Ben Garbarek, a local news reporter in Toledo, asked Donald Trump today what it was that changed his mind about President Obama’s birthplace:
BG: This announcement earlier this week with you saying that you believe President Obama was in fact born in the United States, after all the years
where you’ve expressed some doubt, what changed?
Trump: Well I just wanted to get on with, I wanted to get on with the campaign. A lot of people were asking me questions. We want to talk about jobs. We want to talk about the military. We want to talk about ISIS and get rid of ISIS. We want to talk about bringing jobs back to this area because you’ve been decimated so we just wanted to get back on the subject of jobs, military, taking care of our vets, etc.
He also asked Trump about his foundation:
BG: And with the Washington Post report out this week about the Trump Foundation. Could you explain to people why you may have used some charitable donations for personal uses?
Trump: The foundation is really rare. It gives money to vets. It’s really been doing a good job. I think we put that to sleep just by putting out the last report.”
This is all the usual gibberish, barely worth taking note of. Except for one thing: Trump must know that he’s going to have to answer these questions in the debate on Monday. Even if Lester Holt turns out to be a complete doofus, he’s going to insist on Trump actually addressing the substance of these issues. When did you change your mind about birtherism? What changed your mind? Why did you use a charitable foundation to pay business expenses? Have you done it more than the two times the Post caught you at?
I know Trump never does anything as lame as prepping for a debate, but his staff must at least be mulling over what kind of answer he’s going to give to these questions. This kind of huffing and puffing isn’t going to cut it on live national television.
