Amidst what’s perceived by many as a faux outreach to black voters, ‘Birtherism’ has re-emerged as a big news story that could upend whatever progress with African-American communities the Trump campaign, which released a laughable statement on the subject late Thursday evening, has achieved.
Roughly an hour or so shy of midnight on Thursday, the Trump campaign presented to the public an elaborate and disingenuous communication which portrayed Mr. Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President who has struggled to shed the image of a blustering bigot, as the ultimate closer, a man who, only after Mrs. Hillary Clinton raised the question of whether Mr. Barack Obama was an American citizen, stepped up to obtain the birth certificate and put to bed the controversy.
Of course the statement from the Trump campaign isn’t true on a couple of fronts; particularly that Mrs. Clinton began the birther movement. The truth is that the birther movement was started in 2008 by a Democrat who supported Mrs. Clinton and opposed Mr. Obama; a link to Mrs. Clinton or her campaign has never been proven.
But regardless of the individual who initiated the effort to de-legitimize Mr. Obama, the face of the birther movement quickly became Mr. Trump, who relentlessly pursued and talked about the issue and then relished in his own glory once the birth certificate was made public. But unlike what the statement portrayed, Mr. Trump didn’t let the controversy die once the document was produced; instead he then questioned its legitimacy.
Mr. Trump was the chief agitator in the birther movement, not an alleviator of it, and he took advantage of any opportunity to prove himself as such. Countless times the New York City real-estate mogul, who even before becoming a presidential candidate was a weekly contributor to Fox & Friends, appeared in the news media and attempted to humiliate Mr. Obama by inquiring without merit as to his birthplace.
The birther movement was, at least by African-Americans, perceived as racist, not to mention disrespectful to the nation’s first African-American president. But instead of acknowledging this reality and apologizing for his role in exacerbating it, Mr. Trump, who once said laziness is a trait among Blacks, now refuses to discuss it anymore and his surrogates, all of whom misrepresent the truth almost daily on cable television, deny racism influenced the controversy.
Mrs. Clinton, who in the middle of this week returned to the campaign trail after taking a few days off to nurse her pneumonia, today pounced on the foolish statement from the Trump campaign and said: “Barack Obama was born in America, plain and simple, and Donald Trump owes him and the American people an apology.”
Mr. Bernie Sanders this morning on CNN called the statement, which labeled the anti-Obama advocacy as public service, “pathetic” and said Mr. Trump is now trying to “waffle” on the issue. Now a Clinton supporter, Mr. Sanders echoed the former secretary of state’s sentiments from this earlier today, saying the Trump campaign is rooted in bigotry and appeals to extremist. Mr. Sanders was unequivocal is asserting that the birther movement was, indeed, racist.
“There are racists in this country who could never accept the fact we have a black president,” he said.
Mr. Obama, who while in Philadelphia this week strongly advocated for the election of Mrs. Clinton and also took jabs at Mr. Trump and the news media, today un-enthusiastically addressed, in response to a question from a journalist, the statement from the Trump campaign.
“I was pretty confident about where I was born… I think most people were as well. And, my hope is that the presidential election reflects more serious issues than that.”
Mr. Barack Obama speaks in Philadelphia for the last time as President of the United States. Photo Credit: C. Norris – ©2016
Mr. Trump, minutes after 11:30am, repeated the lie that Mrs. Clinton and her campaign started the birther movement and he “finished it.” He did concede, however, before walking off the stage at his new D.C. hotel, that Mr. Obama was “born in the United States, period.”
Mr. Trump, though, didn’t offer an apology, and it’s believed he doesn’t deem one is necessary. Its Mr. Trump’s hope now to move on from the birther movement and focus on making America great again, but until a sincere apology is uttered by the candidate, who might be the next president, a large group in this country won’t move on because the act itself, and then his campaign’s recent statement explaining it, is just to deplorable to forgive without repentance.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
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Feature photo: Getty Images