Flanked by two Medal of Honor recipients, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks at a campaign event at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 16, 2016. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Mike Segar)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday in D.C. made it clear he believes President Barack Obama was born in the United States and played the media, again. Democrats were hoping the Trump campaign would throw a life preserver to Hillary Clinton, who has been sinking fast in the polls and now trails her opponent in most battleground states.
Speaking at Trump International in Washington D.C., the New York businessman spent several minutes praising and allowing veterans, including a high ranking intel officer and two Medal of Honor recipients, to speak and thanked them for their support.
“Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther movement, and I finished it. President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making American great again.”
[brid video=”64259″ player=”2077″ title=”Full Donald Trump Holds Press Conference in DC 91616″]
Jeffrey C. Soto / September 19, 2016
It’s weird to report a candidate’s lie without mentioning that it’s a lie. In fact it turns you into a mouthpiece for the campaign. Here’s a flowchart:
(What Candidate Says) –(You)–> What Candidate Said
That’s what you did. In essence, you are a megaphone. In an ideal world:
(What Candidate Says) -> (Journalists) –(Investigation of Any Kind)–> Meaningful, Newsworthy Contribution
You should aim for the latter. Hillary didn’t start that lie. She fired one of her volunteer county coordinators for even forwarding an e-mail about it in Dec. 2007. And though some of her supporters definitely chewed on the rumor of Obama’s foreign birth during the primary, you can trace the argument back to a press release from Andy Martin in 2004, an article from 2006 by conservative Debbie Schlussel.
/