How Donald Trump Will Kill Birtherism

[cali]

By Chris Good

Apr 19 2011, 5:15 PM ET 91


Donald Trump is now king of the birthers.

On its face, this is a good thing for birtherism. The phenomenon has long wanted for a popular figure to carry its banner forward, from the musty corners of conspiracy theory, into the open crowds of mass culture. Trump is a better-known and possibly more likable figure than Orly Taitz. He's tied for first place among GOP 2012 contenders in CNN's latest poll. Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm that advertises nonpartisan polling, shows him leading hands-down.

Birtherism seems to be alive and well, as a Fox News poll recently showed 24 percent of Americans thinking President Obama wasn't born in the U.S. Among Republicans, 37 percent held that view.

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Birtherism relies heavily on misinformation and uncertainty. It reminds us that public views are probably less fact driven than we'd like to think. They're more like mass impressions, with feeling, logic, and "truth" leading individuals to answer polls, express views to other people, and vote (or not vote) in ways that connect them to morally and emotionally significant universes, as much as to agreed upon "facts."

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http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/how-donald-trump-will-kill-birtherism/237578/