Donald Trump is the “King of the Birthers.” In April of 2011: “Self-proclaimed birther Donald Trump is now so doubtful of President Obama’s birthplace that he’s sent a team of his own investigators to Hawaii in hopes of getting to the bottom of the issue.” Trump sends investigators to Hawaii to look into Obama. Trump excitedly proclaimed My investigators in Hawaii can’t believe what they are finding. Trump’s “team of investigators” to this day has never produced anything.
Trump’s investigation ran parallel to Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio’s and Mike Zullo’s “cold case posse” investigation into President Obama’s birth certificate. Sheriff Joe Arpaio tasks ‘Cold Case Posse’ to investigate Obama’s birth certificate. Arpaio has not made many statements about the investigation since his last news conference on the issue in 2012. But five years later he is still milking this right-wing conspiracy theory. Arpaio says MCSO still investigating Obama (August 18, 2016).
This pair of asshats has never produced any evidence in support of their wild conspiracy theory.
Back in July, the New York Times published a report, Inside the Six Weeks Donald Trump Was a Nonstop ‘Birther’:
In the birther movement, Mr. Trump recognized an opportunity to connect with the electorate over an issue many considered taboo: the discomfort, in some quarters of American society, with the election of the nation’s first black president. He harnessed it for political gain, beginning his connection with the largely white Republican base that, in his 2016 campaign, helped clinch his party’s nomination.
And starting in March 2011, when he first began to test the idea that a reality television star with no political experience could mount a campaign for the presidency, Mr. Trump could not stop talking about it.
* * *
The more Mr. Trump questioned the legitimacy of Mr. Obama’s presidency, the better he performed in the early polls of the 2012 Republican field, springing from fifth place to a virtual tie for first.
That frenzied period culminated six weeks after it began in a surreal televised split screen between Mr. Trump and the White House briefing room, where aides released an image of the president’s birth certificate proving he was born in Honolulu and Mr. Obama directly addressed the issue.
President Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April 2011 humiliated Donald Trump over his Birther conspiracy theory. President Obama Roasts Donald Trump At White House Correspondents’ Dinner – YouTube.
But Donald Trump never gave up on the Birther Movement, because that was his introduction to the Republican electorate and his base of support to run for president, as the Times noted above.
His campaign in 2016 was entirely premised on his support among the Birther Movement. In a fragmented field of up to 17 candidates at the start, their support could prove to be decisive for a win.
There is no way to know for certain how many of Trump’s primary votes came from Birthers, but we do have poll data to tell us how prevalent the Birther Movement is among Republicans.
As late as July 2016, just before the RNC National Convention, an NBC News|SurveyMonkey poll conducted in late June and early July found:
Seventy-two percent of registered Republican voters still doubt President Obama’s citizenship…
To see whether voters believe that Obama was not born in the United States, we asked them about their agreement with this statement: “Barack Obama was born in the United States.”
A first look reveals significant and surprising differences between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to their beliefs about Obama’s birthplace.
While more than eight in 10 Democrats agreed with the claim, far more Republicans disagreed with the statement (41 percent) than agreed with it (27 percent). An additional 31 percent of Republicans expressed some doubts about whether Obama is a native U.S. citizen (i.e. indicating that they neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement). Only slightly more than one in four Republican voters agreed that the president was born in the United States.
But do these beliefs hold true for all types of Republicans? Is skepticism about the president’s place of birth a consequence of a lack of interest in politics, or is this skepticism prevalent even among the most knowledgeable Republicans?
To probe this possibility, we asked respondents three factual questions about politics* and we compared the beliefs of those correctly answering at least two of the three questions to those who did not. The chart below shows that there are virtually no differences between low-knowledge and high-knowledge Republicans when it comes to their beliefs about Obama’s citizenship.
In fact, the distributions are statistically indistinguishable: 40 percent of knowledgeable Republicans disagree that Obama was born in the U.S. compared to 42 percent of lower knowledge Republicans. A greater factual understanding of the political system does not diminish Republicans’ doubts about Obama’s birthplace.
