Donald Trump considered running for president against President Barack Obama in 2012 by questioning the legitimacy of the country’s first Black president by claiming that he was not actually born in Hawaii, as Obama said, but in Kenya. Obama would have been ineligible to become president if he had been born outside the United States.
“I have people that have been studying [Obama’s birth certificate] and they cannot believe what they’re finding,” Trump said on NBC’s Today Show. “I would like to have him show his birth certificate, and can I be honest with you, I hope he can. Because if he can’t, if he can’t, if he wasn’t born in this country, which is a real possibility … then he has pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics.”
There was nothing behind Trump’s claim except to further establish the incontrovertible fact Trump was a liar, a racist, and a con man.
The White House released copies of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate on April 27, 2011, in an effort to end the so-called “birther” controversy.
Three days after the release of the birth certificate, Obama, speaking at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, mocked Trump, who was sitting in the crowd of Washington insiders, journalists and media personalities, by suggesting the businessman could move on to other conspiracies now that the “birther” controversy appeared to be resolved.
“Donald Trump is here tonight,” Obama said. “Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate to rest than The Donald.”
Obama said that Trump could now move beyond the “birther” controversy to other conspiracy theories such as aliens landing in Roswell, New Mexico, or the circumstances behind the deaths of rap singers. “Like, did we fake the moon landing?” Obama added. “What really happened at Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
Obama then joked about Trump’s judgment by referring to his experience as host of the reality program, Celebrity Apprentice, where actors and singers such as Lil Jon, Meatloaf, and Gary Busey competed to impress Trump with their business acumen.
“We all know about your credentials, and your breadth of experience,” Obama said. “For example, on a recent episode of Celebrity Apprentice, at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around, but you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf, you fired Gary Busey.
“These are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night.
“Well handled, sir! Well handled.”
Obama, aware of Trump’s self-promotion and lofty political ambitions, added that Trump would bring change to the White House if he became president. Obama then referred to a photo of a Trump White House, which showed “Trump,” in large letters on top of president’s residence with the words “The White House,” in purple letters, followed by “hotel,” “casino,” and “golf course.”
Trump sat expressionless during Obama’s monologue while the crowd erupted in laughter.
This wasn’t the end of Trump’s ridicule that night. When Obama was finished, Seth Meyers, host of the dinner, continued with several more minutes of insults directed at the billionaire. “Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican—which is surprising, since I just assumed that he was running as a joke,” Meyers said.
Adam Gopnik, a political writer for The New Yorker, remembered watching Trump as the jokes kept coming at his expense. “Trump’s humiliation was as absolute, and as visible, as any I have ever seen: his head set in place, like a man in a pillory, he barely moved or altered his expression as wave after wave of laughter struck him,” Gopnik wrote. “There was not a trace of feigning good humor about him, not an ounce of the normal politician’s, or American regular guy’s ‘Hey, good one on me!’ attitude—that thick-skinned cheerfulness that almost all American public people learn, however painfully, to cultivate.”
Roger Stone, one of Trump’s top advisors, said Trump decided to run for president after feeling he had been publicly humiliated at the 2001 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “I think that is the night he resolves to run for president,” Stone said in an interview with the PBS program Frontline. “I think that he is kind of motivated by it: ‘Maybe I’ll just run. Maybe I’ll show them all.’ ”
Trump, if Stone and other political observers are correct, sought the presidency to avenge that humiliation. Once Trump became president, he sought to destroy everything Obama had achieved during his presidency. This is how he would have the last word.
I don’t really think that Obama’s monologue prompted Trump to run for president.
But I like watching the video and hope you will, too.
Here it is:
