One looming debate question for Donald Trump
Will he have to explain why he abruptly reversed course on birtherism?
After five years of promoting unsubstantiated theories that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, Donald Trump abruptly changed course last week.
During a brief press conference last week promoting his endorsements and hotel, Trump—who had evaded earlier questions on the issue during his presidential campaign—conceded that the country’s first black president was indeed a natural born citizen.
“President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period,” he said.
Yet Trump’s capitulation quickly surfaced another question: Why now—after years of peddling the falsehood—the sudden reversal?
In the days following Trump’s admission, he evaded questions of all kind from journalists, as CNN reported, retreating almost exclusively to Fox News, as well as other less hard-hitting interviews. Brian Stelter, CNN’s senior media correspondent, told network host Don Lemon last Monday that Trump was “sheltering himself” and avoiding tough questions on the subject.
In the absence of clarity, Stelter presented several questions Trump should be asked during Monday’s debate regarding his birtherism stance.
“The first one is why did he continue to sow doubts about Obama’s birthplace between 2011 [when the president released his long-form birth certificate] and 2016,” he said.
Stelter isn’t the only one wondering. His colleague, CNN anchor and reporter Jake Tapper, said the same thing in a podcast appearance that Monday, noting the unlikelihood that Trump would be pushed on the matter elsewhere.
“Like what happened on Friday that wasn’t readily available five years ago?” said Tapper.
Two days later, after some light dodging, Trump was actually asked that question, in essence, by a local TV reporter in Ohio.
“What changed?” asked WSYX’s Ben Garbarek.
Trump’s response, however, may have raised more questions than it answered.
“Well, I just wanted to get on with, I wanted to get on with the campaign,” he said. “A lot of people were asking me questions.”
Trump said he wanted to talk about other issues, like jobs and the military.
That answer seemed to indicate, as CNN reported, “that his statement late last week that President Barack Obama was born in the US was motivated by politics, not by a genuine change of heart.”
The moderator of Monday’s debate, NBC’s Lester Holt, announced three somewhat-ambiguous debate topics last week, but has otherwise remained silent about what questions he plans to ask.
But he won’t be the only one capable of asking questions; Clinton has good reason to push the issue if Holt does not.
Polls in battleground states like Florida and New Hampshire within the last week showed most voters aren’t buying that Trump actually believes Obama was born in the United States.
Clinton herself has made it clear she wasn’t planning to let Trump get away with his history of birtherism.
“His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie,” she told a conference in Washington, D.C., the same day as Trump’s reversal. “There is no erasing it in history.”
Additionally, the Associated Press reported Sunday that the Clinton campaign will keep the birther issue “at the forefront in outreach to African-Americans and undecided voters.”
There may be no larger platform to do so than Monday night, as Stelter told Lemon last week:
“If Holt doesn’t bring it up, I’m sure Hillary Clinton will on stage.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com