DON'T PANIC! This blog is authored by Seniors at Aragon High School, San Mateo, CA.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
More Trolling?
This past Wednesday, Donald Trump's offer to donate $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choice expired (but was extended until noon on Thursday because of Hurricane Sandy). The offer to donate was in exchange for the release of Obama's college applications and records and also passport applications to the satisfaction of The Donald himself. Prior to the statement, Trump even hyped his "bombshell" announcement on various forms of media before releasing this YouTube video as linked above. However, two others have also called Trump out and made humorous counteroffers to his statement, Mark Cuban, and Stephen Colbert, each offered $1 million if Trump decided to respond to their offers. This is actually not the first time that Trump has questioned Obama's legitimacy and qualifications as a president; in 2011, Trump also pushed for the release of his birth certificate, attempting to assert that Obama was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii despite existing proof from 2008.
How inappropriate (or appropriate) was it of Trump to make an offer like this?
This is a ridiculous offer and claim by Donald Trump that "“Obviously he wasn’t born in this country or, if he was, he said he wasn’t in order to receive financial aid and in order to have a clear and very easy path into a college or university. Only a very stupid person would believe otherwise.” I think Obama was right to completely ignore this offer and not give legitimacy to Trumps claim. Especially in the current situation, with hurricane Sandy, Trump should have just given the money, or not brought it up, and hopefully people will not be fooled by these antics and will see these claims as crazy as they really are.
I have to agree with Sam on this one. Ridiculous or not ridiculous as of now, the mere fact that Trump is questioning the legitimacy of Obama’s qualifications for president is ludicrous given how trivial the matter is, how outdated and insignificant the issue is to the American public, and how the topic is being rehashed after Obama has already served his first four year term during which the matter has proved unworthy of continuous investigation. It is difficult to see what Trump’s motives are in this situation. What does he hope to accomplish? Proof that Obama lied about his past? Proof that Obama shouldn’t be considered for POTUS? Even if compelling evidence was brought forward, he’s been our president, and he’s never let the conspiracies or skepticism of a few individuals keep him from doing his job. I fully support Obama and his decision to allow Trump’s offer to expire. He took a stand. In fact, it would be shocking had he caved in, perhaps encouraging others to throw their wealth at politicians and public officials in order to satisfy personal inquiries. If anything, this proves how money can’t always buy political influence, even if it’s allocated towards a good, charitable cause.
I think it's also important to note that even if Trump were to prove that Obama was born in Kenya it would still be meaningless. The Constitution mandates that a president must be a "natural born citizen" which includes those who were born to US citizens abroad. There is no dispute over Ann Dunham's (Obama's mother) citizenship therefore even if President Obama had been born in Kenya he would still be eligible for the presidency. Any arguments to the contrary show blatant ignorance.
Firstly, I have to say that someone as rich as Donald Trump should be able to produce a higher quality video. In all seriousness though, does Trump really think that Obama could make it into the white house without thorough background checks? I don't understand why anyone would actually question the president's legitimacy as a native born American. He obviously has other reasons for not wanted Obama to occupy the presidency. He is only embarrassing himself by prolonging this charade.
I don't understand Trump's motives behind this video. It makes no sense, there is no way Obama was elected without a thorough background check so questioning it seems like a waste of time.
I agree with Eli, Obama's citizenship is most likely not his top priority in terms of problems with Obama. I think that this video makes Donald Trump look like a rich man with too much time and money on his hands.
I think Obama responded well, Trump's claim was ridiculous and completely pointless. Hopefully no one will be swayed by this absurd video.
I don't think anyone actually takes Donald Trump seriously anymore. Remember Donald Trump wanted to run for President? Remember how everyone thought it was the best joke of the century? Like everyone else said its stupid to try to question Obama's legitimacy as President. To me, this little parading around claiming Obama is not qualified to be President is equivalent to a circus act. For super hard-core Obama haters it might be something they just want to hear. However any reasonable person would just laugh it off and be like: Trump is bananas.
