Today, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump finally admitted that the “birther” conspiracy that launched him into the national political spotlight by challenging President Barack Obama’s citizenship, is false.
Only in this election would a man changing opinions after five years on a racist, crackpot theory count as breaking news, but, hey, here we are.
Other members of Trump’s campaign have recently spoken about the birther issue, including his running mate Mike Pence, and former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani. Conveniently speaking from his brand new Washington D.C. hotel, Trump had just a few lines to say about the issue, after being noncommittal the last few times it was brought up in interviews:
“President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period… Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.”
In a rather brazen (even by Trump standards) move, he then proceeded to blame the origin of the birther conspiracy on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Trump referred people to a 60 Minutes interview where Clinton was asked whether she believed Obama was a Muslim.
Clinton said she took Obama at his word that he was not, and added:
“No. No, there is nothing to base that on — as far as I know.”
Fairly damning evidence, isn’t it? Especially considering whether or not Obama is a Muslim has literally nothing to do with his birthplace.
The birther conspiracy helped launch Donald Trump into the political realm, and actually serves as a pretty apt representation of his campaign thus far. It has many of the elements that Trump employs daily: coded racism, blame of the media, and blatant disregard of facts and evidence.
Another fun element to remember about this bizarre mainstream conspiracy theory is Trump’s charity pledge. Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold brought up the following on Twitter:
Sent this to @realDonaldTrump spox, to ask how he will fulfill promise to give $5M if assured Pres. Obama born in US pic.twitter.com/Uc751PeGrl
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) September 16, 2016
Considering how much pressure Trump has faced regarding his taxes and charitable donations, it will be interesting to see how he responds to Fahrenthold. In actuality, he will most likely just ignore it.
Below is the video of Trump finally admitting something that is hard to believe he had to admit, and below that is Trump’s pledge to donate $5 million to charity if Obama can prove that he is who he claims to be.
Feature Image Via YouTube Video Screenshot
