Donald Trump, Jerry Seinfeld upset over Obama birth certificate yada yada
In what has to be a dark day for birthers, it seems Donald Trump, their most popular champion, has tired of talking about President Obama's disputed birth certificate.
At the top of an interview with CNN on Thursday morning, the brash billionaire bristled when the host asked him about the topic that has been on the tip of the tongue for months.
"You have to stop asking me about a birth certificate," Trump told CNN’s "American Morning" hosts Kiran Chetry and Ali Velshi. "You've got to stop asking the questions."
Trump, who has led numerous GOP presidential polls due, largely, to his beating the birther drum, complained that the issue doesn't allow him to talk about other problems like the trade deficit.
“The problem is every time I go on a show — like as an example, this morning — the first question you asked me is about the birth certificate," Trump, who has has yet to announce his intention to run for president said. "I think my strength is jobs, the economy and protecting our nation from OPEC, China and the other countries that are ripping us off.”
Velshi fired back by offering the bestselling author of "The Art of the Deal" ... a deal.
"We'll stop asking you the questions when you stop saying that President Obama can't prove he is born in the United States," Velshi said.
Trump, however, refused to toss away his trump card. "Every day that goes by, I think less and less that he was born in the United States," Trump said. "He possibly was, but I want to get rid of the word 'possibly.' "
With all of the attention the billionaire has received for his questions about the president's true nationality, Trump has also received backlash. CNN is reporting that comedian Jerry Seinfeld has canceled an appearance at a charity benefit hosted by one of Trump's sons because of the birther issue.
According to Seinfeld's manager, the television star "feels this kind of demagoguery has no place in public discourse." Although the comedian made a contribution to the Eric Trump Foundation and to the hospital that is also a beneficiary of the event, The Donald wasn't pleased and wrote Seinfeld an angry letter.
"I just learned you canceled a show for my son's charity, the EricTrump Foundation, which benefits the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital [which treats children with cancer] because of the fact that you think I am being very aggressive with respect to President Obama, who is doing an absolutely terrible job as our leader -- just look at Libya, our economy, gas, food, and clothing prices and maybe you will understand what is going on!" Trump began.
"What I do feel badly about is that I agreed to do, and did, your failed show, 'The Marriage Ref,' even though I thought it was absolutely terrible,” Trump continued. “Despite its poor ratings, I didn't cancel on you like you canceled on my son and St. Jude. I only wish I did."
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Note: Andrew Malcolm is on vacation.
-- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog
Photos, from top: Donald Trump speaks at a "tea party" rally in Boca Raton, Fla., last week; Jerry Seinfeld on the set of his ill-fated "The Marriage Ref." Credits: John W. Adkisson / Getty Images; NBC
Amazing - Trump banged the drum with the Birther lies and then says I am tired of it - don't ask me about it! Then Seinfeld has the courage of his convictions and says no to an appearance under the Trump name and Trump doesn't understand! I just wonder how Trump's kids feel about the lies coming out of Trump's piehole! We know they dare not tell Trump what an idiot he is because he controls their finances! Who will want to be associated with the Trump name now - oh wait Michele Bachman, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party idiots not to mention the woman at the Orange County Republican Committee - Davenport - who used or doctored a family photo of 3 chimps with Obama as the child with the text "Now you know why no birth certificate."
This is what Trump has stirred up. More Racism, Hatred, and division for something that has already been proved a lie!
Posted by: FLoridaRes | April 21, 2011 at 04:56 PM
Right on Jerry!!! This is why I love you so much!!!!!!!
Posted by: Waldo | April 21, 2011 at 05:28 PM
Run, Donald, Run!!!
I so hope he runs and actually wins the GOP nomination. Dems couldn't ask for a more perfect opponent than Donald Chump. You know it's bad when even Republicans (excluding the nut case tea bagging extremists) are wishing he'd just shut the hell up and stick to TV.
Posted by: Crotchety | April 21, 2011 at 05:37 PM
wow, could The Times have posted a more asinine picture?
meanwhile, Obama is only pictured posing with his giant pearly whites gleaming, in perfect lighting. no wonder people call him the Messiah...
