Well, if he wasn’t doubling down on the birther “issue” before, he certainly is now. On Fox & Friends today, Trump said the following:
“They give you a certificate of live birth which anybody can get. Just walk into the hospital. This guy either has a birth certificate or he doesn’t. I didn’t think it was such a big deal, but I will tell you, it is turning out to be a very big deal. People are calling me from all over saying please don’t give up on this issue. If you weren’t born in this country, you cannot be President. You have no doctors that remember, you have no nurses — this is the President of the United States — that remember. Why can’t he produce a birth certificate? I brought it up just routinely, and all of a sudden, a lot of facts are emerging and I’m starting to wonder myself whether he was born in this country? … I think this guy [Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie's (D)] should be investigated. He remembers when Obama was born, give me a break. He is just trying to do something for his party.”
You can check out the video over at Political Wire. Trump is really trying to fill in that birther role in the field, as no current candidate has even considered bringing this issue up – and for good reason. It’s not an issue.
My opinion of birther and birther logic is that it’s flawed and pointless. Even if it were somehow proven right, which it isn’t, what will it do? It won’t retroactively make Barack Obama no longer the President of the United States. If anything, it will embolden those who have been wanting to allow non-natural born citizens to change the law. It’s windmill chasing – but it’s Trump’s strategy so far. I will say this about the Donald – he knows how to market himself. So, we shall see.
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-Matt Newman is a conservative blogger from Maryland who blogs at Old Line Elephant and Tweets far too often.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:56 am
The Birther issue is a non-issue. Obama has already been elected and most of the information out there indicates Obama was born in US. The Reagan message is the focus and winning message. Trump is an amazing person, but as a candidate he is a disrupter. He can not win, but he can by his blunt and direct personality spark interest to sharpen image and message of the candidates that can win.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:56 am
ha ha the constitution is now a Windmill to be chased by madmen in fictional stories.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:00 am
#1 Exactly. The birther issue isn’t an issue, as I said. Trump bringing it up is strange to say the least.
#2 The Constitution is not the windmill – chasing after a mythical birth certificate proving that our Hawaiian born President was born in some random other location is the windmill.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:05 am
There is the possibility that the birthers are correct – that Obama is not a natural born US citizen. However trying to find the evidence that it does NOT exist is going to be impossible. It’s sort of like trying to prove that Roswell NM never happened.
You can always prove something DID happen, but you can never really prove that something DID NOT happen. The skeptics will always be skeptical.
Secondly, even if by some miracle we could prove that Obama wasn’t a US born citizen, what then? Laws haven’t stopped Obama from doing anything so far. Judge Vinson in Florida struck down ObamaCare, yet people from the left and right act as if it didn’t happen.
Do you honestly believe that anybody would enforce the law if Obama was found to be born in a foreign country? I don’t. Laws are only for us regular Americans, not for the Federal Government.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:07 am
” Even if it were somehow proven right, which it isn’t, what will it do? It won’t retroactively make Barack Obama no longer the President of the United States.”
Actually I disagree here. I’m confident Obama IS a natural born citizen, but if he were proven otherwise, he would have perpetrated a massive fraud on the American people, and would be removed from office. If a 25 year old person won the most votes, they would still not be legitimately elected.
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“If anything, it will embolden those who have been wanting to allow non-natural born citizens to change the law.”
Can’t say I agree here either. Obama is already viewed by much of the right as an ideological, anti-US radical. Many moderates and independents view him as plain incompetent. If he were ever REALLY to be proven a foreigner, it would boost isolationism and true xenophobia (not what Republicans get accused of when we want strict immigration controls).
In any case, its irrelevent, because Obama is a US citizen, but if it was ever really shown to be otherwise, I think your reading of it is off.
===========
But as for Trump – this increases my sense that he isn’t much more than an attention whore.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:08 am
The way to defeat Obama is in camparing and contrasting ideas of our conservatism vs. his progressive/socialism. It is about our record of success (Reagan) and their record of failure (Obama). It is about moving America forward to economic growth by saving us from the abyss of Obamanomics. It is about real leadership vs failed leadership.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:11 am
Well, the whole idea he wasn’t born here is probably ridiculous. It was the Hillary campaign that started all this.
But I think there is something he wants to keep hidden. He has spent a lot of money on legal fees and the whole deception with the problematic COLB he ‘released’ indicates there is something there he doesn’t want out.
I think it could be a couple of things.
Perhaps his parents weren’t married at the time of his birth. While embarrassing I doubt he would go to so much trouble just to hide that.
Some have speculated Obama Sr. possibly wasn’t really his father, and they suggest Frank Marshall Davis could be his real father.