The fact that more Republicans currently think that the president was not born in the U.S. and that this belief does not depend on how knowledgeable they are about politics is surprising. The country may be divided about both facts and opinions. Moreover, given the persistence of these beliefs in the face of evidence to the contrary, not only are we likely to see more rumors emerge, but their effects may be long-lasting. The fact that so many Republicans believe that the president was not born in the United States despite evidence to the contrary suggests that in the partisan-charged environment, it may be very difficult to dispel rumors and outlandish claims regardless of wins on Election Day.
This is just “deplorable.” And these are the “deplorable” voters who gave Donald Trump the GOP nomination.
Even as late as last night, asked by the Washington Post’s Robert Costa whether he believes Obama was born in Hawaii, Trump replied: “I’ll answer that question at the right time. I just don’t want to answer it yet.”
And then this morning Donald Trump abandoned his “deplorables” by pretending to distance himself from the Birther Movement that he has led as their king. Trump admits Obama was born in U.S., but falsely blames Clinton for starting rumors:
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday acknowledged for the first time that President Obama was born in the United States, ending his long history of stoking unfounded doubts about the nation’s first African-American president but also seeking to falsely blame Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for starting the rumors.
“Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it, you know what I mean,” Trump said at his newly opened luxury hotel in Washington on Friday morning. “President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period.”
This is not the first time that Trump has accused Clinton of first raising questions about Obama’s birthplace, an assertion that has been repeatedly disproved by fact-checkers who found no evidence that Clinton or her campaign questioned Obama’s birth certificate or his citizenship.
The Washington Post’s fact checker checks this recidivist liar. Recidivism Watch: Trump repeats debunked claim that Clinton ‘started the birther controversy’:
Let’s review this again: No, Clinton and her campaign did not start the “birther” controversy. We awarded Trump Four Pinocchios for this claim, and it has been debunked thoroughly over, and over, and over, and over again.
Moreover, Trump did not “finish” the birther controversy. He was one of the most high-profile birthers during President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
It was our friends at FactCheck.org — not Trump — who “finished” the birther controversy eight years ago. After looking at, holding, photographing and investigating Obama’s birth certificate, FactCheck.org published an August 2008 article debunking “birther” claims, titled: “Born in the U.S.A.: The truth about Obama’s birth certificate.”
As with all things Trump, he is lying and this is yet another con. He is simply saying what he thinks he has to say to get the media to report that he has reversed his Birther position, but with a wink and a nod to his “deplorable” Birther supporters. Trump May Be Abandoning ‘Birthers,’ but They’re Not Abandoning Him: “Birthers are OK with Donald Trump abandoning their cause, as long it helps him win the presidency — even if they still believe Obama was born in Kenya and don’t necessarily agree with his claim that Hillary Clinton started their movement.” Still “deplorable” and proud of it.
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Sometimes on this site I’m not able to reply directly to folks, but this is my response to John Kavanagh’s comment on the debt .
If Republicans cared at all about debt or deficits, they would be overwhelmingly supporting Hillary Clinton. After all, Bill and Hillary Clinton left George W. Bush with a projected ten year budget surplus of $5.6 trillion, just about enough to retire the national debt. But those pesky 500 voters in Florida in 2000 screwed that deal. Instead, Bush implemented two disastrous tax cuts, signed an unpaid for Medicare Part D expansion, fought two unpaid for wars, etc. So, instead of the Clinton surplus, we reverted to the deficit spending first initiated by Ronald Reagan.
As for Obama and the debt, he inherited the worst economy in 80 years. We were losing 900,000 jobs a month and the entire housing stock took a huge haircut, leading to the need for massive government spending to stop the bleeding. And tax revenues took a huge dive, due to job loss and business failures.
Still, it’s interesting than when we bring up all of Obama’s accomplishments, that’s all the designated Republican spokesperson on this website can come up with.
I’m self-appointed.