Posted by: brianguy | April 21, 2011 at 06:08 PM
Sorry, I can't take Trump seriously running for President (I don't think you can change this persona as it is now). He also does not have the real experience or serious experience that I want in the white-house (no "federal, legal, local" track-record). You can't act this job (it just too costly). The other issues mentioned--tough call for Seinfeld. Though he might have done it just for the cause (and stated that in his classy Seinfeld way).
Hyperbole's and bombastic commentary to the public won't cut the mustard for political office.
If Trump is serious, I would encourage him to run modestly for mayor, local office of the state he resides in first and then try for the presidency (wait/work another 4 years--save your money, Trump!).
Posted by: Anita Dirini | April 21, 2011 at 07:10 PM
you go Donald Trump get rid of the non american!!
Posted by: kc | April 21, 2011 at 07:28 PM
I have always liked D.T. BUT, he is taking the pathe of Charlie Sheen and talking "gibberish"!!!!!
Posted by: shirley hackett | April 21, 2011 at 08:23 PM
Trump has a mouth like a trout. It's so VERTICLE. And he's insane. He gets pissed off real easily. I loved it when he got all fired up over Rosie 's imitation of him, {which was brilliant and totally hysterical}, see it on youtube.
Posted by: lorrie | April 21, 2011 at 09:33 PM
Are we trying to get Barack Obama on a Little League team, register his bicycle, get him a passport, or decide if we should trust him to send our sons and daughters off to war?
How about the nuclear button, do you trust him enough to let him touch it?
Think about what you are doing and why. For God's sake, we ain't playing in a court room, we are handing him control of the Earth!
He was born a dual-national, with dual allegiances. Maybe you don't see a problem with it, but it sets precedent, and opens the door for future challengers to presidential elections, and legal headaches.
Posted by: borderraven | April 21, 2011 at 11:37 PM
Trump is the perfect candidate for the Republican party. Empty of any content, and appeals to morons that are hung up on nonsense that doesn't matter.
Posted by: Driftwood | April 22, 2011 at 12:56 AM
HA !
This is the first time that I have heard Trump associated with possibly contemplating political office. I can't say I'm surprised, after the farce of electing Schwarzenegger to an office I really wouldn't be surprised if Americans voted for the archetypal Capitalist television celebrity.
What I have to muse at is the comments from people who would vote for him.
Trumps comments on the high cost of living, food, clothing and goods.
Trump supporters comment.
"If he's willing to fire China and India and hire Americans than he's got my vote baby!!!!"
What exactly does the President have to do with private companies use of Chinese and Indian workers. If you didn't know, It's not the President that hires Chinese workers, it's your blood sucking private Capitalist companies that hire Chinese workers so they can make as much profit as possible.
If Trump does magically manage to "fire" the Chinese, do you really think prices are going to go down and not up?
Do you realize the unimaginable price increases you will be subject to if you "fire" the Chinese and Indians that work as the West's slave labour?
You really think the vast majority of the American worker are going to be happy to work under Chinese conditions under Chinese wages?
Maybe you think that the beloved capitalists will slash their profitability by god knows what percent so they can pay American workers the U.S. minimum wage and leave the end product cost the same. My guess is no. Otherwise they would be hiring Americans now.
How many hundreds, thousands even do you think would be added on to the cost of an iPhone for example if Apple couldn't get them built by people who work for a few dollars per day and had to move production to the USA.
Trump would never ban Chinese workers for 2 reasons, firstly his capitalist cronie chums would never allow it as private companies run your country and it would destroy their profitability, second, once short sighted Americans realize the cost of goods and services would skyrocket they will never wear it.
You may get lucky, with Capitalist President Trump in charge he may remove such pesky things like the minimum wage and you too can live like Chinese sweat shop workers.
You Americans don't know how good you have it. Whingeing about the price of gas, goods and food. You want to live in a country where the price of things is 15%. 20% higher than the prices you pay, more in some cases. See how much you have to whine about then.
At least he's not Sarah Palin I guess.
Posted by: Gary, Scotland | April 22, 2011 at 02:25 AM
"WHAT IF Trump is right? What if Obama WAS born in Kenya"
WHAT IF Trump is talking out of his arse?
WHAT IF Obama WAS born in America?
