~ Disclaimer: While all articles and tweets are legitimately sourced, I conclude with my opinion. This is meant to be a political commentary primarily based in fact. ~
Donald Trump is well known for his tweets and straightforward way of speaking. However, last week, he became known once again for his “Birther” theory.
In early 2011, Trump and author Joseph Farrah worked together to prove that President Obama was not born in this country. According to the New York Times, Farrah recalled that “Mr. Trump even proposed dispatching private investigators to Hawaii, Mr. Obama’s birthplace, to resolve the debate.”
The President had released his short term birth certificate in 2008, and long term birth certificate in 2011 in order to disprove this rumor. Most people, conservatives included, gave up this conspiracy, but it did not stop Mr. Trump from asking questions.
In 2012, he tweeted: “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama‘s birth certificate is a fraud.”
In 2014, he continued to chase after this theory. He asked his followers, “Attention all hackers: You are hacking everything else so please hack Obama’s college records (destroyed?) and check ‘place of birth.’”
However, his tune has definitely changed since then. For reasons unknown, he once again brought up the theory, but with a different point of view. “Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it, you know what I mean.” While many do not know what he means, considering he was an advocate for prolonging this running conspiracy theory for years, he continued. “President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period,” he said. “Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.”
According to the many fact checkers that Trump has created jobs for during his campaign, what he stated is untrue. The New York Times stated that “… neither Mrs. Clinton nor her campaign ever publicly questioned Mr. Obama’s citizenship or birthplace.”
Well, his apology for misleading his followers from 2011 through 2014 was certainly done in the most Trump-like fashion: blaming someone else for his mistakes. Secretary Clinton did not start this theory, and he by no means “finished it.” It was finished when Obama released his birth certificate.
His reasoning for bringing up the birther conspiracy can only be imagined, but if it was to make everyone confused and waste everyone’s time, then he has definitely succeeded in his goal.