I think Trump does have a point. Obama may not always have claimed to be born in American and it is absolutely someone's right to question the legitimacy of Obama's claims just as many people within the Obama camp have questioned the validity of Romney's tax returns. Trump's underlying and not very clear message is that Obama may be a habitual liar and no one wants an outright liar as president. I am not saying that Obama was born outside of the US, and Trump's offer is slightly ridiculous if not just comical, but some element of it should be taken seriously. Everyone should have the right to question claims made by their leaders, but they should do it with more civility than Trump.
I read about this on Yahoo News a while back. Seems like the majority of people are saying that he should just release the records and help out a charity with 5 million dollars. We don't need to take him seriously but that money can do some good. David brings up a good point that you can be a natural born citizen abroad. I did not know this myself and I'd guess many other Americans also haven't given that consideration.
I think it is kind of peculiar that Obama is recieving so much questioning on pretty much every facet of his life. In response to Anthony, I know that the American people should question leadership. Yes, that is good. But I think that these questions are somewhat stemmed out of pure racsim if anything. I don't recall anyone ever questioning the validity of Bush's citizenship or college education. Maybe they did (I really don't know), but it wasn't a national outcry. And surely nobody ever offered him $5 million to release the records. I really can't imagine that any of these questions are born out of anything but pure racism. It's hard to imagine that anyone would question his citizenship/ college degree if he was named John Smith
Oh gosh, Mr. Trump, I suggest that you get your golden locks out of your eyes and take a good look at yourself and maybe, just maybe, realize how stupid you really sound.
Let's examine how Mr. Trump is painting the image of himself: He seems to be making the case that he is a heroic benefactor for ANY CHARITY OF OBAMA'S CHOICE. How dare Obama be the villain and refuse to have money sent to those righteous charities? Here's the thing. If it's so righteous for those charities to receive money, why doesn't Mr. Trump just give them the money? He's acting in the exact way that he wants people to view Obama as.
On top of all this, as everyone has stated previously, Mr. Trump is calling Obama out on such a stupid thing. We know that Obama's a citizen, there's no need to make such a ruckus over nothing
Sometimes I wonder if he actually believes the stuff he spews or if it's all just one huge publicity stunt.
10 comments:
This is a ridiculous offer and claim by Donald Trump that "“Obviously he wasn’t born in this country or, if he was, he said he wasn’t in order to receive financial aid and in order to have a clear and very easy path into a college or university. Only a very stupid person would believe otherwise.” I think Obama was right to completely ignore this offer and not give legitimacy to Trumps claim. Especially in the current situation, with hurricane Sandy, Trump should have just given the money, or not brought it up, and hopefully people will not be fooled by these antics and will see these claims as crazy as they really are.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/trump-puts-kibosh-5m-offer-obama-article-1.1195668#ixzz2BH9rQT4i
I have to agree with Sam on this one. Ridiculous or not ridiculous as of now, the mere fact that Trump is questioning the legitimacy of Obama’s qualifications for president is ludicrous given how trivial the matter is, how outdated and insignificant the issue is to the American public, and how the topic is being rehashed after Obama has already served his first four year term during which the matter has proved unworthy of continuous investigation. It is difficult to see what Trump’s motives are in this situation. What does he hope to accomplish? Proof that Obama lied about his past? Proof that Obama shouldn’t be considered for POTUS? Even if compelling evidence was brought forward, he’s been our president, and he’s never let the conspiracies or skepticism of a few individuals keep him from doing his job. I fully support Obama and his decision to allow Trump’s offer to expire. He took a stand. In fact, it would be shocking had he caved in, perhaps encouraging others to throw their wealth at politicians and public officials in order to satisfy personal inquiries. If anything, this proves how money can’t always buy political influence, even if it’s allocated towards a good, charitable cause.
