Trump hammers away at Obama's citizenship question

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump said Thursday he isn't convinced that President Barack Obama was born in the United States ,but says he hopes the president can prove that he was.

Officials in Hawaii have certified Obama's citizenship, but "birthers" have demanded additional proof. And Trump, who is weighing whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination, says not all the questions have been answered.

In an interview broadcast Thursday, Trump told NBC News he plans to decide by June whether to run, and said that if he is the GOP nominee, "I'd like to beat him straight up," not on the basis of the question of where Obama was born.

Trump insisted he didn't introduce the citizenship issue, but he isn't letting go of it either. Since he was asked about it during an interview several weeks ago, the real estate executive said, he's looked into it and now believes "there is a big possibility" Obama may have violated the Constitution.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gnamJZe-O-XVi_1UOTB47bd7CB1w?docId=50f823e177f34cf8adf7f23272b103d8

---

Yes, that is the shit headline that the AP put on this story. What "question"?

[hatrack]

1. "Hammers Away"? WTF? How about "Spouts Septic Bullshit"?

Fucking UNBELIEVABLE.

[meegbear]

6. +1

[panader0]

2. I just saw him interviewed by Meredith V. on the Today show

He claimed that Obama spent 2 million on legal fees to make the birth certificate issue go away.
Ant truth to that?
Trump is a pompous ass.

[emulatorloo]

5. Making shit up? The ideal Republican.

[russspeakeasy]

24. Trump has a show? Oh yeah, with all the "has beens".

A total asshole and nbc gives him free ads on nbc to promote
his nbc show. I guess it was that or run more prison shows. 

[naturallyselected]

16. Did Meredith challenge him?

I didn't see the interview - did Meredith Vieira challenge him on anything? Did she ask why the officially released document isn't sufficient evidence? Did she ask his source for this $2 million? As I understand it, this is basically a made-up number by some Birther that has somehow gained traction - it seems to have originated form a much smaller number that was actually the overall legal costs incurred during Obama's 2008 campaign, not a number specifically related to the Birther lawsuits.

I usually respect Meredith, following her since she was a very young anchor on a local Providence TV station - I am pretty sure her politics are (or at least were...) much more in line with those on this site, and she doesn't usually let right wingers get away with total BS statements. Very disappointed if she let this pass.

[No Elephants]

96. Viera is sane on social issues and professional, but I've always seen her as a Republican.

Not a neo theo or a Teabagger. More like what a loved one calls "an inome level Republican."

[emulatorloo]

3. Trump is not that stupid. He knows Obama was born in Hawaii.

But I guess you need to say this shit to be considered a "serious" Republican contender.

[harun]

93. Of course, he is whipping up T-Party support (and it is working).

[golddigger]

4. Now starts the swiftboat for truth shit on the birth certificate...

for the 2012 election. Brought to you by the Koch brothers.

[monmouth]

8. The younger brother Bill (on the outs with the other two) is a friend

of Trumps and a regular at the Mar-a-Lago club.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[golddigger]

44. Oh, yes he does. He is not as rich as you think he is.

[leftynyc]

47. I DO know that

But donald doesn't want the general public to know that so he's pretending to be rich.

[olegramps]

7. Donald Trump is a genuine asshole. Always was.

[Raschel]

17. Why do people seem to put him on a pedestal? From what I understand he doesn't have much real money.

Does he have any real clout in the world of the very rich?

[onehandle]

9. Trump continues to pretend to run for President to promote his TV show, books, etc...

And the idiot press slavishly give him free publicity.

[LiberalFighter]

10. When has Trump read the Constitution and understood it?

[Newcanuck]

11. Right...

...and I'm not convinced that Donald Trump doesn't wear a wig and I hope he can prove that he doesn't. All Americans should be able to have confidence that all portions of a person who could be president are real, up to and including his hair.

[russspeakeasy]

12. How many times can you file bankruptcy and still be considered

successful??

