Trump card
NEW YORK — As the number of Republicans declaring themselves potential presidential candidates has begun to look like a conga line without music, hope lingered that somewhere unnoticed was a brilliant dark horse biding his sweet time.
Wherever pundits and pinots merged, a mantra materialized. Surely, a miracle would occur and The Candidate would emerge at just the right moment to rescue an ennui-stricken electorate from establishmentarians and their tea-partying ankle-biters. Cymbals would sound; angels would succumb to arias; Democrats would quake. And prosperity, world peace and well-adjusted children would follow. But who?
Turns out: The Candidate would be tall and rich and sport a coif that defies party identification. He would be a reality TV star. And his name would be known to all, such that even jaded veterans would slap their foreheads as the obvious became clear. But of course!
The Donald.
As presidential sweepstakes go, one couldn’t find an odder—and yet more predictable—candidate than Donald Trump, whose name needs no burnishing. One can hardly walk a block in this city without stumbling into an edifice bearing his name. He towers over all others on the Monopoly game board.
Trump is inevitable in the same way that Barack Obama was. That is to say, each president tends to be a reaction to the previous commander in chief. George W. Bush was the opposite of Bill Clinton, and Obama was certainly nothing like Bush. At least not as a candidate.
This presidential formula, largely consistent through the years, has become exaggerated recently owing to cultural developments unique to our times, including our infatuation with celebrity and our attraction to extreme forms of expression. From movies to sports to politics and punditry, everything is big, loud, and over the top.
If people have wearied of Obama’s cerebral serenity and an approach to governance that seems overconsidered, then who better than The Donald to seize the alternative? Trump, live-and-in-living-color, is a Muhammad Ali of Main Street—bombastic and boastful, a provocateur with money to put where his mouth is. He knows what he knows, and we can take it or leave it. The Donald doesn’t care. In a poll-driven punditocracy, the mind spoken so freely offers a tonic to toxicity.
Except when it doesn’t. About that birther thing.
Trump entered the presidential fray with the headline-snatching pronouncement that Obama should produce proof of his birth on U.S. turf. This same ol’ same ol’ nonsense, which has been amply resolved by nonpartisan entities, nonetheless received the requisite attention.
Trying to convince birthers that Obama is a legitimate citizen rather than a closet jihadist is like trying to convince a terrified child that there’s no monster under the bed. No amount of reasoning will do, though there is one bit of logic that seems to have escaped mention and that ought to provide relief to the most-fevered minds.
Herewith: If there were even one iota of evidence suggesting that Obama was not born in this country, does anyone really think that Hillary Clinton wouldn’t have raised it during the campaign? Really?
The Clintons don’t just have people; they have armadas of political machinery. If Obama were born anywhere but where he says he was born, we’d all be saying, “Madame President” and “Bill’s Bubbalicious Barbecue Sauce” would be nudging Paul Newman’s marinara off grocery store shelves.
A cynic might ponder the possibility that Team Obama keeps the birther meme in circulation. As the president himself told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Republicans who embrace the birther movement are hurting themselves.
In saner times, we’d recognize and dismiss the ravings of madmen, self-promoters and false prophets. Today, thanks to the democratization of the megaphone and the political bulimia we euphemistically call “dialogue,” any old canard can enjoy 15 minutes of credibility.
Sure enough, Trump’s challenge to Obama’s natural-born citizenship has gained traction among a disturbing number of believe-anythingers, outscoring others in GOP presidential preference polls.
While the new head of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, is urging birthers to take their meds, some have wondered whether Trump’s rant is mere stunt. In the age of celebrity, it doesn’t matter what people are saying about you as long as they’re talking about you, goes the “thinking.”
By this calculus, the more ridiculous one is, the more likely one is to benefit from buzz. And then, who knows, one may become a sensation in the Twitterverse, and then pop goes the weasel, and th-th-th-that’s all, folks!
Until the next cycle begins, even sooner than the last.
Kathleen Parker is a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. Her email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.
Apr 19, 2011 at 10:01 a.m.
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Parker writes .." ... The Clintons don’t just have people; they have armadas of political machinery. If Obama were born anywhere but where he says he was born, we’d all be saying, “Madame President” and “Bill’s Bubbalicious Barbecue Sauce” would be nudging Paul Newman’s marinara off grocery store shelves. .."
First, this is pure bunk. NO one heard about all the trouble white voters were having in Florida and Pennsylvania during the primaries, either. Many were Hillary supporters and Hillary did complain to the voting officials about it. Nothing happened.
