I had to look back to earlier articles from 2009 to remind myself how crazy the Birther movement had been for the Far Right, and yes it was the Far Right who shilled it and ate it up. Like this tidbit:
And so, this isn't about the birth certificate. This is about the Far Right refusing to accept the 2008 election results. This is about the Far Right refusing to wake up from their fantasy-based world (where Bush and Cheney and Rush are GODS, where terrorists possess nukes and the French are cheese-eating surrender monkeys, where there's an endless supply of loans to pay for massive war expenses and unending tax cuts) and re-enter the Reality-Based community (where everything's been broken by 8 years of Bush/Cheney self-serving incompetence and the whole world hates us for warmongering and neocon arrogance). This is about the Far Right thinking it's 1993 all over again and they can attack Clinton for every half-baked rumor coming out of Arkansas, only now it's 2009 and they think they can attack Obama for every fully-baked rumor about him. Facts don't matter. Truth don't matter. Even having the courts throw their cases out for sheer stupidity don't matter. All that matters is ATTACK AND WIN.
Or this piece that came soon after:
I admit to having interests in conspiratorial stuff: huge X-Files fan here, got a copy of the Big Book of Conspiracies on my shelf somewhere. I've even got my own thoughts on who killed JFK (and why a cover-up was necessary). But even I know the difference between slightly titillating nonsense that tweaks my reading habits and this crap about Obama's birth status that extremists are using to stir up talk of coup d'etats and actual military misconduct. Too many crazy people are taking this sh-t seriously. And that's not good for the rest of us. It'd be nice if I could stop talking about it, but it's either this or the pre-planned Republican Riots at Congressional town halls this month for discussion.
Sigh. The crazy is not gonna end anytime soon.
The sad thing about what I wrote back then? I never really brought up the other underlying part of those Birther attacks: the racism behind denying Obama his very IDENTITY as a person. I felt uncomfortable then bringing it up, because it's hard to make that kind of accusation in public - even on a minor traffic site like this - and not walk away scarred by it. But nowadays, given how blatant the Far Right has gotten in their attacks on ANYONE not "Ignorant White Male", the racism HAS to be pointed out for what it was and what it is today.
And as I noted, the crazy DID NOT end in 2009. It didn't even - despite Trump's lying about it now - end in 2011 when Trump really pushed this fake narrative for all it was worth (in a likely attempt in 2012 to make a Presidential bid).
Lemme re-link this article from Christian Science Monitor... which was published in 2011 when Trump went full-tilt bullshitter selling this con:
“The cynicism of the purveyors of these fantasies is that they know very well what they are playing at, the prejudices they are fanning,” Remnick wrote. “Let’s say what is plainly true … these rumors, this industry of fantasy, are designed to arouse a fear of the Other, of an African-American man with a white American mother and a black Kenyan father.”
And now Trump, likely getting told he HAS to pander outside of his Alt-Right (hint: KKK Neo-Nazi mofos) fanbase to get over the 40 percent hump, is trying to flip-flop his way out of a racket he'd been selling for five years (at least). He's not doing this to win over Blacks or other minority groups who are well aware how racist this "Birth Certificate" crap has been, he's trying to woo back the middle-of-the-road White voters who normally won't vote for Hillary but aren't keen on voting for well-known racists like TRUMP.
If there's any good out of this, it's that the Birther crowd has lost their greatest standard bearer. Remember Orly Taitz? Better yet, let's forget her again.
If there's any other good out of this, it's that Trump is getting hammered in the press for his bouncing between one lie and another about his Birther involvement. It'd be pretty to think that this is the weekend the major media outlets - save for Fox Not-News, which has tied its fate to this particular wagon - finally switches the Narrative over to the "Trump is a Con Artist Lying His Way Out of Everything" track.
What's insulting now is that Trump is trying to pass the blame onto Hillary, making the argument that it was Clinton back in 2008 during the rough Democratic primaries who smeared Obama with the birtherism attack. Problem with that, the fact-checkers know damn well it wasn't Hillary. Obama knows it wasn't Hillary - after all, Obama picked her for Secretary of State and you don't do that for someone who insults you - and I would love to see what happens the moment Obama comes out and hammers Trump on the Anvil of History about who OBAMA really blames for the Birther crap.
Because Obama beat the shit out of Trump on this before:
It was the same night Obama was making the judgment call to take out Osama Bin Laden. The entire weekend was a humiliation for Trump, and it's burned him ever since.
I pray to the Old Gods and the New that Obama slaps the taste out of Donald's mouth.
5 comments:
Trump has also given the media a free pass to talk about his birtherist history and remind millions of black voters why they loathe him. That should help boost enthusiasm to vote against him.
I hope. I hope I hope I hope so.
The problem is, the entire dynamic of this election cycle doesn't follow the normal logic of an election cycle. Trump is so shameless a person that any ONE of the many insane things he's said AND done would sink any other candidate. But with him, every stupid crazy thing and every obvious fact pointed out in the media that is paying attention just makes his fanbase more determined to support him. And he will never really drop out (not until it's absolutely clear he has nothing left to steal).
A big sized hope is that the media stops treating Trump with any level of respect, because with his stunt today - hijacking the media for his "birther" announcement to instead shill his new hotel (which is collapsing already) - he's gotten too many pundits angry at him... angrier than anything about Hillary that gets them mad (Hillary may be aloof in their judgment but at least she RESPECTS the process of campaigning).
Rude Pundit refers to this skewed screwed up election thusly:
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-post-factual-election-trump-lies.html
"You keep thinking that if you can show that Trump is lying, that they'll abandon him. That's not gonna happen. They don't give a fuck if Trump's lying or not. They just don't care. In fact, they'll believe Trump and say that CNN is lying because it's just the liberal media. Trump voters don't give a shit about truth. They don't give a shit about facts. All they care about is that they hate Obama, they hate Hillary, and they want to elect someone who isn't either of them."
Trump supporters and most Republicans won't abandon him no matter what. That's true. But it's always been true. For several cycles every Republican nominee has had about 40% of the electorate he's guaranteed to get. Democrats don't win elections by winning over those 40% on the right. We win by appealing to the 20% in the middle who don't start off committed either way (not synonymous with self-described "independents, many of whom are former Republicans who no longer identify with the party because it isn't wingnutty enough). And a lot of that 20% do care that Trump is racist / lying / too crazy to be given nukes. Don't worry about the rabid ones. We've never won them and won't win them this time. The target is the persuadable middle.
I think Trump believes this fraudulent stunt will stop him from being roasted in the debates for his birtherism, which would open the door for all manner of accountability for the alt right he has running his campaign. I don't think it will work. That's a political needle he never has had the skill to thread, much less the mental discipline.
This is always a scary time in the election cycle, as after Labor Day all sorts of otherwise unengaged folks start to pay attention and the polls all go crazy.
From what I'm seeing, the Rude Pundit is right. No matter how much reality you pile up in front of Trump supporters, they just deny it and make things up even crazier than the ones you were debunking to begin with. We have to just hope that there are fewer of them than the sane people, and more importantly, get every last sane person (or persuadable nut case) to the polls to vote for Hillary. We can do this.
-Doug in Oakland
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