TrumpCo's Non-Apology On Birtherism Backfires

Earlier this month, I expressed some surprise when Trump surrogates started commenting on Birtherism. It made no sense to me that they decided to do so at this late hour. I thought the best move for Trump was to simply continue to say he doesn't talk about Birtherism anymore. Such a response would make for some pretty tough moments for Donald -- especially if the issue came up during one of the debates -- but that is the price a major presidential candidate pays when he has a history of not only taking such an overtly racist position but assuming a leadership role in pushing the racial hatred.

But Trump's people apparently decided that Donald needed to come clean on this issue and admit that Obama was in fact born in the United States. So last Friday, Trump made a short statement wherein he admitted that Obama was born here, but did not answer any questions on his change of heart -- despite the fact that his campaign called this event a "press conference" -- and did not apologize to Obama for all the lies. Indeed, Trump blamed Hillary for the rise of Birtherism, an outright lie that many Republicans are more than happy to repeat, including Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

But the GOP's "Hillary Started It!" Fuckery is not the only lie the GOP is telling now that we have entered the Post-Birther Era. Trump surrogate Chris Christie had this exchange yesterday with CNN's Jake Tapper:

TAPPER : “Well, just as a point of fact, again, Donald Trump did not accept when Barack Obama released his birth certificate in 2011. He kept up this whole birther thing until Friday. That’s five years. But we only have a little time left. So, I want to ask you…”

CHRISTIE: “No, but, Jake, that’s just not true. It’s not true that he kept it up for five years.”

TAPPER: “Sure, he did.”

CHRISTIE: “It’s simply not true.”

TAPPER: “It is true.”

Jake Tapper is right -- Trump did push his Birther Horseshit for many years after Obama released his long-form birth certificate.  In fact, Christie's statement that Trump dropped Birthersim after 2011 rated Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post's fact checker.  The Post added:

This is such bogus spin that we have to wonder how Christie manages to say it with a straight face. Regular readers know we shy away from using the word “lie,” but clearly Christie is either lying or he is so misinformed that he has no business appearing on television.

As Steve Benen noted this morning: "In a way, Trump put his friends in an impossible position, sending them out to defend the indefensible, urging them to lie on his behalf. It’s not surprising that this didn’t go well."