Trump Bashes Obama on His Citizenship

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 8, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

         Sounding more-and-more like a presidential candidate, 64-year-old real estate mogul Donald Trump continues the relentless Tea Party drumbeat about President Barack Obama’s citizenship.  While he hasn’t announced yet, Trump hopes to score points with conservatives bashing Obama’s policies, honing in on conspiracy theories about Barack’s citizenship.  Trump ignores the birth announcement published in a Honolulu paper on Barack’s birthday, Aug. 1, 1961.  Whatever issues confront the country, Trump looks inclined to execute the Obama haters’ playbook, questioning in birthplace and religious faith.  Obama-bashers tie him to his Kenyan father’s Muslim faith and Barack’s early-life education in a Muslim elementary school in Jakarta, Indonesia.  “I’d like to beat him straight up,” Trump insisted, not questioning Barack’s citizenship but on issues confronting the country.

              Obama’s citizenship has been an issue for conservatives since he announced his run for president Feb. 10, 2007.  Because the Constitution requires presidents to be born in the U.S. or one of its territories or military bases, Trump would like to see Barack tossed out of office for failing to produce a birth certificate.  “I’d like to have him show his birth certificate,” Trump told NBC news.  “And to be honest with you, I hope he can,” referring to Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate.  Trump is one of the first potential GOP candidates hinting at running for president.  “I always take things seriously . . . ,” said Trump in reference to whether or not he plans to run for president.  “I wish this were the greatest place in the world,” said Trump, complaining now about the U.S. under Obama.  Trump didn’t complain much about the state of the union under former President George W. Bush.

               Trump accused Obama of a “terrible presidency,” despite the Dow Jones Industrials rising over 55% to over 12,400.  When Bush left office January 20, 2009, the Nasdaq stood it stood at 1,400, nearly doubling in 2 years.  Trump knows the S&P 500 stood at about 850 when Bush left office, standing today at over 1,350, a 70% gain.  Bashing Obama won’t undo Trump’s pro-abortion views and racy jetsetter lifestyle to Tea Party folks, more infatuated with Christian evangelicals and the pro-life movement. When questioned about Libya, Trump blamed the president for a feckless policy causing a loss of American prestige.  “Nobody knows what’s happening and now it looks like [Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi] is going to beat the United States,” said Trump, despite knowing that the U.S. joined a U.N.-approved, NATO –sponsored multinational coalition.

                Trump’s right in questioning the U.S. mission in Libya, torn between protecting civilians but recognizing that only by getting rid of Kadafi can the coalition really protect anyone in Libya.  Obama’s March 28 speech on Libya offered no coherent justification for the Libyan mission other than protecting civilians.  Whether justified or not, at least Bush justified the Iraq War by fingering Saddam Hussein as a threat to U.S. national security.  After downing Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and other assorted terrorist acts, Kadafi was always a greater threat to U.S. national security than Saddam.  Barack needs to sharpen his message as the U.S. and NATO consider finishing the job by putting boots on the ground.  Trump’s current criticism of Obama reflects the kind of disingenuous pandering that’s bound to boomerang.  If he stuck to Obama’s real weaknesses, voters would take him more seriously.

            Trump transformed his considerable inherited wealth into a vaunted real estate empire, though facing, as many real estate moguls, several bankruptcies along the way.  His wealth was estimated at over $3 billion by Forbes Magazine in 2007.  His recent $40 million default to Deutsche Bank mirrors the kinds of hardball business tactocs throughout his real estate career.  If he runs for president, it’s going to be difficult explaining his multiple bankruptcies.  Of his many successful ventures, Trump’s executive producing role in NBC’s “The Apprentice” stands as his crowning achievement, earning him around $3 million an episode.  He received his star in 2007 in Hollywood’s “Walk-of-Fame.”  Currently Trump sides with Republicans on the budget impasse, threatening a government shutdown.  Despite his extravagant lifestyle, Trump blames the president for profligate spending.

            Bashing Obama, Trump joins other unofficial candidates, like former Alaska Gov. and GOP VP candidate Sara Palin, blaming Barack for everything, including the mushrooming national debt.  He gives Obama, his Treasury Secretary Tim Geither or Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke no credit for turning around the worst recession since the Great Depression handed to him by Bush when he took office in 2009.  Trump overlooks anything positive, especially in the economy, to focus, like a good propagandist, only on tangential or peripheral issues, like Barack's citizenship.  Focusing on Obama’s birth status puts him in good stead with Palin, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and other conspiracy-oriented conservatives looking to chip away at Barack’s 47% approval rating.  Since making presidential noise, Trump’s now the Obama-bsshing frontrunner.

 John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2005 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.