"Birther" Crap Won't Stop Trump: Just Ask Mike Coffman

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by: Colorado Pols

Rep. Mike Coffman (R).

CNN reports this weekend with hand-wringing concern:

Donald Trump declined to use his Sunday show opportunities to clarify his thoughts on President Barack Obama’s birthplace and repeatedly avoided direct answers on the subject.

One explanation: Those at the base of his support are the same who question the president’s legitimacy — and playing to that fringe has been Trump’s ticket to success so far.

He stoked those inaccurate beliefs on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” when he was asked whether he’d be comfortable with a Muslim president.

“Some people have said it already happened, frankly,” Trump responded in a clear reference to Obama. [Pols emphasis] “But of course you won’t agree with that.”

Donald Trump.

Given Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s willingness, even eagerness to offend just about anyone–and lest you quibble with the designation “frontrunner,” here’s the latest poll–it’s really no surprise whatsoever to see him unapologetically courting the persistent segment of Republican primary voters still unconvinced that President Barack Obama is a religious Christian and a natural-born citizen of the United States.

After all, Trump makes jokes about Megyn Kelly’s menstrual cycle and his numbers go up.

Everybody is watching to see what the straw to break the proverbial camel’s back will be in terms of Trump finally saying something to disqualify himself in the GOP presidential primary. In any general election sense, he arguably has done so over and over–but Trump has proven dismayingly resilient in polling through the summer, keeping well ahead of all the “legitimate” Republican presidential primary candidates.

If local experience is any guide, it won’t be “birtherism” that knocks Trump out of contention for the GOP presidential nomination. In 2012, Rep. Mike Coffman was caught on tape flatly asserting at an Elbert County GOP fundraiser that President Obama “is just not an American.” Coffman compounded his optics problems days later when he went robotic on a reporter who cornered him on the subject, reciting his canned “I misspoke” apology over and over like he was being interrogated at Camp Bucca.

It shouldn’t be necessary for us to point out that Mike Coffman is still a Congressman. To be fair, Coffman did apologize fairly quickly after the comments were exposed by news media, saying he “misspoke” when he very unambiguously stated that President Obama “is not an American.” We expect that as soon as Trump starts to feel pain in the polls (if ever) he’ll issue some kind of statement that he too, you know, “misspoke.”

If you’re looking for some kind of “long arc of justice” ray of hope here, we don’t actually have one for you. It may not say much about our collective character, but in today’s Republican politics, which is granted seemingly endless leeway from the press to make racially, culturally, and religiously bigoted statements about the first black President of the United States, you really apparently can get away with it.

At least they have so far.

14 thoughts on ““Birther” Crap Won’t Stop Trump: Just Ask Mike Coffman”

BlueCat says:

September 20, 2015 at 8:09 pm

His percentage loves it. And even the so called GOP establishment loves to avoid saying "I believe he was born here'" or "I believe he's a Christian" by saying things like…"Well, he says he was born here/is Christian so I take him at his word, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Wink.

Even the so called grown ups won't come right out and say the discussion is ridiculous, that there is no evidence that Obama might be foreign born or a secret Muslim besides unprovable elaborate conspiracy theories. You can make those up about anyone. Let Mitch McConnell prove that his birth certificate isn't a forgery. Let Huckabee prove he isn't really a pod person, an alien living in a human body, or a secret Hindu. So if you're not subjecting everybody to the same standard they subject Obama to, the standard of having to prove your not what all your official documents say you are and your religion isn't what you claim it is, then why the hell make a special exception for Obama?

That's an easy one. Pandering to your racist base. They've been doing it for decades. it's not like Trump invented it. The establishment has been just as guilty of it as Trump with the exception of John McCain and the racist base hates him for it.

So why would it hurt Trump with his fan base? Of course he isn't going to win a general even in the wildly unlikely event he gets the nomination but I bet he never dreamed, when he started this whole thing, what a smash hit The Donald Runs For President Show was going to be. Why change the formula now? Unless he's really so deluded he forgot that his audience, big as it is, is just that, a great audience for a TV show, and actually believes he can be president. We'll know if he tones it down. That will mean he's really gone off the deep end and thinks his reality show is real.

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mamajama55 says:

September 21, 2015 at 4:20 am

I like the idea of Huckabee as a pod person. It makes more sense than the alternative, that he's an elected former governor of Arkansas, and serious presidential candidate, who compulsively utters crazy shit.

As far as Trump's base, his support with women is eroding, although he continues to claim that he is "surging with women". Double entendre much?

In the latest CNN/ORC poll, in the crosstabs, page 28, women see Trump unfavorably, 64% to 27%. Among younger voters, it's 63% to 19%. These are registered Republican voters. No one talks about this. Either people are too lazy to dig through the crosstabs, or they don't want to challenge the prevailing media narrative.

So while Trump continues to "pump up" his support with angry white men by making his misogynistic, racist comments, his support with younger voters, women and Latinos is practically nonexistent.