Personally I think it has to do with his race listed on the Birth certificate. I could see a teenage girl in 1961, putting white down as his race considering the stigma of interracial relationships at that time. (this was before the civil rights act, and a time of racial contention, even though the Dunham’s were very ‘progressive’ for that time)
Obama is a very light skinned black. As a newborn he may have looked white. I just think he wants to keep it hidden as it would blow his whole racial identity. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the birth certificate issue is about where he was born.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:19 am
How is this issue allowed to live? We will win the downscale heartland whites vote with or without this issue, and they are the only voting block out there who this largely appeals to. Meanwhile, this issue confirms every other voting block’s suspicions about republicans. Outstanding.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:24 am
“The way to defeat Obama is in camparing and contrasting ideas of our conservatism vs. his progressive/socialism.”
Well, we’re certainly not going to come out favorably if we run candidates like Daniels, looking to strip away broad coverage health insurance that so many people are reliant on, right in the middle of a recession.
Defining “his socialism” is easy enough – but defining “our conservatism” would be FAR more difficult.
And in fact, I’m not convinced that so many people seem to try to boil it down to “A vs. Anti-A” isn’t the reason we have so many problems. We boil so much down to “I’m for free trade, he isn’t” that we never stop to question whether we haven’t completely misapplied trade policies to the point that we are allowing millions of good jobs to slip away.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:32 am
I’m beginning to agree…what obama produced, certificate of birth is meaningless. I want an actual birth certificate. After all to get a US passport requires such a thing, why isn’t that needed to be on the ballot? Thus, i’d like to see a birther bill pass in some states to force the issue. Further, i’d like to see obama’s college law and law school transcripts. I don’t care if he got d’s and f’s but they should be out. Finally, i still find it hard to believe anything ill to make out of this, heck team clinton would have found out or even joe biden staff would get a clue and realize they could be in line for a promotion if obama is actually ineligible to hold office. Of course, if that was the case there could be some serious cover up crimes, makes for a good book but back to the point produce a real birth certificate or be ineligible to be on the ballot.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:32 am
I think this is a great issue for Trump.
It shows what a douche bag he is.
It does kind of give Republicans a bad name, but that’s why we need to loudly and frequently point out he is no republican; he has supported many democrats and held views anathema to the republican party for most of his life. He was supporting Obama in 2008.
Why any Republicans are now enamored with him just shows that the levels of ignorance in our population are hard to exaggerate.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:43 am
obama can either produce a real birth certificate or he can’t, so far he has not.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:50 am
If it was proved that Obama was born elsewhere, it would probably force him to resign. However, I think it would likely spark a movement to amend the constitution, as I imagine a great many Americans believe the location where on happens to pop out of the womb to be quite irrelevant to whether one should be President or not. As it is, Obama is benefitting greatly from the birthers and from Republicans being painted as racist out of touch conspiracy theorists.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
“obama can either produce a real birth certificate or he can’t, so far he has not.”
So far he has chosen not to because it’s to his benefit not to — Republicans look like idiots every time it’s brought up. If I were him, there’s no way I’d show the birth certificate — never interfere when your opponent is destroying himself.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
“However, I think it would likely spark a movement to amend the constitution, as I imagine a great many Americans believe the location where on happens to pop out of the womb to be quite irrelevant to whether one should be President or not”
If Reagan had been discovered to have been born elsewhere, or even Clinton – you might very well be right. But the problem is that Obama is so unpopular, so divisive, it could very well be a “told you so” on the part of birthers.
And really, you start bringing up examples of where someone from Mexico could become President, and endorse open borders, amnesty, etc. – support for a foreign-born President is really going to drop.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
I really hate this issue, mostly because it is so stupid…
Birth notices appeared in two Hawaiian newspapers after he was born. So to believe in this junk is to believe that the international conspiracy to elect him President of the United States was literally hatched on the day he was born.
Secondly, his mother was born in Kansas, OK. So regardless of where he was born, his mom was a US citizen. So Kenya or not, dude was a US citizen when he was born. Otherwise, John McCain or George Romney were ineligible to become President as well.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Some of these idiots are even arguing that Obama is not a US citizen even if he was born in Hawaii because his father was not a US citizen.
So according to these yahoo’s, I am ineligible to be President as well. I was born in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. My mother is a natural born US citizen, but my dad was a Permanent Resident (Green Card holder) at the time.
No court in the US States would consider this to be a serious argument, but there are some jokers still out there arguing for it.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
I would imagine there would be some serious cover up crimes if in fact obama was not born in the Hawaii hospital. I don’t see what the big deal is over proving his original birth certificate, he has one or he doesn’t. I guess he doesn’t even need to release it to the public but i would be satisfied if a neutral third party ok’d him being on the ballot. I find it amazing that such approval to be on the ballot doesn’t require a birth certificate. Heck, why can’t arnold demand to be on the ballot if nobody is checking id’s?
