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Trump's supposedly going to denounce birtherism. Will the media wash his hands for him?

Rob Beschizza

Illo: Rob Beschizza

Millionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump was a vocal birther—someone who insinuates Barack Obama was not born in the United States—until at least 2014. Today, he’s supposedly going to denounce this position for good, following some recent equivocation on his part.

Adds Trump: “We have to keep the suspense going.”

This sort of statement enrages liberals because it reminds them of how easily Trump manipulates the political media’s hunger for a horse race—especially now he’s neck and neck with rival Hillary Clinton in national polls and there’s no sign of them realizing he understands them better than they understand him.

The fear today is of equivocating headlines such as “Trump, Clinton trade accusations on Birtherism,” allowing him the plain lie of a she-did-it-first controversy.

But days of Trump benefiting from a smarmy rehabilitation narrative, when the most nakedly racist dogwhistle in American politics is still glistening with his saliva, is what’s almost too much to bear. Here’s Josh Marshall:

Accusing his opponent of whatever he is accused of is one of the three key tools in Trump’s media arsenal, used over and over again to amazing effect (the others: “I’ll tell you tomorrow” and “Something’s going on.”) Journos are defensively, cynically attached to a supposedly objective voice from nowhere that conceals editorial judgment in the framing of subject matter, and Trump’s been doing well since Hillary switched her focus to the “Romney moderates” most influenced by it.

Right-wing provocateurs are eager to help the media avoid contaminating balance with facts. One hot emerging term is “post-factual” (cf. Post-truth) which describes both the mainstream journalistic practices they’ve lucked into and the world they hope will emerge from them.

Slate collects all of Trump’s birther quotes in once place, for whatever they’re worth.

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