The Donald and the Birthers

He's not declaring his candidacy for President until the final episode of this season's Celebrity Apprentice, which makes sense since the show's rating have gone up every since he started beating the drum for birtherism.

I'm on the fence right now whether Donald Trump's taking brand control of the evil teabagger birther smear is a bad or good thing for America. On one hand, I don't like seeing it back in the news, either reinforcing this misapprehension/prejudice or sparking more belief in weak, hyper-partisan or bigoted minds. However, since Trump is such an outsized figure of ridicule, it might kill it once and for all. Maybe he can make it a task next season -- "Convince the most people of this racist lie."

And if you don't think race has anything to do with it, check out the latest evidence, an email sent by an Orange County GOP official:

Today’s installment of “heinous, unacceptable racism disguised as ‘jokes’” features a Republican official on Orange County, California, President Obama, and monkeys in photoshop. GOP official Marilyn Davenport is coming under fire for sending other Republican officials an email depicting President Obama as a chimpanzee, in the arms of chimpanzee “parents,” claiming, “Now you know why– no birth certificate! [sic].” Davenport is sticking to her guns, blaming the media for making too much of a fuss.

Among Davenport’s detractors (including, one would hope, “everyone else”), local news station KCAL caught up with former California Republican chairman Michael Schroder, who correctly posited: “no average person would send this out and feel comfortable with this, that this was just a joke.” Then again, Schroder also notes Davenport doesn’t come into this embarrassment with a clean slate– among the people in Orange County Republican politics she has defended are an official who sent an email with an illustration of the White House covered in watermelons and an official who opposed the installation of grass near beaches on the point that “grass attracts Mexicans.”

As for Trump, he can't say it's true, just sneakily imply that if it's being talked about, there must be something to it:



Opportunistic as always, Donald. But whether or not he leads the GOP field as some polls show, he's got more than his double comb-over working against him. There's that little problem of fiscal responsibility -- he's declared corporate bankruptcy four times.

Of course, none of those led to personal bankruptcy.

Not in corporate feudalistic America.