Donald Trump once again has tried to undermine Barack Obama by questioning whether he was born in this country.
There’s an old saying in Brooklyn that “you can’t beat nobody with nothing.”
Trump, who was born in Queens, is insinuating that Obama wasn’t born in America, a requirement of the Constitution. Trump wants to run for president -- and his campaign is based on alleging that Obama isn’t on the level about his birth.
Well, if he wants to beat the president, Trump has to show that he’s more than nothing. So far, he hasn’t.
Trump is a showman. He’s made a successful television career out of being an impresario. His “Celebrity Apprentice” has attracted a big audience -- and his epic words snarled at the poor contestant and the audience at large -- “You’re fired!” -- have become part of the media circus.
Trump is presidential timber all right, in his own mind. With his shaggy hairdo and his domineering personality, he may impress some Americans but he antagonizes just as many. He’s a nasty guy -- and, clearly, he excels in that department -- nastiness.
The White House calls Trump’s behavior a “sideshow.” The Daily News on the front page today depicts Trump as a clown.
Trump claims that no Hawaiian hospital has a record of Obama’s birth, that nobody “knew him” when Obama was in Hawaii, that the president’s grandmother says he was born in Kenya; that a newspaper announcement of Obama’s birth in Hawaii was fraudulently placed by his grandparents.
Teams of reporters and researchers have found that none of these charges is true. A Hawaiian hospital and Obama’s parents confirm his birth; his grandmother has repeatedly that he was born in America; the federal government accepts that documents confirm Obama was born there.
Political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told me: “Trump’s so–called presidential campaign is a publicity stunt. The man is great at self-promotion. And it’s not surprising that he would do fairly well in a poll of Republican voters.”
Actually, a Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 21 percent of likely Republican voters. Tied for second with 17 percent are Trump and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Do does this mean that the real estate tycoon with a mean glower has a real chance to go to the White House? Sheinkopf says: “I prefer to stay with the ancient wisdom of Brooklyn -- you can’t beat nobody with nothing!!”
P.T. Barnum, another New Yorker who made good, supposedly said: “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
I have faith in the American people. They won’t let anyone play them for suckers. Not in the long run.
Like Barnum, Trump is a showman. But, if he persists in running for president, he shouldn’t be surprised if the American people tell him strongly: “You’re fired!”
