Global Issues
Does Trump Also “Regret” Denying Obama’s Natural Born Citizenship? -By Adeolu Ademoyo
Adeolu Ademoyo
Recently, Donald Trump, the candidate of the Republican Party in the 2016 American presidential election reportedly expressed “regret” over some of the “words” he had used on some “issues” during his campaign for the presidency of the United States so far. A “regret”, either fake or real, from someone like Donald Trump who is a danger as a president of any nation – given his unsteady and erratic temperament, not only towards Americans but also to the entire world – deserves scrutiny.
Trump’s own false claims about American history and public life, his questionable beliefs about fellow Americans who do not superficially look like him, when placed side by side his politically motivated “regret”, show the desperation of a poor human being and a failing politician who will say anything in order not to be humiliated at the November presidential polls by someone – Hillary Clinton – whose gender he derides and holds in contempt.
Trump’s “regret” is no regret, it is political regret – a deception, a ploy to catch votes, a gimmick to save his failing campaign which he built around bigotry, racism, sexism and xenophobia, and this is why:
When Donald Trump said he regrets the “words” (he did not say he regretted the substance) he used on “some issues”, the first question to ask him is: which of the “words” does he regret using? For example, going back to the time he launched his bid for the presidency, does Trump regret his attempt to delegitimise the Obama presidency (which he launched his campaign on) by denying that President Barack Obama is a natural born American citizen?
The so-called “Birther movement” (comprising extreme right wing Republicans, their rightwing media such as Fox News and Breitbart News, the Republican base, and the Republican Party aligned Tea Party) emerged as a well-coordinated battle-axe against Obama, claiming him not to be a natural born American citizen against common sense, reason and publicly available and verifiable facts. Donald Trump is one of the major spokespersons and beneficiaries of the campaign of this movement.
To illustrate the venom of racism and bigotry which Donald Trump, the Republican Party and the “Birther movement had sown in the hearts and minds of their members – the base of the Republican Party – and to test the genuineness of Trump’s “regrets”, let us look at the facts and data. In a 2009 polling of members of the Republican Party, the following question was asked: Do you believe Obama was born in America? This was the result of the poll.
Yes: 36 percent
No: 44 percent
Unsure 20 percent.
Conclusion: Against common sense, reason and facts, 44 percent of members of the Republican Party (fired by the rhetoric of politicians like Donald Trump and rightwing media organisations) were manipulated to believe that President Obama is not a natural born American citizen, thereby delegitimising the Obama presidency because of his race. Constitutionally, only natural born Americans can contest for the presidency.
In an April 7, 2011 News “Today” carried by the American network, NBC, Trump said in these recorded words: “three weeks ago (April 2011) when I started I thought probably he (President Obama) was born in this country… Now I really have much bigger doubt than I did before…” Donald Trump uttered this lie in public against facts, reason and common sense.
Working his candidacy into the hearts of the mass base of the Republican Party and the “Birther Movement”, Donald Trump’s “doubts” about the citizenship of a sitting American president signalled the beginning of his later 2015/16 presidential campaign. Hence, if Donald Trump is “regretting” some “words” he used on “some issues” because he is losing to Hillary Clinton at the polls, we must ask Donald Trump which of his “words” he is regretting.
Given publicly available facts, as documented and provided by American institutions at state and local levels, you would think the Republican Party and their media would allow facts and reason to moderate their intense racism, hatred, bigotry and xenophobia against a sitting president.
But no, the American right wing media (Fox and Breitbart News), the Republican Party and Donald Trump must have borrowed from the playbook of the Nazi, Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s Chief propagandist. Then in Germany, articulating a methodology with which to turn lie to “truth”, Goebbels said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
The Republican Party, the right wing media and Trump have performed the role Goebbels allocated to the German state in turning lies to the “truth” for members of their Party, while also appealing to the ignorance of their adherents, who are made deaf and immune to facts and reason.
On August 6, 2012 at about 4.23pm, one year after President Obama’s birth certificate became public, Donald Trump tweeted this: “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that Obama’s certificate is a fraud…” Consistent with the playbook of the Nazi Joseph Goebbels, Trump did not support his claim with any evidence. Rather, he repeated a lie. Just as Adolf Hitler’s lies caught fire among members of the German Socialist Party, Donald Trump’s lie caught fire among the base of the Republican Party and the rightwing media.
As revealed by polls, facts and data, Donald Trump’s main support is among old white men. They are blue-collar workers who generally have no college/university degree. Polls show that Donald Trump is losing to Hillary Clinton among other demographics other than members of this class. Sociologically speaking, this means this group can be vulnerable to right wing media racism and Nazi-like bigoted manipulation, and they do not have the benefit of alternate information to counter this manipulation. In a August 28-30 2015 survey by Public Policy Polling and reported by MSNBC, Trump supporters were asked the same question which was asked in 2009: Do you believe Obama was born in America. The results came as:
Yes: 21 percent
Unsure: 18 percent.
Conclusion: In 2015, against reason and facts, 61 percent of Americans who are members of the Republican Party and Trump supporters said that President Obama is not a natural born American citizen! The issue here is not about the freedom of speech, for everyone has the right to believe and hold any position no matter how uninformed this might be. The right to be ignorance is a choice. On the contrary, this is about something as basic as knowledge and the moral and intellectual obligation not to be ignorant, or to be in aggression against reason, facts and common sense.
Of course President Obama was born in Hawaii in the heart of the United States of America. That 2015 poll was five years after President Obama publicly made available his birth certificate. It was also five years after Donald Trump said he sent investigators to Hawaii and purportedly found “incredible things” about President Obama’s birth certificate. Donald Trump has still not disclosed the “incredible things” he found about President Obama’s certificate.
Having repeated the lie several times using the Nazi propaganda play book, when the Republican Primaries started, Trump knew he was going to get the votes of the base of the Republican Party who have been fired by the big lie of the right wing Republican Party “Birther Movement” and their media.
Trump’s candidacy in an important American election year is an aberration hence, he is beginning to realise that it is going to be difficult to elect a bigot, sexist, racist, and someone who mocks babies and people with physical challenges as the president. Donald Trump knows this, he has seen the writing of a loss on the wall, and his macho consciousness and big ego are being bruised and battered daily in the polls, hence he has started a gimmick to attempt to save himself a humiliating loss toHillary Clinton.
Donal Trump claims to regret some of the “words” he’s used on certain “issues”. As such, the questions are: which issues do Donald Trump regret? Does he regret having lied against a sitting President of the United States and his family? Does he regret that he carried his racism, bigotry and hate campaign to an absurd level by lying in order to delegitimise the Obama presidency just because of President’s race?
Donald Trump’s divisiveness has inflicted a deep moral injury on the very foundation and fabric of the American society. So, what Americans and the world need from Trump is a sober moral regret and not political regret – which is a vote hunting ploy – as he has done.
Adeolu Ademoyo, aaa54@cornell.edu, is with the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