[Raschel]

13. Well it is 2011 so he can't "hammer away" on the 'does he have a tail question'.

So he sticks with the 'he must be a savage from Kenya'.

[Zoeisright]

14. God, just GO AWAY, you stupid, pathetic old fart.

I mean, he's just a caricature.

[dennis4868]

15. How does Trump....

explain away the birth announcements in 2 different hawaiin newspapers days after Obama was born?

[Raschel]

18. Trump is now officially a racist pig in my book.

edited to make that racist "pig".

[stockholmer]

50. just out of curiosity (I despise Trump, btw) where does 'race' come into this?

:shrug:

[The Magistrate]

77. 'Not A Citizen', Sir, Is Code For 'My God, The President Is A Negro!!!'

The root text of all Republican political action, loyalty, and voting, is 'Dammit, this used to be a white man's country!' There really is nothing more to it than that....

[Red State Rebel]

88. I disagree and pulling race into this waters down the argument.

This needs to be argued on merit, not race. Show them for the idiots they are for continuing to beat this useless drum. Don't give them a chance to discount the facts by throwing race into it.

[The Magistrate]

92. Put Bluntly, Ma'am, You Are Dead Wrong On This

There is no merit, only racism, in this nonesense. If racists do not like being accurately described, that does not trouble me in the slightest.

[No Elephants]

97. Totally without merit does not necessarily = racist.

I believe that most birthers would love ANY excuse to get Obama out of the WH for good. I also believe many of them will appeal to racism -- or anything they think may work.

However, I also believe bringing up race at the drop of a hat does not do Obama or race issues any favors, nor is it often necessary.

I believe the birther issue in particular can be addressed factually with greater success--and more olass--than by claiming anyone who raises it is a racist.

[The Magistrate]

102. And That Peculiar Intensity, Sir, Derives From Their Racist Attitudes

They simply cannot stomach the man in the White House is not white. The idea blacks are not really citizens is an old one, and represents a ready default position for the outrage at the spectacle: "He's got no right to be there; he's not an American!"

[Thor_MN]

100. When Governator Arnold was a topic du jour, the right questioned if foreign birth was still relevant

So what's different?

A foreign born right wing darling is attracting notice and the right seriously questions if native birth was still relevant all these years after the constitution was written (strict constructionists, my ass!!).

Now, a native born man with an equally "foreign" sounding name is elected President and the right is up in arms howling that he has to provided more proof that he is native born.

What's different? The skin color of the men.

Sounds to be either racist, or completely insane. Since I see Republicans walking around freely outside mental care facilities, I have to assume that Racism rules the day with the Birthers.

[Zorra]

19. Trump is the world's most vain, self-possessed, and conceited egomaniac.

We must keep him out of the WH at all costs.

He is dangerously ignorant in the smug self-satisfied way that people who worship money get when they have a lot of it.

They think that they are so special, some kind of success because they have a lot of money.

But in reality, they are only total fucking assholes that have a lot of money and who got their money because they sociopathically crushed anyone or anything that stood between them and getting more money and possessions.

[Frank Cannon]

45. Never could stand the silver-spoon-fed fothermucker.

Can't understand what anyone sees in that asshole bullshit artist.

[bemildred]

20. Did they mean "Yammers"? Must be a typo. nt

[LibDemAlways]

21. Trump is making an even bigger ass of himself lately. He can't

possibly have a motive other than keeping his face in the public eye as a self-promotion gimmick, and the media whores are right there with him giving him all the press his inflated ego desires. It says a lot about the level of Presidential politics and the depths to which the media has sunk that he's being given airtime to spout this shit. This country is truly in the toilet.

[plumbob]

22. Trump has never hammered anything in his life.

Love to get him working on my construction crew. He'd WISH to be fired. Not a chance. He'd get a fucking haircut the second day to keep the sweat out of the crack of his ass.

So, who's stupider than Trump? Anyone who would believe anything he actually said. How sad...

[blue97keet]

23. Did Trump chicken out on his bashing of the trade debt with China and played safe with mumbo jumbo

not about the economy stupid? Even Wall Street is a threat to the Donald.

