But saying Trump’s admission of the error was behind him – as two sitting governors and several other Trump supporters did across the Sunday talks shows- doesn’t necessarily make it true.
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Trump’s decision to backtrack on the birther issue – and pin it on Clinton – is likely a campaign tactical move created to improve his standing with moderate voters who might be susceptible to charges that Trump is racist. “She failed to take forceful action, and ignored the federal law requiring her to suspend visas to countries that don’t take back their citizens”. And, if you think of Colorado as a blue state, remember that its electoral votes went to the GOP candidate in 7 of the last 10 presidential elections, including the last time a Clinton was on the ticket.
In the campaign’s final stretch, her aides plan to show off Clinton in governing mode – meeting world leaders during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City, for example.
Clinton doesn’t have that same reservoir of goodwill and her standing with voters is as shaky as Trump’s, though her chief weakness is trustworthiness. Clinton, his former secretary of state, was honoured for becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major party. “The birther lie is what turned Trump from a reality TV star into a political figure”, she tweeted. I think that her bodyguards should disarm, right?
The Obama-Clinton foreign policy has included unenforced “red lines” in Syria; dismissing ISIS as a “jayvee team” while allowing it to grow into the most risky terrorist organization in the world today; weakening our border security; admitting thousands of refugees into our country without any plans to properly screen them; reducing the size and strength of our military, and rewarding Iran – the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism – with a sweetheart deal that paves the way for economic recovery and the eventual achievement of nuclear weapons capability.
On Trump’s quest to win over African-American voters, Obama quipped: “Well, we do have challenges, but we’re not stupid”. “And the reason it will be is not because of Hillary’s flaws, but rather because, structurally, we’ve become a very polarised society”, he said.
For conservatives, Trump has been maddeningly inconsistent – and sometimes downright heretical – on such core issues as limited government, entitlement reform, free trade, minimum wage policy and national defense.
Politico’s report is backed up by an article from The Daily Beast, which chronicled how Linda Starr went on a personal crusade to damage Obama with the birther issue, after he secured the Democratic nomination for president.
Obama also mocked Trump’s claim that being a black person in the U.S.is so bad now that black voters should support the Republican because, in Trump’s own words, “What the hell do you have to lose?” On Friday, Clinton 2008 campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, denied outright any role starting the movement.
Trump must have “missed that whole civics lesson about slavery and Jim Crow ― but we’ve got a museum for him to visit so he can tune in”, Obama said, referring to the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, which he said he’d toured earlier. NO, really. Miller had the temerity to write: “In 2011, Mr. Trump was finally able to bring this ugly incident to its conclusion by successfully compelling President Obama to release his birth certificate”. On the moral, political issue most important to Christians – abortion – Trump has a history of vacillation, although he is running now on a strong pro-life position. I recently participated in a national security roundtable with Trump at his campaign headquarters in NY.
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How much should the public know about the health of presidential candidates? Trump believes in the fundamental principle that the men and women who serve our country should have easy access to the best quality care; no veteran should die waiting in line for health care. “We’re talking about something else, OK?” Hillary Clinton has said Trump’s attitude toward Putin is unpatriotic and “scary”. “I mean, I have my own theory on Obama”.