March 28th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
Agreed that this issue needs to die. It makes Repubs look stupid. That’s why Obama hasn’t done anything to placate the birthers.
On another note, isn’t the saying “tilting at” windmills (as opposed to chasing them)?
March 28th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
16) your points are false, given the law at obama’s time of birth =
“If only one parent was a U.S. Citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.”
since obama’s mom was 18 at birth, she can’t grant him us citizenship if he was born outside of the us. Also, yes its ludicrous to think obama’s parents/grandparents planned on him being a US president when he was born but they very well might have wanted him to have us citizenship even if he want technically born in the us, ie there are other advantages to being a US citizen. Bottom line, show a real birth certificate or u can’t be on the ballot…its not that hard.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
This is a loser issue for the GOP. It seems like Trump has found a way to get some attention but the attention may turn out to be a curse, By the time this is litigated, it will be time for the next election and will be rendered moot.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
This is the dumbest issue on the planet. Obama was born in Hawaii, end of story. This is a non-issue that makes our party look stupid and frankly, racist.
No one loves the birther issue being brought up more than the Democrats; it’s the gift that keeps on giving for them.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
i’m frankly more intrigued by it, the more i think of it. If somebody walks into a bar and orders a drink, they might get ID. Why in the world, isn’t it 100% verified somebody is eligible to be on the ballot for US president. If it doesn’t matter, why can’t jennifer granholm or Aronld s run for president? Bottom line, obama should have needed to prove to some authority that he is eligible. The paper work is out there, actually birth certificate or college records indicating citizenship status.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
For the record – this post was not intended, in any way, to endorse birther rhetoric. If, in any way, it came across that I endorsed or supported birther logic – I apologize. I thought the words, “…it’s not an issue…” were enough, but I’m not sure now.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
One thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American …
his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British are a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.”
March 28th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
25) and that has nothing to do with the issue of obama producing a birth certificate or not. Well other than attempting to cloud the issue by merging it with other far out ideas.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
The Birther issue goes far beyond Obama’s birth certificate. Look up Phillip Berg’s original complaint against Obama (he was a Hillary supporter). He wanted Obama to produce his long form birth certificate, his oath of alligence (after living in Indonesia), his passport he used to travel to Pakistan, his college records (which are likely to show Obama got into Harvard and Columbia as a foreign student).
The mistake EVERYONE is making is approaching this issue with only regards the birth certificate. I personally want to see his college records. However, since Obama has spent nearly $2 million in legal fees to prevent his history from becoming public records, it’s clear he is hiding something very damning.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
#27:
Maybe it’s just none of our damn business what President Obama did in college.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
.26 …those are NOT ‘far out’ ideas.
Unless you mean, like, far out, man.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:58 pm
29) obama didn’t grow up in kenya dude
March 28th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
27) the issue isn’t how well obama did in college but rather if he applied as international student and or got loans as such a student. All very easy to trace
March 28th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
30. says YOU!
LOL
The leading prominent GOP Presidential candidate says differently.
March 28th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
#27 — Maybe it is our damn business to know whether Obama got into Columbia and Harvard as a foreign citizen. He lived in Indonesia for four years as Barry Soetoro and travelled to Pakistan at a time when the U.S. had ban on all foreign travel to Pakistan. Did Obama use an Indonesian passport?
All you have to do is connect the dots!
March 28th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
It’s sad that we have Birthers on this site, but not surprising — there are a certain percentage of people who will believe just about any conspiracy theory (anybody for Protocols of Zion, or Trilateral Commission?). We apparently even have a few Trig Birthers, which if anything is even crazier.
March 28th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
I’m just playing devils advocate a little. Yet, there seems to be smoke here but folks don’t seem interested which i find a little bizarre. The facts are obama has not produced a official birth certificate, to be on the ballot that should be a must.
March 28th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Drop it.
We have an election to win.
March 28th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Cough up the certificate. I find all the dialogue annoying, especially those that say “Why should anyone care if he’s a citizen or not? Why should anyone care if he has a birth certificate or not?” If this were China, no one cares. This is the U.S.A. We believe in the rule of law, and there are certain required documents that there is no reason to hide away. Let’s see the document and this is resolved now. Keep stonewalling, and people like me that didn’t care one whit about this 30 days ago, are going to start getting insistent. McCain apparently had to show his documentation. Congress actually had to pronounce on it, I hear. That he was qualified to run and everything. I mean, come on people, is this a race issue? As if we didn’t know, anyway. If he had it and there was no issue with it, he’d have produced it by now. This is WAY past reasonable.
