April 1-8, 2011: New York Times Columnist Lambasts Trump’s Advocacy of ‘Birther’ Conspiracy Theory, Trump Responds with Debunked ‘Proof’

New York Times columnist Gail Collins lambasts billionaire television host Donald Trump, both for his media-savvy flirtation with the 2012 Republican presidential candidacy and for his support of the “birther” controversy (see February 10, 2011, March 17, 2011, March 23, 2011, March 23, 2011, March 28, 2011, March 28-29, 2011, March 30, 2011, April 1, 2011, and April 1, 2011). Collins calls Trump’s advocacy of “birtherism” “loony,” and implies he chose it to steal a march over a lackluster field of more “traditional” potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. She derides his business “success,” noting his most recent success is as the host of a television reality show, his bankruptcy of a once-profitable line of casinos, and his loss of millions on opulent high-rise apartment buildings. She notes that after she wrote an earlier column mocking Trump’s financial failures, he retorted by sending her a copy of the column with her picture circled and the words “The Face of a Dog!” written over it. Trump is not a serious candidate, she writes; he is doing what he does best: self-promotion, “product-placement, and personal aggrandizement.” [New York Times, 4/1/2011] A week later, Trump responds with a letter to the editor. He accuses Collins of having written “nasty and derogatory articles about me” in the past, and says he respects her for being able to survive so long “with so little talent.” He lambasts her for deriding his advocacy of “birtherism,” citing the “very large segment of our society” who believe that President Obama is not a legitimate American citizen, and cites as “proof” the long-debunked claim that Obama’s “grandmother from Kenya” told a caller that she saw Obama being born in a Kenyan hospital (see October 16, 2008 and After). Trump says the birth certificate Obama has produced (see June 13, 2008) is legally invalid (see August 21, 2008 and October 30, 2008), and claims no records exist in Hawaii’s state government of Obama’s birth record. He calls the term “birther” a “derogatory” label, and says had similar claims been raised about President Bush or any other president, “they would never have been allowed to attain office, or would have been thrown out of office very quickly.” Trump alleges that “the press protects President Obama beyond anything or anyone I have ever seen,” and says: “What they don’t realize is that if he was not born in the United States, they would have uncovered the greatest ‘scam’ in the history of our country. In other words, they would become the hottest writer since Watergate, or beyond. Open your eyes, Gail, there’s at least a good chance that Barack Hussein Obama has made mincemeat out of our great and cherished Constitution!” [New York Times, 4/8/2011]