I think it's also important to note that even if Trump were to prove that Obama was born in Kenya it would still be meaningless. The Constitution mandates that a president must be a "natural born citizen" which includes those who were born to US citizens abroad. There is no dispute over Ann Dunham's (Obama's mother) citizenship therefore even if President Obama had been born in Kenya he would still be eligible for the presidency. Any arguments to the contrary show blatant ignorance.
Firstly, I have to say that someone as rich as Donald Trump should be able to produce a higher quality video. In all seriousness though, does Trump really think that Obama could make it into the white house without thorough background checks? I don't understand why anyone would actually question the president's legitimacy as a native born American. He obviously has other reasons for not wanted Obama to occupy the presidency. He is only embarrassing himself by prolonging this charade.
I don't understand Trump's motives behind this video. It makes no sense, there is no way Obama was elected without a thorough background check so questioning it seems like a waste of time.
I agree with Eli, Obama's citizenship is most likely not his top priority in terms of problems with Obama. I think that this video makes Donald Trump look like a rich man with too much time and money on his hands.
I think Obama responded well, Trump's claim was ridiculous and completely pointless. Hopefully no one will be swayed by this absurd video.
I don't think anyone actually takes Donald Trump seriously anymore. Remember Donald Trump wanted to run for President? Remember how everyone thought it was the best joke of the century? Like everyone else said its stupid to try to question Obama's legitimacy as President. To me, this little parading around claiming Obama is not qualified to be President is equivalent to a circus act. For super hard-core Obama haters it might be something they just want to hear. However any reasonable person would just laugh it off and be like: Trump is bananas.
I think Trump does have a point. Obama may not always have claimed to be born in American and it is absolutely someone's right to question the legitimacy of Obama's claims just as many people within the Obama camp have questioned the validity of Romney's tax returns. Trump's underlying and not very clear message is that Obama may be a habitual liar and no one wants an outright liar as president. I am not saying that Obama was born outside of the US, and Trump's offer is slightly ridiculous if not just comical, but some element of it should be taken seriously. Everyone should have the right to question claims made by their leaders, but they should do it with more civility than Trump.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-obamas-1991-literary-agency-described-him-as-born-in-kenya-and-raised-in-indonesia-and-hawaii/
I read about this on Yahoo News a while back. Seems like the majority of people are saying that he should just release the records and help out a charity with 5 million dollars. We don't need to take him seriously but that money can do some good. David brings up a good point that you can be a natural born citizen abroad. I did not know this myself and I'd guess many other Americans also haven't given that consideration.
I think it is kind of peculiar that Obama is recieving so much questioning on pretty much every facet of his life. In response to Anthony, I know that the American people should question leadership. Yes, that is good. But I think that these questions are somewhat stemmed out of pure racsim if anything. I don't recall anyone ever questioning the validity of Bush's citizenship or college education. Maybe they did (I really don't know), but it wasn't a national outcry. And surely nobody ever offered him $5 million to release the records.
I really can't imagine that any of these questions are born out of anything but pure racism. It's hard to imagine that anyone would question his citizenship/ college degree if he was named John Smith
Oh gosh, Mr. Trump, I suggest that you get your golden locks out of your eyes and take a good look at yourself and maybe, just maybe, realize how stupid you really sound.
Let's examine how Mr. Trump is painting the image of himself:
He seems to be making the case that he is a heroic benefactor for ANY CHARITY OF OBAMA'S CHOICE. How dare Obama be the villain and refuse to have money sent to those righteous charities? Here's the thing. If it's so righteous for those charities to receive money, why doesn't Mr. Trump just give them the money? He's acting in the exact way that he wants people to view Obama as.
On top of all this, as everyone has stated previously, Mr. Trump is calling Obama out on such a stupid thing. We know that Obama's a citizen, there's no need to make such a ruckus over nothing
Sometimes I wonder if he actually believes the stuff he spews or if it's all just one huge publicity stunt.
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