Even before he launched his second presidential campaign in 2016, Donald Trump had a major fondness for conspiracy theories.
Trump was very much a birther during Barack Obama’s presidency, promoting the racist conspiracy theory that Obama was really born in Kenya instead of the United States even though Obama’s birth certificate clearly showed that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961.
CNN date analyst Harry Enten delved into Trump’s passion for conspiracy theorists on Friday night, July 11, showing a through-line of Trump’s conspiratorial thinking over the years.
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Enten told his colleagues Kaitlin Collins and Brian Stetler, “Donald Trump has swum in the waters of conspiracy theories since over a decade now, right? We were talking about it before, right? Birtherism with Barack Obama. Then, he goes on and wins the 2024 nomination, in large part because many people in that MAGA base, that Republican base, believed that the 2020 election was stolen from him — even though there was no proof. And now, those conspiracy theory waters that helped raise Trump up to the presidency may very well, or at least at this particular point, are dragging it back and drowning him a little.”
Enten was referring to the bitter clash that is occurring between Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi over an alleged list from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Stetler noted that in right-wing media, the “coverage” of that conflict “has dramatically escalated.”
Stetler told Collins and Enten, “And frankly, how do conspiracy theories start? Right? They start with a vague government announcement, a fumbled response, a no-more-questions attitude. The way we’ve seen from the FBI and DOJ — in this case, a prison videotape that leaves more questions than answers.”
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Watch the full video below or at this link.