March 28th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
I hereby insist he show his docs, or we the people should declare him and anyone else that can’t find their long form, ineligible to run for POTUS. THere. Solved. Wish our president could solve problems as efficiently as I just did.
March 28th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Amen Liz. I cannot understand why people do not care Obama perpetrated the biggest fraud on the American people.
March 28th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
37) i agree, i find it amazing folks try to tie this to other things like big foot in order to dismiss this one basic concept, does obama have a valid birth certificate or not. Its not a vast conspiracy nut case who just wants a basic fact check, much like a bartender ask for ID to serve a drink, you would think there would be some standards to getting on the ballot for potus. Jennifer granholm can’t run for president for a reason, can obama? what he produced to the public, ie certificate of live birth doesn’t answer that ? I find it hard to believe that he isn’t eligible since the conspiracy required to hide such a fact would involve lots of bigwigs, like the attorney general, maybe fbi director, white house counsel, etc. Nevertheless, the fact is obama’s official birth certificate remains AWOL. Therefore, he should need to produce it to gain ballot access. If he can’t produce it, than other avenues would need to be investigates like:
1) mothers passport around the time of his birth
2) high school, college, law school documents
March 28th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
I’d say keeping the birthers around as an easy way to discredit the opposition is worth a cool 2 million in legal bills, wouldn’t you? 2 million dollars for the opportunity to constantly make your opposition look like idiots is a small price to pay, especially when you’ve got a billion dollar presidential campaign going on. That’s two million dollars of sympathy from independents he just bought; most campaigns don’t spend money half so rationally. I’m convinced there’s nothing–nothing at all–interesting in the documentation, and that he’s blocking it because he _wants_ the birthers around. Not only does it make sense, it’s perfectly in accord with Obama’s strategy thus far for 2012; discredit any candidate who could possibly win moderates, as soon as they emerge, by “killing them with kindness”. These people are not idiots. Romney and Huntsman have already been targeted by this strategy, Daniels and Pawlenty are next.
March 28th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
I never thought there could be a movement stupider than the 9/11 Truthers, but this is coming in a very close second with a 1/2 mile of track left in the race.
March 28th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
41, This thread is a great example of how his investment is paying off. Its pocket change to buy a little rope for Republicans to hang themselves on. I think he might be underestimating the lunacy of the birthers though, since apparently they already think the evidence given for his birth his phony there’s a good chance they’d think his birth certificate was phony as well, and then they’d really look crazy.
March 28th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
http://themoderatevoice.com/105055/donald-trump-paves-birther-path-for-jerome-corsi/
An interesting commentary on Donald Trump’s role. This author’s opinion seems to be that Trump’s only purpose is to say what others cannot, to establish doubt, and pave the way for an outright battle for the White House. The Democrats have proven they are not above dirty politics. Witness the narrative coming from Axlerod, Gibbs, Obama, etc. that Romney was the father of Obamacare. Republicans may be ready to battle him using his very own tactics: Find his vulnerability and exploit it and use as many voices as necessary to accomplish the mission.
March 28th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Liz (38): “I hereby insist he show his docs”,/i>
Well, that pretty much settles it, I guess.
Man, he’s playing you guys for the fools you are. Every time this issue shows up in public, his grin gets a little wider.
March 28th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Holy Hair for The Donald. I personally always liked a good conspiracy. I mean if congress can investigate bush 41 october surprise theory, why not the GOP congress subpoena some records and end or start this story.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:51 am
Time will tell who the fools are. Mr. Soetero also doesn’t qualify for a security clearance. That bother anyone? Yeah, me neither.
We’ll see who the fools are. At least half the country, anyways based on 2008 voting results.
As for Trump, he’s the Rent is Too @#$%! high guy for the whole nation. Wild yes, but it does serve a purpose.
March 29th, 2011 at 8:45 am
“You have no doctors that remember, you have no nurses — this is the President of the United States — that remember.”
I’ve heard this moronic logic before, and even uttering something this stupid should disqualify someone for office.
Listen up Donald….. Obama wasn’t President when he was born. There wasn’t even a stamp on his forehead that sayed “Future President. Please Remember.”
Seriously, Donald thinks doctors and nurses should remember every one of the thousands of babies they deliver over the decades?
March 29th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
You should change your “straw polls”. The prediction has been told already. Trump and Rubio will be the ticket that destroys Obama’s chances of second term. Not one person on this blog will win against the False Prophet. There will be 12 indictments and a very big destroying scandal for Obama. Many will be arrested for their transgression. Get with the program. We all have and are counting the days. Don’t laugh at Trump for he is the one that will win. It is predicted by the people that can see the future.
March 29th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Blue, by your logic in post 20, nobody born to a woman younger than 26+ could be president. Are you really this stupid or is this a bit to further the “republicans are stupid” idea?