My original assertion saying that Clinton’s resurrecting the old birther controversy against Trump was a mistake and just an attempt to get public attention away from her ill health appears to be wrong. New data from the LA Times/USC Tracking Poll, which Clinton’s internal polling must have also shown her, reveal that Clinton is loosing black support and Trump is picking some up. Thus, the birther shift may be an attempt by Clinton to shore up the black vote, which Democrats have always taken for granted.
From the news story:
Trump saw a 16.5 percentage-point increase in backing from African-American voters in a Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California tracking poll, up from 3.1 percent on Sept. 10 to 19.6 percent through Friday.
Meanwhile, the same poll showed Clinton’s support among that group plummeting from 90.4 percent on Sept. 10 to 71.4 percent.
What are you talking about? Clinton isn’t the one bringing up the birther issue, it’s the Trump campaign, wanting to get it off the table before the debates.
Here’s a question for you, why has the Trump campaign stopped talking about Bill’s womanizing?
Is it because Trump beat and raped his first wife, and they don’t want that coming up?
Yes, I think that’s why.
Trump is a racist liar and the head of YOUR party.
More likely, Not Tom, the Trump campaign dropped Clinton’s womanizing because it was a loser of an issue (much like the birther issue). It didn’t seem to matter when Bill was in office and it would matter even less today. If Hillary doesn’t care (which is interesting in it’s own right) why should anyone else care?
looks like my comments about sid blumenthal telling mcclatchy news that obama born in kenya have been censored byazbm
Actually, similar smears were made against Obama in his 2004 election.
None of this excuses Donald J. Trump from lying about sending secret agents to Hawaii, or his constant nattering about the birth certificate being suspect.
You’re basically saying “he did it first”, as if this was grade school.
Trump’s been caught in a very, very big lie, and he’s the leader of the Republican Party.
In the meantime, Trump has climbed slowly in the LA Times/USC Tracking Poll from tied on 9/12 to +6 today.
Keep pre-occupied with foolish historic attack stuff, while Trump inches closer to the White House.
Foolish “historical” attack stuff? This isn’t “stuff” he did in college, he’s been spouting birther lies on the campaign trail.
The guy lied about hiring investigators and lied about having proof of something that was a lie to begin with, and he did it for the attention.
He’s a big reason that more than half of the people in your party believe things that are not true. This is not a little lie, Trump has done real damage to your party.
Are you saying that we should not be judging candidates by their past words and deeds?
I have no idea what point you were trying to make. I guess you just stopped by to gloat.
Good luck in November.
He has a point, Not Tom, in that this whole birther thing isn’t really getting Hillary anywhere. Even my VERY liberal sisters are saying, “Enough about this!” and I have never heard them complain about anything Hillary has done. Frankly, it doesn’t matter to me other than it is irritating to hear the same thing night after night on the news channels, but it is a waste of time. No one other than die hard leftists care, and they are already voting for Hillary.
You party’s candidate made his name in politics via racism and has never stopped.
I get that you folks don’t want to own it, and you don’t want to hear about it.
One thing, though, Clinton was lagging behind Obama in support from the black community, this is already firing up some folks who may not have voted to get out against Trump.
So until Trump produces the promised bombshells that his crack team of hardboiled PI’s brought back from Hawaii, you’re going to hear about.
He’s the Birther King. He’s the leader of your party.
As I keep saying, who cares? But I am happy for you that you are so inspired by a subject. ;o)
I apologize for my earlier comments. I just keep seeing people on the right wave off things they don’t want to hear about.
Racism is no longer a problem because Obama, nonsense like that.
To your point about being tired of hearing about the Birther King, what I should have said was….
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Bhengazi!!!!!!
Gotta’a, need propane for the grill.
Touche’! ;o)
I, too, have been surprised at how much traction this old stupid argument about where President Obama was born has gotten from the left. It is one of dumbest attacks they have made yet, and that is saying a lot. For some reason, the subject inspires almost manic vitriol from the left and the left supporting media. I guess it makes them happy, but it seems rather silly to me.
The left? Not Trump? The left? Not your party?
HB 2544, anyone?
HB 2177?