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1. BlueCat says:
  
  September 21, 2015 at 8:09 am
  
  It makes more sense than the alternative, that he's an elected former governor of Arkansas, and serious presidential candidate…
  
  That really is crazy in isn't it ?!?
  
  Trumps support with the groups you mention always has been pretty non-existent, though, which is why he has a great reality show rating as a candidate but no chance to get beyond a certain point no matter what he says or doesn’t say.
  
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  1. JeffcoBlue says:
    
    September 21, 2015 at 9:48 am
    
    I think to underestimate Trump would be a mistake. If he wins one of the early primaries, he could go all the way. Nobody thought Jesse Ventura could ever be elected governor of Minnesota either.
    
    Trump is a new phenomenon. You may be right that a flameout is inevitable, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
    
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    1. Phoenix Rising says:
      
      September 21, 2015 at 10:29 am
      
      The question is, could he beat whoever wins the Democratic primary? I'm pretty sure he's got the staying power to win the Republican primary – definitely wouldn't underestimate him there. Fiorina seems to have benefited from the debate at Trump's expense, though. His rhetoric isn't universally loved, nor is he as a candidate. Right now he's winning over the rest of the pack by being a well-known loudmouth. Any of the others in the pack could take over his ideological positions and no-one would notice the difference. But until Fiorina's attacks, no-one on the stage has managed to displace his vast ego and bombastic personality.
      
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      1. bullshit! says:
        
        September 21, 2015 at 10:33 am
        
        I think Trump gets away with it for the same reason Coffman does: the press lets him. They report this stuff like it's a wrestling match instead of truth vs. bullshit. As long as the lazy media refuses to call this stuff out instead of merely repeating it, they'll keep getting away with it. And as long as they get away with it they'll keep doing it.
        
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      2. BlueCat says:
        
        September 21, 2015 at 10:59 am
        
        Sorry guys. I don't see him winning the nomination much less the general. He's already coming down from his high of about 30% of the GOP half (less than half) of the electorate. In a general he would bring out the Hispanic vote like nobody's business and despite his delusions his numbers with Latinos are horrible, worse than Romney's were. Naturally they're horrible among African Americans and not good among women either. That's a strong trifecta for ensuring Donald Doom. But he's never going to get even that far. Mark my words and feel free to call me an idiot if I'm wrong.
        
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        Davie says:
        
        September 21, 2015 at 3:48 pm
        
        Since Trump is entirely self-funded, has minimal organization, and limited time to campaign (he already cancelled a big appearance for a "big business deal" Friday night, I have no doubt he's already got his exit plan in the works.
        
        He's just milking the ratings as usual. Once the downward trend becomes apparent, he'll bail with the same excuse that Tom Tancredo used years ago — "I don't need to run, the others have picked up my cause for me." That, and he's got "Yuge" deals to negotiate and doesn't have time for political office.
        
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skeptical citizen says:

September 21, 2015 at 9:23 am

Birther = Bigot

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FrankUnderwood says:

September 21, 2015 at 11:22 am

Not wanting to feel left out on all the stupidity, Dr Carson placed both feet in the shit pile w/ his comment about no Muslim ever being fit to serve as president.

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1. Moderatus says:
  
  September 21, 2015 at 2:52 pm
  
  That's not what Carson said. He said that religious views that conflict with the Constitution disqualify one from the presidency, and Sharia law is one such example of a religious view that doesn't work with the Constitution. I'm sure liberals would say the same about a Christian president, in fact you do regularly.
  
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  1. Progressicat says:
    
    September 21, 2015 at 3:14 pm
    
    Yeah, no.
    
    Republican candidate Carson says Muslims unfit to be U.S. president
    
    "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that," Carson told NBC's "Meet the Press."
    
    Carson, a Christian who says he got the idea for his tax proposals from the Bible, said he thought a U.S. president's faith should be "consistent with the Constitution."
    
    Asked if he thought Islam met this bar, the retired neurosurgeon said: "No, I do not."
    
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  2. BlueCat says:
    
    September 21, 2015 at 3:16 pm
    
    So you agree that a Muslim who contends that Sharia should be the supreme law in the US is no different than a Christian who claims the Bible should be supreme law. Glad to hear it.
    
    You must then agree that we'd be wise to vote only for those, no matter what their religious affiliation if any, who recognize that the US the constitution must always be upheld as the supreme law and not the laws of any religion including Christianity. That's why elected officials are asked to swear to uphold the constitution.
    
    No one, including Christians, who can't keep that promise should be running for office. There are plenty of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus and, of course, atheists who would have no trouble swearing allegiance to Constitution which forbids the favoring of any religion. Anyone who is prepared to swear that oath should face no impediment and in fact any religious test for holding office is illegal under that constitution.
    
    So we're all agreed?
    
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Moderatus says:

September 21, 2015 at 2:53 pm

It happened years ago and Coffman apologized immediately. Yes, Pols, there's a huge difference.

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