, it’s been repeatedly explained to you that Obama already released the only birth certificate the State of Hawaii issues, and the information on it, including his birthplace, has been confirmed by top state officials, including the Republican governor. Obama does not “allow” anything. Birtherism proceeds and grows despite him doing all that could reasonably be expected. Your suspicion is, on it’s face, absurd. It is, however, a nice way for you to disingenuously deflect the right’s responsibility for their own institutionalized insanity.
So giving any credibility or attention to the birthers is idiotic — unless you’re an Obama backer.
So Trump, and a huge array of other elected Republicans, are all secret Obama backers?
Later, if I feel like it, I’ll elaborate in a way that gets past the PPSF.
Great. I can’t wait to hear you pass on myths like the “millions of dollars” the president has spent to “hide” his records. Face it, Jay. You pander to birthers.
Obama needs to go in 2012.
Don’t care if he’s American, Kenyan or Lesbian. He needs to go.
mantis, when I say “allows it to continue,” I mean “declines to release the definitive documentation that would end 99% of the birtherism idiocy in one fell swoop.”
And if you were the least bit inclined to be honest about me, you’d have noted that that’s exactly what I’ve said on numerous occasions.
The whole issue is flypaper — it draws the nuts to it, giving them something to obsess over.
It’s good politics, and I can’t really fault him for doing it. What irritates me is how many idiots fall for it.
So I kick the idiots every now and then, ripping the birthers when they get a little too prominent. I know it doesn’t do any good, but it makes me feel better.
J.
Thanks, Doug. I’d gotten over the links, but I still tend to find certain words (“salty” and brand name” ones) tend to hit your filters, too. I gotta learn to mind my occasional potty-mouth even more around here.
J.
Obama does have that, secritive, lurking in the shadows side to him. For a man who ran on transparency, he’s not too transparent. His parents are gone, does he have any life long friends? Don’t know. Were his grades excellent, which they have to be to get into both Occidental and Columbia. Don’t know, has anyone seen transcripst?
Because of these gray areas from his past, the rumors will persist.
That’s why I included this:
Of course, it’s been repeatedly explained to you that Obama already released the only birth certificate the State of Hawaii issues, and the information on it, including his birthplace, has been confirmed by top state officials, including the Republican governor. Obama does not “allow” anything. Birtherism proceeds and grows despite him doing all that could reasonably be expected. Your suspicion is, on it’s face, absurd. It is, however, a nice way for you to disingenuously deflect the right’s responsibility for their own institutionalized insanity.
Which you, unsurprisingly, ignore in your response. You do realize how obvious you deliberately ignoring reality is, don’t you? You are content to peddle multiple birther myths (Obama holds birth records he refuses to release, spends millions “hiding” records, etc.) and always ignore responses which refute them, only to come back and sling the same shit again the next time. You are exactly the same as the birthers, except you insult them at the same time. You condemn one group of idiots while simultaneously proving yourself to be an idiot duped by those same idiots you denigrate. Don’t you ever just pause and reflect on how you’ve come to this point?
His parents are gone, does he have any life long friends?
Faulting the man for having deceased parents. Cute.
Just curious…if he didn’t have excellent grades, how did he get into Occidental and Columbia in the first place?
Oh, these rumors will persist because of a color alright, just not the color gray…
Conner — Quick: Name four national politicians whose college transcripts you’ve seen. Now name three of their lifelong friends. (Spouses and immediate family don’t count.) Are they all “hiding in the shadows”?
wr — we know that George W. Bush and John Kerry had very similar GPAs in college, with Bush’s slightly higher.
And for Obama’s longtime friends, we have the minister of the church he attended for years, his political mentor who hosted his “coming-out party” (both of whom were very influential in his books), his top fundraiser…
Whoops, Jeremiah Wright, Wiliam Ayers, and Tony Rezko all got thrown under the bus.
Well, there’s always slumlord Valerie Jarrett, who’s still around…
J.
What a shock. Still no response from Jay, even with a return visit. It’s almost as if he is consciously ignoring the reality behind the birther claims he peddles, in order to further a controversy he finds politically advantageous. Do I sense a bit of projection in his “criticism” of Obama exploiting the birther idiocy? Hmm.
Jay Tea — In other words, no, you can’t answer these same questions about any other politician, and yet you demand that Obama do what no one else has ever bothered to. Oh, but you’re not a birther — just like you’re not a Palin groupie with her poster on your wall. Because you’re not transparent at all. You’re a man of mystery.
This discredited rumors…..Lib scum think they have discredited “birthers” but where is the Birth Certificate….you can not get a Florida Drivers License with a certificate of live birth…..I believe obama was born a US citizen but I would like to verify it. What will obama do if 13 states require a birth cert? Duh the libs in hawaii have already said they can’t find it. So they will issue sworn affidavits that several high ranking officials will swear they saw it. (after they appeal Arizona voting laws) And yes obama spent millions keeping a 30 dollar document away from prying eyes. The cases went to the supreme court who voted no standing meaning the people and groups that brought the suits have no standing to ask for his birth cert. Look it up libtards. OK say he has a birth cert that says he is what he says…….how the f did he attend college in the US on a fullbright scholarship? He is either lying about birth cert or he lied on college applications. THE REAL POINT IS NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THIS MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE IS ALL ABOUT. aLL WE KNOW IS HE IS THE WORST PRESIDENT EVER AND HE HAS ANOTHER 22 MONTHS TO DESTOYS THE USA!
Tax cuts do raise revenue…and they create jobs….and they create growth
Government raising taxes destroys jobs…kill growth etc
Dems are the scum of the earth…..they stole all the social security trust to grow govt and buy their votes just like they do with public unions.
Would you accept presidential candidates, wr? As I recall, the majority of John Kerry’s war buddies said he was… what was the phrase… oh, yes, “unfit to serve.”
J.
mantis, you miss one crucial point: I respect Obama’s use of the birthers. It’s worked wonders for him. It irritates the hell out of me, but that’s purely because it’s so damned successful and really works over my side — but objectively speaking, I have to give him his due.
And I can’t even fault the ethics of it. If someone handed me an opportunity like the birthers give him, I wish like hell I’d be smart enough to recognize it and run with it half as well as he has.
What Trump is doing bringing it up, I have no idea — but it makes me want to smack that toupee right off him for doing it.
J.
I didn’t know Trump is so much interested in delving into other people’s birth certificates since one of his wives and the mother of his children was born in the Czech republic. Maybe he has changed his attitude toward naturalized Americans in the last few years.