WHAT A non issue.
"This president is driving us right into hell and we better stop this run away train NOW or we are ALL in it big!!"
Erm...... No he isn't?
What exactly are you "in big" that you weren't "in" under Bush.
How exactly is Obama "driving you in to hell". What hellish changes have you actually seen in your every day life..? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say naff all?
Oh right, he isn't driving you in to hell. It's just uninformed unintelligent automatic hatred.
Posted by: Gary, Scotland | April 22, 2011 at 02:41 AM
why does an article about trump feature a picture of monica lewinsky? (time hasnt been kind on her has it?)
Posted by: spanther22 | April 22, 2011 at 03:02 AM
If Mr. Trump wants to run for Congress against one of the NYC Democrat union thugs, that would be great! He would be an improvement over someone like McCarthy, Weiner or Rangel, and as one out of 435 Representatives, he would be prevented from causing too much trouble on his own.
But as President he would be little better than the slick, double-talking deceiver and warhawk running the White House right now. Mostly because I have no idea what Trump would do as President, he hasn't given enough details about his policy proposals and he has no voting record to test against the rhetoric.
Like I said once before, "I like Donald Trump, he's a good guy. But he has zero chance of becoming President", for some very good reasons.
Posted by: Cliff Hutchison | April 22, 2011 at 05:53 AM
I'm very disappointed in Seinfeld. I used to be a fan of his. Trump can say whatever he wants. Seinfeld should have looked at the bigger picture, the charity.
Posted by: Karen | April 22, 2011 at 08:32 AM
If anyone has doubt about my birth certificate I will put it on the table as fast as possible. Why doesn't Obama Hussein shows it? Just be over with this stupid "saga" once for all, right? Right Obama? O-BA-MA......can you hear me? where are you Obama? Ahhhh....I got it, oops, you don't have a birth certificate....do you?
Posted by: Along | April 22, 2011 at 09:35 AM
Jerry Seinfeld is so wrong on this and it's a shame that he mixed politics with charity. Really upsetting to hear this about Seinfeld.
Posted by: Teri | April 22, 2011 at 11:40 AM
It just goes to show the ignorance and the small intelligence of Seinfeld. Donald's son is not running for office. I personally think he is just a cheapo. Good excuse for not helping those kids. Seinfeld is a stupid as Larry O'.
Posted by: SAB | April 22, 2011 at 11:50 AM
The only way I would vote for Donald Trump is if his running mate were Gary Busey. Because when it comes to talking crap in circles Gary is the best. If anyone believes for one moment that Trump would actually do what he claims he would once he got in office you are more confused than Busey. There isn't a politician out there that doesn't flip when they hit washington. The thing that actually gets me is that the majority of the people in this country really believe they have anything to do with who actually wins any national election. All the large localities whose voting power would count, are now placed and counted electroniclly. There are no paper ballots or locked ballot boxes, no names attached, no trail to prove it. And no it's not hacking when you are doing it from the inside by order. As for Obama's birthplace, no one will ever really know where he was really born unless he confesses it on his death bed. I can't believe that the idiots in this country who cast votes for him actually did it, but then again this country put Clinton in twice, so I shouldn't be surprised that a country full of self indulging addicts wouldn't do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. After all he was touted as the black candidate, sorry folks he is MULTI RACIAL...he is neither all white nor all black period. Since he chose not to correct that issue when he was running, he is also in my opinion a low rent liar, has to be the biggest cheat on using the race card I have ever seen. First off he was raised by his white family, not his black family and yet you never heard him beating his white drum. They did speak of his grandmother alot, but never referred to her as white. So I find him to be racist, or at least allowing the democratic party and his campaign manager to have run a racist campaign. But when it comes down to his birth certificate, a back up proof would be his mother's passport. I have to wonder why no one has ever inquired about the location of that. Or if anyone has bothered to go back and pull customs files that have been archived. Certainly she came back to the states with more than a pregnant belly. There has to be some kind of documentation archived somewhere that would prove when she came back to the states. My money is that she came back after not before, otherwise the actuall documentation would have already been provided. And for all you nay sayers out there, no I am not a repulican or tea party or even independent. I am anti-politician because they are all full of crap, and talk out of both sides of their face. They say one thing and then do what the heck they want and I am fed up with them. If not for the loss of life it would cause and the uncertainty of the changes that would come about I would be all for another revolution in this country. I do know one thing, DC needs to change, we need to go back to being a democracy and get rid of this socialism. I give it 10 to 15 years and this country will be as close to communisism as ever in it's history. After all the color of communist is RED....think about it. All the unions use RED, dems use RED. Of course all the lazy butts in this country are more than happy to let the government pay for everything. I find it intensely difficult to believe that the general public can't see past the bull and know where we are headed as a country. Do I really need to buy you people a cup of coffee for you to be able to smell it?
