Donald Trump has decided to double down on the Obama birth certificate issue, making him seem like the potential “birther candidate” if he decides to run. Newsmax has more on the story here. Here’s an excerpt from their article:
Donald Trump is not backing down from his demand that President Barack Obama produce his birth certificate and stepped up his criticism by questioning why he has not released other personal records, including college transcripts and legislative papers.
The billionaire real estate tycoon and star of “The Apprentice” created a stir on Wednesday when he said on “The View” that Obama must release his birth certificate.
Now Trump has reiterated his call in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, with this simple message for Obama: Why don’t you produce your birth certificate and put to rest all speculation that you were born outside the United States?
He says Obama’s birth certificate controversy is a “strange situation” — there are conflicting reports as to what Honolulu hospital he was born at, and the governor of Hawaii claims he somehow remembers Obama being born 50 years ago.
Also in the article are some other recent quotes from Trump on the issues. Including:
On Libya
“…For one thing, if you’re going to save lives on a humanitarian basis you should have started sooner, because many of those lives are gone. For another thing, you really have to find out who you’re fighting for. Who are the rebels? You have some people who say that Iran is controlling the rebels, that Iran is the happiest of all nations because they think as soon as we leave they’re going to go in with the rebels and take over Libya…I hear more and more reports that the rebels aren’t the sweetest people on earth either. It looks to me like it’s a total mess.”On International Respect for the US
“I hate what’s happening to this country. It’s never been at a point like this, ever. We’re not respected. We’re scoffed at. We’re laughed at by other places. People from China and other places cannot believe they’re getting away with what they’re getting away with. We’re rebuilding China. We’re rebuilding other countries, and our country is going to hell in a hand basket…One thing I can say, if I ran and if I won, that would stop, and everybody knows it. I think that’s why I do well in the polls.”
Trump is a fascinating candidate who seriously does not have a filter when it comes to talking about…anything. That may be a boon to a potential candidacy, but also presents a limitation as he could offend people with his honesty at times. Trump stated that he’ll be announcing one way or another before June.
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-Matt Newman is a conservative blogger from Maryland who blogs at Old Line Elephant and Tweets far too often.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:00 am
Trump is being a fool.
This so-called “birther” issue does not help us defeat Obama.
It actually does the exact opposite.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:03 am
The birther issue is a loser when it’s tied to nutjobs and conspiracy theorists. But it just struck me that it gains legitimacy when an independent businessman like Trump makes it an issue.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:03 am
In other words, nobody is going to confuse Trump with racism.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:04 am
Craig & Metro,
Agreed.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Trump is a birther? I never thought he was a serious contender to begin with, but this should definitely cross him off everyone’s list. I’m not big on litmus tests but the birther crap should be the bright red line no Republican should cross. This is a non-issue and something that helps no one but the Democrats.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:07 am
You both are correct in a strange way. None of this helps us..unless maybe Trump does. .
Maybe people will start thinking about how strange it is for Obama not to present his Birth Certificate more then they think how strange the “birthers” are.
Maybe
March 25th, 2011 at 11:19 am
If Trump runs, he’ll be a major player. He already is now in the polls. Just like Ventura went from being a joke to governor, if Trump does well on the trail, you’re going to see opinions on him change on a whim. Trump/Rubio would be a media frenzy ticket that’ll frankly outshine Obama/Biden.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:20 am
#5, Jonathan, Trump can get away with a lot more than Palin or any other GOP candidate. He’ll be a vicious attack dog throughout the campaign.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:27 am
#7:
Mitt Romney lighting his hair on fire and dancing naked through the Capitol would cause a media frenzy; doesn’t mean it would get him elected President.
There are two big differences between Jesse Ventura and Donald Trump. One, Ventura ran as a 3rd Party candidate, Trump is trying to get the Republican nomination. Secondly, it’s one thing to get elected Governor, it’s quite another to be elected President. All the Democrats would have to do is run clips of Trump acting like a fool on TV (those can’t be too hard to find) and say “Do you really trust this man with his finger on the button?”