[bluedeminredstate]

25. Here we go again

What a joke this man is and yet he's being given a platform to spout this shit. Meredith should have looked him straight in the eye and told him he should be ashamed of himself. But no, she didn't do that. Now we have the AP headline about this interview implying there is some question about Obama's citizenship - not that Trump is a sleazy opportunist.

How about the many people who believe Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy? Do they have a platform to air their theories about how she passed off a kid that she didn't give birth to as her own? Are you kidding? You'll be banned from Huffpost for writing about it in the comment section, so you're never going to see that question addressed on network or cable news, and there is at least as much reason to believe she's lying as there is to believe Obama is faking his American citizenship - probably more.

This is all about the rightwing trying to get this idea of Obama's "otherness" into the public consciousness. Now that the election cycle is gearing up, they're going to use his blackness against him. It's fucked up and twisted, but these are the same people who took John Kerry's war heroism and turned it into a negative when he was running against two goddamn deserters - five-deferment Cheney and AWOL Dubya.

:nuke:

[cbdo2007]

26. Anyone who tries to bring this up during the 2012 election will lose majorly.

I'm guessing Obama already has his birth certificate in hand and is just waiting until september 2011 to release it.

That would be perfect for him to let people focus on that for months and months and months to distract themselves from the real issues.

[florida08]

27. Sarah Palin in drag

The country isn't falling for this. It's ludicrous with so many serious issues on the plate. We've already seen the birth notices that were in the paper and Selective Service has confirmed he registered in 1980. Do something with that hair Trump if you want any crediblity but mostly shut up.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=284x548

[winston65]

28. Trump? Seriously?

Why is anyone paying any attention to the fright wigged clown? He is far beyond joke, he is self parody. Idiot.

[bongbong]

29. Three reasons for trump running

Trump is running for three reasons:

1) publicity, especially for ratings of his TV show
2) his ego
3) sell books to repig sheep

He has absolutely no intention of actually seeking the nomination. And don't think he is especially smart. He is dumb as a rock, except for making deals. He was born on 3rd base (his daddy was a rich developer) and thinks he hit a triple. He has gone bankrupt so many times it's ridiculous, but most of those were strategic bankruptcies so he could just avoid paying his bills. Basically, he is another in a long list of rich (actually psuedo-rich) assholes.

[Frank Cannon]

46. I don't even think he's that masterful a dealmaker

People buy into his bullshit in order to suck up to his celebrity. Not a whole lot of skill in that, just a really good publicist.

[stockholmer]

51. +1000, it is all a big con/publicity game

[on point]

31. Better Headline: Trump joins delusional nut case wing of repuke party

[legin]

32. Trump should just 'Transition Off'

I'm happy now. I've used it. The spelling is still a problem though. And yes I have gone simple.

[NashVegas]

33. I'd Like To Believe Donald Trump Doesn't Have a One-Inch Dick

But until he puts it on the table, who's going to know?

[yellowcanine]

34. Ok enough of this bullshit. Obama should sue his ass.

"the real estate executive said, he's looked into it and now believes "there is a big possibility" Obama may have violated the Constitution."

This is slander. Obama may not win in court but it is time to fight fire with fire. Sue his ass and make him defend his bullshit words.

[Frisbee]

35. Sure would be nice if Donald was...

mysteriously selected by the IRS for a very in-depth audit this year.

[cognoscere]

36. The only thing Trump could beat is his meat, but it probably wouldn't

be straight up.

[RC]

37. If Obama had really been born anywhere other than Honolulu,

someone would have found proof positive by now. To become President, you are investigated right down to the number of hairs in your eyebrows. Head of State and all that.
Of course "They" had to know about bu$h's missing 2 years up front. Mostly the same people investigating Obama letting him slide? Naa, don't think so. He's be nailed.

[sandyj999]

38. Trump needs to hammer he is a tool. n/t

[JJW]

39. Under public service accomplishments

Trump lists paying for boob implants for teenage beauty pageant contestants.

