Former President Barack Obama mocked President Donald Trump’s birther conspiracy that he spread over many years, telling “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” that he “was able to get away with” not being born in the United States.
Noah joked with Obama, who was promoting his latest book “A Promised Land,” that he was responsible for both Trump and rapper Kanye West running for president, because he had previously mocked both men.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but you have an ability to inspire people to run for the highest office in the land with some of the jokes you tell about them," Noah said.
Obama told Noah that “I should roast people I admire more. I'll start roasting you, man," adding "Although you weren't born here. But, look, I was able to get away with it, apparently."
Obama made fun of Trump’s birther conspiracy allegations at a White House correspondent’s dinner in 2011, which many theorize is the point at whichTrump decided to run for president in 2016, according to the Independent.
Obama had also called West, who ran for president as well this year, a "jackass" after he interrupted Taylor Swift in 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Obama wrote in his book that becoming the first Black president "triggered a deep-seated panic" among Republicans and Trump, who “understood when he started pedalling assertions that I had not been born in the United States and thus was an illegitimate president," the Independent reported.
Obama explained that "For millions of Americans spooked by a Black man in the White House, he promised an elixir for their racial anxiety."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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