Those are the birther bills your Tea Party led state government actually spent time and money on, including considering a provision to check for male circumcision.
I would call that an obsession. A creepy obsession.
But go ahead and blame it on the left.
I guess the real beauty of being a “conservative” is never having to take responsibility for anything.
“I guess the real beauty of being a “conservative” is never having to take responsibility for anything.”
You really enjoy throwing these little ad hominem zingers around, huh?
And I usually have to explain my messages a couple of times because you read things through a filter and see what you want to see. All the things you mentioned are from years back. Who cares today. The birther thing is an issue from the past that today only stirs the blood of leftists. The left is raising a foolish ruckus about something no one else cares about. Obviously, it is a subject that is near and dear to your heart and you have “zero” objectivity about it, but as I say about Hillary, rant on, my friend!
As I have said several times before, I couldn’t care less. Hillary can chatter on about this for the remainder of the election, she can make it the center peice of her campaign, I don’t care. It is silly to those not caught up in the feeding frenzy, but if it is important to leftists, then chatter on! The very lameness of the discussion may help account for why Hillary’s numbers keep slipping but she is a big girl that can do what she wants.
Our local con man/sheriff Joe Arpaio put out a statement saying he wasn’t investigating where Obama was born, he was looking into whether the birth certificate was a forgery.
Because people born here forge their birth certificates for some reason?
Old Grifter Joe doesn’t seem to think very highly of his supporters.
Wherever he was born, Obama is proving to be the best American president since FDR. I am really going to miss him.
Seconded. In spite of a racist and treasonous Tea Party led congress, he’s made the country a better place.
I am not a big opponent of President Obama, but I would like to know how he has improved things. If you you could share some insight, I would appreciate it. Nothing really detailed, just in general. Thank you in advance!
Again, you really need to learn to use google, or better, duckduckgo.com, they don’t track you the way google/bing/yahoo does.
And seriously, the guy’s been POTUS for 7 years, do you really think he’s gotten nothing done?
http://pleasecutthecrap.com/obama-accomplishments/
That should keep you busy and out of trouble this afternoon.
Here’s some links to help you in the future. (Okay, the first is a little snarky, I admit)
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en
And while they can be a little nit-picky:
http://politifact.com
And finally, everyone’s favorite time suck:
snopes.com
I appreciate your taking the time to list all these sources. Yes, I could search for them myself, but I was interested in what you thought were his accomplishments. And, again, they were very helpful.
Seems my comment may be waiting for moderator approval, maybe because of the links.
Try this, just take out the spaces.
http: //pleasecutthecrap.com/ obama-accomplishments/
Thank you! That was very helpful.
The first great achievement was to guide our economic recovery very ably out of the worst recession since the Great Depression. He acted decisively and wisely and saved the American auto industry at the same time.
Of course Obamacare ranks as the first attempt to provide health insurance to most Americans. The uninsured rate is now the lowest in American history. While Obamacare will need to be improved, it has been the most ambitious health care agenda since Medicare in the 1960’s.
Obama’s appointments have been stellar, with not a scandal to report.
On foreign policy, he has been extremely grounded, resisting the siren calls from both the neo-cons and the humanitarian imperialists like Susan Rice and Samantha Powers. His recent Atlantic interview with Jeff Goldberg will go down as one of the most lucid, transparent exposition of American power and use. Besides untangling us from the really inept foreign policy of George W. Bush, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he has forged a completely new path for America vis a vis both Iran and Cuba. The Iran nuclear deal will prove to be one of our best diplomatic achievements in many years.
Finally, he has graced the White House with a beautiful spirit. I look at him, Michele and their two daughters and it makes me very proud to be an American.
Don’t forget nearly doubling the national debt.
Without context your comment is meaningless.
Business 101
You want to run government like a business? Then you’re going to have debt.
I understand you’ve been getting government checks all your life and you don’t understand how business works, but if you knew how to read a balance sheet, you’d know that businesses borrow now to grow tomorrow.
Most borrow to get started. Birthed in debt.
The debt and deficit are not the same thing. Learn what words mean.
