Donald Trump’s “birtherism” is back, but did it ever really leave? Trump’s campaign tried to make the mess go away on Thursday night when Senior Communications Adviser Jason Miller issued a statement: “Having successfully obtained President Obama’s birth certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States.” However, this assurance runs contrary to a new Washington Post interview, in which the Republican nominee declines to confirm or deny whether or not he’s still holding onto that conspiracy theory: “I’ll answer that question at the right time. I just don’t want to answer it yet.”
Naturally, the campaign decided the best way to, um, clarify this confusing dichotomy was to trot out Katrina Pierson. She’s clearly skilled at time bending, so perhaps Pierson can make the cable news audience forget about Trump’s refusal to quash the birther theory? Probably not. Fresh off her latest unsuccessful sparring round with Jake Tapper, Pierson certainly didn’t convince Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, who asked, “Why for the love of God won’t he just say President Obama was born in the United States?” Pierson tried to deflect by claiming that Trump’s simply a different type of candidate:
“Here we are, 15 months later, and still there are many in the media that expect Donald Trump to be some robotic politician and that’s just not who he is … He’s not gonna let the media determine what he talks about and when, and that’s exactly what you’re seeing here. Mr. Trump is gonna be Mr. Trump. He will respond when he feels like it.”
Pierson tried to reclassify the topic as a “diversionary tactic” by the press, but Kelly reminded her that both Rudy Giuliani and Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway have said Trump has abandoned birtherism. Yet Pierson maintained that Trump just doesn’t want to discuss it anymore: “Barack Obama is not on the ballot. It is completely irrelevant to the election cycle.” Kelly wasn’t having it: “Katrina, that’s not gonna fly.”
Pierson then pointed towards a new South Carolina Trafalgar poll, which suggests that the state’s black voters are warming to Trump. Again, Kelly had no patience: “That’s a dodge.” Meanwhile, a little extra fun came by way of third-wheel guest Robert Zimmerman, who handled it pretty well while Pierson referred to him as “George.”
