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As he struggles in the polls, Trump reaches for the racist playbook again
From David Smith in The Guardian:
The US president began his political career with the ‘birtherism’ lie about Obama. He’s doing the same once more
“Mr President,” a reporter asked on Thursday. “After three and a half years, do you regret, at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?”
A disbelieving Trump asked: “All the what?”
The question was repeated and the US president refused to answer. His political career began with a big lie: birtherism, the baseless fantasy that Barack Obama was born outside the US and therefore ineligible for the White House.
It may now be nearing its end with another false and racist conspiracy theory, which he encouraged at the same Thursday briefing. This one questions Kamala Harris’s eligibility to be vice president.
Harris was this week named as Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s running mate for the 2020 election – the first woman of colour on a major party ticket. She was born in Oakland, California, and is eligible for both the vice presidency and presidency under the US constitution.
John Eastman, a conservative lawyer, wrote an op-ed in Newsweek arguing that the constitution does not grant birthright citizenship and challenging Harris’s eligibility based on her parents’ immigration status.
When Trump was asked about it at Thursday’s White House press briefing, he gave a characteristically vague answer that could sow doubt in the minds of supporters inclined to believe the worst: “So, I just heard that. I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements. And, by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer.”
A disbelieving Trump asked: “All the what?”
The question was repeated and the US president refused to answer. His political career began with a big lie: birtherism, the baseless fantasy that Barack Obama was born outside the US and therefore ineligible for the White House.
It may now be nearing its end with another false and racist conspiracy theory, which he encouraged at the same Thursday briefing. This one questions Kamala Harris’s eligibility to be vice president.
Harris was this week named as Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s running mate for the 2020 election – the first woman of colour on a major party ticket. She was born in Oakland, California, and is eligible for both the vice presidency and presidency under the US constitution.
John Eastman, a conservative lawyer, wrote an op-ed in Newsweek arguing that the constitution does not grant birthright citizenship and challenging Harris’s eligibility based on her parents’ immigration status.
When Trump was asked about it at Thursday’s White House press briefing, he gave a characteristically vague answer that could sow doubt in the minds of supporters inclined to believe the worst: “So, I just heard that. I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements. And, by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer.”
Full story: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/13/donald-trump-kamala-harris-birtherism-obama-racism
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