[creeksneakers2]

40. It 's working for Trump

The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has him tied for second place in the GOP field, not far behind first.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-1452.html

[florida08]

41. transcript

http://thepage.time.com/2011/04/06/trump%e2%80%99s-hawaii-investigation/

[Roland99]

42. what an asshat

[greenman3610]

43. is Trump a democatic mole?

trying to make the GOP look ridiculous? ( and succeeding?)

[DallasNE]

48. Trump's Hair Violates The Constitution

Nothing that awful is allowed, period.

[Blue_Tires]

49. I predicted this over a week ago

Trump would have to get crazier and crazier to stay in the spotlight and on the front pages (which is all he really cares about -- his presidential "campaign" is a third-rate, cash-grabbing con)

Next week: Trump yanks the scab off the 'secret undercover muslim' discussion...

[stockholmer]

52. Trump is the Charlie Sheen of politics

:rofl:

[Blue Owl]

53. Is he oiling his taint?

n/t

[IcyPeas]

54. Publicity, Publicity, Publicity

it's working.

[RamboLiberal]

55. Donald Trump, wannabe President: I've sent investigators to Hawaii to look into Obama's citizenship

Source: NY Daily News

Donald Trump - who has been screaming from the rooftops that he doubts President Obama was born in the U.S. - sent a team of investigators to the commander-in-chief's home state of Hawaii to get answers.

"I have people that have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding," the would-be presidential candidate told NBC's "Today."

"You have people now out there searching - I mean, in Hawaii?" asked host Meredith Vieira.

"Absolutely," Trump replied. "And they cannot believe what they're finding."



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/04/07/2011-04-07_donald_trump_wannabe_president_ive_sent_investigators_to_hawaii_to_look_into_oba.html

---

Swiftboat 2012 edition courtesy of the endless deep pockets of Trump & his f'in ego!

[Drale]

56. If that man becomes president

I will be in open rebellion against the government, because I will not live in Donald Trumps America.

[RamboLiberal]

58. You and me both

Be Celebrity Apprentice Cabinet Appointments & Celebrity Apprentice WH Staff weekly on NBC!

[Ian David]

63. It won't be called America. He'll rename it to Trumpistan. It'll be huge... HYOOOJE! n/t

[abqmufc]

73. Don't we already live in a Donald Trump America? n/t

[cbdo2007]

57. He is quite the showman. "Stay tuned for more, incredible relevations!!!"

[LisaM]

59. In other words, he can't believe

he's not finding anything.

What a jackass.

[nyy1998]

64. +1

[Tanuki]

60. Reminds me of when Geraldo Rivera

made a big deal of opening that safe (that turned out to be empty) on national tv.

[Fuddnik]

61. Somebody should send an investigator up his ass to look for a clue.

[Drale]

65. I wouldn't give that job to even Boner

Thats probably the worst job there could ever be in the history of the world.

[dynasaw]

62. Guess He Doesn't Know

Hawaii is part of the U.S. :crazy:

[benld74]

66. Send yur investigators out looking for a new hair piece - you piece!

[provis99]

67. Trump can't even produce his own birth certificate.

Maybe he should have investigators find out if he's an American, first.

[PearliePoo2]

68. I heard him say this morning that the "Live Birth" certificate means nothing.

He said anyone can get one...it's not signed, dated nor has any stamp of certification.
He also suggested that Barack's Grandparents put the notice in the Hawaiian newspaper as a way to establish his citizenship.
He kept claiming that his Kenyan grandmother asserts Barack was born in Kenya.
I can't believe he is going there!
What happens when all his "investigators" come back and stare at their shoes??

[rocktivity]

69. Someone needs to start looking just as hard

at Trump's financial statements...

:evilgrin:
rocktivity

[Dulcinea]

70. This is all a publicity stunt.

Don't forget he signed a contract with Faux. He's not running for President. He's trying to stir up interest in his new show.

