Birtherism: Trump’s Original Sin And The Media’s Latest One

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Next time you watch the news, do me a favor. Take a look at the reporters’ arms. Do they seem tired to you? Overworked? They have to be a little sore at least. Such is the vigor with which the media have been patting themselves on the back lately.

After a full year of the Trump steamroller -- in which a honey-baked ham with authoritarian inclinations has managed to blow past any serious questioning of his policies or candidacy -- the media apparently feel that they’re now doing their jobs.

You could see it a few weeks back in the breathless praise for MSNBC's Chris Matthews when he interrogated Trump on abortion; or in the hype around the New York Times interview that nailed down Trump’s Strangelovian approach to nuclear weapons; or even in Trump’s recent pivot toward a more “presidential” tone. Among reporters and critics that I know, there’s a growing sentiment that Trump is changing his ways because they, the press, are taking him seriously now. They’re handling Trump not based on the job he has (obnoxious reality star) but on the job he wants (president or, perhaps, generalissimo).

Call me crazy, but I’m not totally buying this notion. I think it’s a crock. The media haven’t “done their job” with regard to Trump, and the reason why is very simple: The press have largely ignored the issue that made him a political phenomenon in the first place.

The media have overlooked Trump’s birtherism.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/04/26/birtherism-trump-s-original-sin-and-media-s-latest-one/210088

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1. Some of us remember who the birther and secret-Muslim-agent smears originated with.

Hint: she won four primaries last night.

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3. Here you go!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/26/barackobama.uselections2008

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4. This is pretty interesting, too!

http://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2008/03/taking-obama-at-his-word-006674

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5. and that has fuck nothing to do with this thread