A balanced budget doesn’t mean zero debt, it means you have enough to pay your bills.
Now Reagan tripled the debt, and Bush W doubled the debt, but WORSE, he took a budget surplus from Bill Clinton and turned it into a budget deficit.
For Reagan, tripling the debt helped get the country moving because government spending means jobs.
That was good, even though you won’t admit it.
We usually raise taxes in times of war, but Bush started two free wars and on his day off gave out tax breaks, and even sent me a $600 dollar “stimulus” check.
By the time Obama got the figurative checkbook the place was trashed. You don’t get to selectively “forget” history.
Now, under Obama, we’re recovering, and the deficit, which is the actual “bad” number, has come down a trillion dollars in record time.
I can’t believe they let you teach classes. You’re either lying knowingly or ignorant.
There’s a reason your party has stopped talking about debt and deficits, because it makes Obama look good.
Seriously, you must get tired of the taste of your own feet.
That, too, is very helpful. Thank you!
Arpaio was the first name that came to mind when I finally read the news that Señor Pequeñas Manos was going to confess.
It seems our local con man sheriff has been thrown under the bus by a bigger, more luxurious con man from New York.
Then I thought of Ken Bennett, Michel Reagan, Tom Morrissey, Don Ascoli, John D. Rhodes, Linda Bentley, Cecil Ash, J.D. Hayworth, Carl Seel, Trent Franks, Judy Burges, Nancy Barto, Gail Griffin, Al Melvin, John Nelson, Steve Smith, Sylvia Allen, Andy Biggs, Rich Crandall, Ron Gould, Steve Pierce, Don Shooter, Steve Yarbrough, Scott Bundgaard, Adam Driggs, Linda Gray, Lori Klein, John McComish, John McComish, Rick Murphy, Russell Pearce, and my idiot Tea Party brother in law.
Most of those folks voted for one or more birther bills, including one that would have checked for circumcision, which really just sounds like a bunch of perv’s wanting to see the President’s Johnson.
Good reminder on the “birther bills.” Yes, our Tea-Publican legislators voted for them.
When, oh when, will the stupidity stop? We have no trustworthy journalist to whom we can turn to check and maintain the facts. I bit my tongue too many times listening to others spout this gem of a lie to me. Ding-dong the lie is dead, only took 8 years! Now how about putting some money in education so we can quit having so many deplorables running around Arizona who don’t know how to do research or fact check?
Perhaps, after reviewing all his evidence, Trump has decided that President Obama is a natural born United States citizen.
Are you really so easily gullible?
No, but I do have a pretty good sense of humor.
You do remember, don’t you, that it was Hillary that started this whole “birther” thing back in 2008? It was part of her initial attempt at getting the nod from the Democrats. Granted, she backed off from it rather quickly, but – as usual – she is a bit of a hypocrite when she stomps around screeching about Trump and his birther “credentials”.
You really need to learn how to use google.
Nothing you’ve said here is true.
Please don’t make us educate you…again.
First of all, Not Tom, you are incorrect in saying everything I said was wrong…I happen to have a very good sense of humor.
Secondly, I was incorrect about it being Hillary who started the “birther” thing, but I was close. To quote from the Telegraph:
“According to a Telegraph article, as early as April 2008, a Clinton supporter passed around an email that questioned where Obama was born. On June 7, 2008, Clinton conceded and called for all Democrats to rally behind Obama. Some in her party did not care to listen. By June 10, 2008, opponents to Obama were posting on a website called Pumaparty.com. PUMA stood for Party Unity My Ass. The website encouraged frustrated Clinton supporters to back the Republican nominee. The story appears to have started with supporters of Clinton, an important distinction.”
It wasn’t Hillary herself, but it came from Hillary supporters. AND it took Hillary three months to refute it, and then it was only after she lost any chance of being the Democrat nominee. That is classic Clinton: Have subordinates do the dirty work, see if it works in favor of the Clintons, and if not, step forward and distance the Clintons from the entire mess.
And feel free to teach me anytime you would like… ;o)