Posted by: ladywearsink | April 22, 2011 at 12:48 PM
ladiewearsink: He's had all of his mother's and his records sealed. It's impossible to get that info because Obama has gone through great lengths and a lot of money to hide it.
Posted by: Cogito ergo sum | April 23, 2011 at 01:19 AM
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Obama was born in a Mombasa, Kenya Hospital!
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When you know that Obama has defiantly refused to allow the release of any Birth Records by the Hawaii Department of Health, 'this' FACT should be enough for any RATIONAL person to realize that Obama 'WAS NOT BORN IN HAWAII'!
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A "Certificate of Live Birth is only an "ANNOUNCEMENT" OF A BIRTH" which could have happened ANYWHERE on Earth!
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WAKE UP! You somnombulent idiots!
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Posted by: Jocta | April 23, 2011 at 01:41 PM
Donald is a joke. Why doesn't he just come out with everything instead of hiding? He is a RUDE and Obnoxious Pompous ASS!!! Why did he make such a big deal about the birth cert? Because he makes headlines and that is the only reason. Now what will he come up with since the cert is public? Sadly those people who would vote for him (Trump) and still doubt our President will keep their eyes closed. He says he put so much money and people digging for the truth what have they come up with? NOTHING!!! Get real people open your eyes and see the truth!!!
Posted by: Toni | April 27, 2011 at 03:03 PM
Now that Donald Trump has proven to the world that he is a racist, when is NBC going to say to him "You're Fired!" C'mon, NBC -- stop protecting him. You can tell the world now if he will be back for another season!
Posted by: diane lavery | April 28, 2011 at 07:23 AM
Donald "Rump" claims that he thinks his strength is jobs? I think his strength is being 'a wanna-be celebrity', a desperate, attention thirsty wanna-be. What's wrong Rump? Have you finally begun to realize that having tons and tons of money isn't all there is to life? Despite all your money, youre still pathetically lonely arent you Donald....If all that money and all your "business" were truly fulfilling, you wouldnt be such an obvious loud mouth! It's amazing how many celebrities physically cringe when Rump tries to greet or nuzzle up to them! The stunning thing is, he's oblivious to it!!!! He's so into himself and socially inept that he cant even pick up on people's body language or subtle social cues when he walks up to a celebrity at a social event and they cant wait to get away!!!! The guy doesnt have a clue how most people actually feel about him.
Posted by: Sean_Lynde_Kills_Cats | May 20, 2011 at 10:14 PM
Scorecard of Trump vs Obama:
Trump-Multi-billionare.
Obama-approximately $100,000 salary as US President.
Trump-Employs tens of thousand of people through various businesses ranging from TV shows, beauty pagents, real estate development and managenment, casino/gaming operations, jewelry, food/beverage companies, designer clothing lines and wrote various books.
Obama--never held a job in the private sector. Never created or ran a profitable business. Fleeced taxpayers through various wealth redistribution programs as a "community organizer".
Trump-best traits-Leveraging of money, financing projects, proven track record of specialization of making highly profitable business deals.
Obama-best traits-speaks well and is known as a "cool guy"
Fact-US has the highest unemployment rate since the great depression.
Fact-US currency is near default rate.
Fact-US economy is near implosion due to out of control spending, trade deals in favor of other countries and massive quantative easing.
Reasonable conclusion-US media will continue to bash Trump, most Americans will vote for Obama. Third world standard of living will ensue. The end.
Posted by: unemployed Ameircan | May 21, 2011 at 10:50 AM