Trump closes door on one falsehood, opens door to another
Even as Donald Trump sought to close the door on the false conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States, he peddled another lie by claiming that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, was behind it. There is no evidence that is true.
"Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it," Trump declared Friday in a brief statement at the end of a televised campaign appearance in which he touted his new hotel and his endorsements from military veterans.
"President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period," he added. "Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again."
It was a spectacle that exemplified all the most extraordinary aspects of Trump's unorthodox candidacy: His ability to game the media, his embrace of conspiracy theories, and his pattern of repeating fallacies, even in the face of contradicting facts. And it centered around the "birther" issue that fueled his political rise.