March 25th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Metro I don’t think most people think that you can’t be a crazy racist and a billionaire. Trump is popular because he’s entertaining not because people take him seriously.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:39 am
Jonathan: I know you don’t like him from past comments. And he’ll definitely need to have a disciplined media strategy: However, unlike all the other GOP candidate, Trump would drive the media narrative, and in a way very negative of Obama. New Yorkers know how to work the media, and Trump would be the king. He’d dominate the debates and the daily campaign grind. Unlike Obama, I think he’d love it. Obama hates campaigning when it’s not adulation, as my moniker denotes. If I were in Trumps camp, I’d position him as a combination Christie/Perot. Then you’d have Rubio to shore up the base. It’ll be tricky to go from joke to serious candidate, but I’ve seen it first hand before with a guy with less gravitas than Trump.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:51 am
#11:
It’s not that I dislike Trump, I dislike the idea that the Republican nomination could go to someone known for multiple marriages and being a media personality as muych or more as being a businessman.
I just think/hope the Republican field is full of candidates with substantive ideas about the major issues facing our country, not people just trying to get their 15 minutes in the spotlight.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:56 am
I never really bothered with obama birth records but trumps newsmax interview makes a valid point. Obama has released a certificate of birth, which is really a meaningless document since it doesn’t detail his actually birth, ie what hospital, but not the official birth certificate showing what hospital he was born. Thus, why can’t he release his official birth certificate?
March 25th, 2011 at 11:59 am
Trump/Hayworth 2012!!!!!
It would be almost impossible to fit any more stupid on one bumper sticker.
March 25th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Trump is the perfect candidate to address this issue.
None of the others will (unless they’re idiots) but Trump can make some real points with this. Who cares if he gets branded a racist or crazy ‘birther’…there is SOMETHING in Obama’s Birth Certificate he doesn’t want known.
I have my suspicions, but I don’t think it has anything to do with being born in another country.
Obama is a VERY light skinned half black man. I could easily picture a teenage mother, filing out the birth information in 1961, when people were not as tolerant and open minded as they are today, putting down Caucasian on the line for race.
That would be very embarrassing to America’s “First Black President.”
Race is my problem with the COLB that has been released. They list the fathers race as “African.” I’m sorry, that’s a continent, not a race. They certainly weren’t using ‘African’ for a racial description in 1961.
So I think there is something embarrassing there Obama doesn’t want released. Maybe it is something else, perhaps his real father isn’t Barack Obama Sr., or his parents weren’t married at all…who knows? There has to be some reason for him to spend the money he’s spent keeping it hidden that goes against his life history we’ve been given.
March 25th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
It’s weird that a certificate of live birth doesn’t have the hospital information – I know the one for my son does. In fact, that qualifies as a birth certificate in Maryland for legal purposes.
March 25th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
“there is SOMETHING in Obama’s Birth Certificate he doesn’t want known.”
Its not about what he doesn’t want known, its about who doesn’t want to know it. Republicans harping on this is wonderful for Obama politically. Unemployment is sky high, we’re borrowing ourselves into oblivion, the Middle East is exploding… and yet we must KNOW the location where Obama entered the world. And then of course there’s the fact that it makes us look like conspiracy theorists who will believe anything, and racists who just can’t bring ourselves to believe that a black man could be the legitmate president. He has very good reason for not releasing the document.
March 25th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
What a buffoon. Trump proves you don’t have to be smart to be rich. Discussing birth certificates helps nobody but Obama.
March 25th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
I actually think Trump has no intentions of running for President. He will run for the nomination, but I don’t think he plans on winning. He is a very smart man and has no shame. I would not be surprised if he were doing this to hurt another candidate. In my opinion, he is doing it to help Romney. He will attract some of the fringe tea partiers to the point of drawing them away from Palin or Ron Paul or Gingrich (or whoever else decides to pander to the far right). Trump is not a far right guy, on any issue. He is a pragmatist. He has been quite critical of all the candidates except for Romney.