Donald Trump has transformed one big lie into millions of followers.
I'm talking about the "birther" movement (President Obama supposedly not born in America) that he launched back in 2011.
Trump was considering making a run for the presidency and initiated a public pursuit of Obama's birth certificate. He claimed to have hired investigators to go to Hawaii to see what they could find. Of course, that claim like many others was false.
He did manage to get the president to publicly release the long form certificate of his birth to prove he was born in Hawaii.
After it's release, Trump declared that he was "proud of myself because I've accomplished something nobody has been able to do."
Trump didn't run for president in 2012. So why did he run this year?
Simply put; he discovered a core group of Republicans (44% at that time who believed Obama was an illegitimate president and wasn't born in America) who hated Obama and who were willing to believe anything bad about him.
The lie was repeated until it took on a life of it's own and became a rallying point for Obama haters. Even after it had been shredded by the president's release of his birth certificate.
Trump continued to defend his decision to bring up the issue, and told ABC News' John Karl in 2013 that he knew what he was doing.
The lie didn't die. All it did was provide cement for the foundation of Trumps 2016 run for The White House. Give Trump credit for that.
That core group of Obama-hating Republicans were enamoured with Trump and found more common ground on issues like immigration and banning Muslims from entering the United States.
Trump has proven to be a formidable opponent because he knows how to sprinkle the seeds of racism and fear among the populace.
His success at reality television has also translated into followers.
Being a life long con man (I'll just mention Trump University as one good example) he is trying to convince people that only he can solve their problems. He said as much in his acceptance speech at the RNC.
It's important to remember that Trump's bid for the presidency is based upon lies...big ones and small ones. He'll always say what you want to hear.
Related:
Birtherism Is Back And That May Be Bad For Donald Trump
Time for me to walk on down the road...
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