[glinda]

71. And in casting doubt and rumor milling.

[Politicalboi]

72. Anonymous Take Us Away!

Please investigate the Trump man and let us see his finances and expose this asshat for what he is.

[Dappleganger]

74. Trump is a notorious liar and fibber.

Probably the reason why he thinks he's qualified to run for office.

[AlbertCat]

75. I've sent investigators to Hawaii to look into Obama's citizenship

Knock yourself out, Dear.

"And you wouldn't believe what they're finding!"


Which is.....

I'll just bet I wouldn't believe it.

What a waste of time.

[2Design]

81. he is getting a lot of air time for being stupid and says he is smart - Not buying it n/t

[and-justice-for-all]

83. The 'investigators' will tell Trump what ever he wants to hear

because they are getting paid, the best way to keep getting paid is to keep the bullshit rolling. We all know Obama is an American citizen, he would not have been a Senator if he wasn't an American citizen. Trumps unwillingness to accept facts is clearly a good reason to tell him to go fuck himself and his delusions.

[Dogtown]

76. Playing to the crowd.

Sad that it will actually gain him votes.

[w4rma]

78. Awesome. He may win the GOP primary like this. They are nuts. (nt)

[Cass]

79. With all the other major stuff going on, this is what Trump thinks is hugely important??

He told Viera he has a team of people working on Obama's birth certificate. WTF. Viera wasn't prepared either, she didn't really push back on his lunatic rantings and he spewed some crazy-ass shit on that interview about Obama.

[AndyTiedye]

80. That is How The Mighty Slime Machine Works

Repeat the big lie over and over, through every media outlet, and the sheeple will belieeeeeve.

[isuphighyeah]

82. He looks more foolish by the second

in doing so.

[marasinghe]

84. as a new yorker, my question is -

why isn't a single damn journalist asking this stupid, lying, thieving, ugly-ass motherfucker, about the, not once, but, three times, he declared bankruptcy & cheated his suppliers - including small businesses and individuals - of the money he owed them for goods & services already supplied? fucking asshole belongs in jail; not wagging his regressive, prehensile upper lip & trumpeting his asinine idiocy on the media.

[Bombero1956]

85. do his 2 trophy wives agree with him?

and what does Ivana think? What a dickhead.

[TomCADem]

86. Behold The Power of The Corporate Media!

No wonder they can get so many middle class workers to support the repeal of workers' rights.

[Enrique]

87. I'll volunteer for this job

just pay my airfare and hotel and expenses, no salary needed.

[paparush]

89. Trump, speaking crazy to power.

[paparush]

90. dupe delete

[struggle4progress]

91. Translation: "Wannattention! Gimme gimme! Now!"

[and-justice-for-all]

94. Keep it up dildo, the more you talk this nonsense...

the more you will suffer the fate of that crazy nutcase Angle did.

This ranting of something long resolved makes you look like a fucking fool, which is a short ride for this moron.

[quakerboy]

95. "hammers away" Implies work. "yammers away"

would be a more fitting use of the language.

[No Elephants]

98. How intellectually bankrupt does Trump seem, if this is his signature issue ?

[timtom]

99. Now, why didn't I watch that ludicrous Trump tv show?

Oh, yeah. The man is a certified nincompoop. Inherited his wealth. Done nothing for American society, except explore new methods of comb-overs.

[CBHagman]

101. This tells us pretty much all we need to know about Trump.

If you are still willing to entertain the screwball notion that somehow everyone missed a key bit of information about the president of the United States, you either A) belong with the nuts, like that ranting woman who waved a plastic bag containing a copy of her own birth certificate at poor Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) during a public event; B) the gullible fools; C) the losers who want to believe it and won't be shifted by any messages from reality; or D) the cynical opportunists keen to exploit this.

Trump is in Category D, I suspect, which to my thinking proves his utter lack of qualification for elected office of any variety.

[rayofreason]

103. Even Marco Rubio....

...is sick of this shit.

Can I have a reality TV show where I get to fire Trump?