The birther question about Obama is a valid concern and appears to be a conspiracy at the highest level. As are questions about Obama's Harvard transcripts.
Obama has spent millions sequestering his brith details and his Harvard transcripts.
WHY? Any iof us can get a valid copy of our birth certificate fro $25, or so.
Why not just do that? What does he and his supporters fear?
Since our national news media is involved in this conspiracy up to their eye-balls, it will take someone rich and powerful like THE DONALD to get to the truth about Obama.
And if he finds the truth is -- as Obama and his supporters say -- then Obama has wasted a huge amount of money by just not presenting all the proper paperwork that each and everyone of us can do about our births.
But if not, maybe then we'll finally stop calling people who recognize a rat in the woodpile when they see it, goof-balls.
And we have not heard about all of it yet. There are now big doubts that Obama even wrote his first auto-biography book. You know - the best seller that everyone fell in lve with him over. Could his 1960s terrorist friend, Bll Ayers, have written that book?
There is so much we have yet to learn about the man we call Mr. President, it is frightening. We put an unknown into the Oval Office. Someone we barely know is the leader of the free world and can detonate nuclear warfare in an instant.
The media and the public (especially the liberal public) vetted Sarah Palin (a mere VP candidate) unmercifully. They assasinated her career and her future.
But why is everyone so willing to give Obama a free ride? Racism? Or something far bigger?
Apr 18, 2011 at 5:29 p.m.
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P-Red; and he could communicate with Francis the mule.
Apr 18, 2011 at 3:38 p.m.
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Gee Patriot, don't leave out Reagan. He was the ultimate pretender playing the role of a President. His training as an actor served him well in the White House.
Apr 18, 2011 at 1:20 p.m.
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Obama's victory is already guaranteed. Money wins elections as we all know, and his fundraising will probably top the $1 billion mark. Plus, he doesn't have to go through the arduous primary process. That's why there doesn't seem to be a Republican front-runner at this point. Anyone with real hopes of getting into the Oval Office is looking to 2016.
Apr 18, 2011 at 11:14 a.m.
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The Democrats would love nothing more than to have Trump or Palin on the ballot in 2012. That would guarantee and victory for Obama.
Apr 18, 2011 at 10:39 a.m.
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DavidG and WalterReuther: I agree with you totally.
onedayatatime: Yes, this has been covered before, and over and over again.
It really gets tiring that some people have to keep bringing this up. It's done and over with.
Donald Trump? You gotta be kidding me. That is completely insane.
Apr 18, 2011 at 9:03 a.m.
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Since when has Donald Trump EVER been concerned with anyone but himself. Whatever his political plans are, you can be sure that its all about Donald.
Apr 17, 2011 at 4:57 p.m.
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http://msgboard.snopes.com/politics/grap...
Apr 17, 2011 at 4:48 p.m.
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This is so riduclous! I might be crazy but I believe the vetting committee probably covered this when President ran for office the first time.
His birth certificate is on-line.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pres...
Apr 17, 2011 at 2:17 p.m.
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Producing a birth certificate is not a requirement to hold federal office. Senators don't have to. Reps don't have to. No other President has had to. He has been singled out by birthers even though all proper authorities have confirmed that he was born in the U.S. I can think of no other reason why the Tea Party birthers harp on this so much than racism. No President before him has had his place of birth questioned, and I think if President Obama resembled the presidents before him no one would be acting suspicious of where he was born.
Apr 17, 2011 at 1:37 p.m.
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Publicity stunt.
Apr 17, 2011 at 1:02 p.m.
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It scares me when I think about the mindset of those who support these crazy theories. Even in the face of evidence like the newspaper archives in Hawaii that have the articles about Obama's birth, there is still a sizeable crowd who do not believe it. Were they in question of John McCain's citizenship (born in Panama)? No, because he was a war hero born to US parents in another country.
I sincerely doubt that very many people really believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy. That takes the cake.
As for Donald, I am confused about this guy. Had he not raised the birther issue, he would not have captured the imagination of those who still support this insane view. I can't even imagine him trying to negotiate with anyone, let along a foreign head of state, the Democratic leaders in congress, or anyone. His view is from a big building, looking down on the rest of us.
Apr 17, 2011 at 1:01 p.m.
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Can you imagine the potential offspring of Don "Duck the Hard Questions" and Sarah "The Dingbat?" Think about it. The loud screech of "You're fired!!" Enough to wake you up in a panic in the middle of the night.
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