Wayne Allyn Root gained national headlines when President Donald Trump tweeted Root's "King of Israel" accolade, but numerous liberal media outlets are not so happy.
Several, including CNN, have slapped Root with the label of being a "conspiracy theorist" and having advocated "birtherism" — the claim Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.
The only problem is Root does not promote conspiracy theories and has always said Obama was born in the U.S.
A Newsmax TV host, best-selling author, and the former Libertarian Party nominee for vice president, Root told Newsmax he is angry and is considering a defamation lawsuit against those falsely attacking him.
Root said the liberal media has been sifting through his voluminous body of work and cherry-picking a few statements, taking them out of context in an effort to distract voters from the real story — in this case: his support for Trump's historic relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and his stalwart support for Israel.
"I've never been a birther my entire life, never mentioned Obama's birth, never discussed Obama's birth, never questioned Obama's birth," Root insisted.
Root has found himself in the center of a political firestorm since Tuesday, when he defended Trump's assertion that Americans who are Jewish, and who vote for Democrats, are either uninformed or are being disloyal to Israel.
"I happen to be Jewish by birth," Root declared on Newsmax TV, "and 75% of all Jews vote Democrat, and they don't like Trump.
"This is the greatest president for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world," he insisted. "Not just in America. Trump is the best president for Israel in the history of the world.
"And the Jewish people love him like he is the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God."
Those remarks sparked a mainstream media firestorm.
Trump tweeted Wednesday: "Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words."
Trump then quoted Root's pro-Trump statements regarding Israel.
Trump's shout-out to Root apparently put the successful host even more squarely in his media critics' crosshairs.
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy appeared on CNN's "Cuomo Primetime" program Wednesday evening.
Host Chris Cuomo, who seemed uncertain whether he is really Jewish, complained to Ruddy the Newsmax host was a known conspiracy theorist.
"He's a birther about President Obama," Cuomo said.
"I wouldn't say he's a far-right conspiracy theorist," Ruddy replied.
"He's a birther," Cuomo shot back. "He's a birther."
Cuomo also objected that Root "said the Las Vegas shooting was done by Muslim terrorists."
Root told Newsmax on Thursday the media is using the same sort of distortions it employs in attacking Trump to attack him. He called it "the most ridiculous, absurd cherry-picking I've ever seen."
"What the news media does," Root said, "is they just cherry-pick three or four opinions that sound crazy if you take them out of context, or sound wrong or stupid or arrogant, they'll pick four of them out of four years.
"In those four years I've sent out over 27,000 tweets, and I must have given 27,000 opinions and predictions on TV and radio. And they pick four of them that sound weird or silly and they try to paint that as if that's you."
Root also told Newsmax it is hardly an accident the media attacked his credibility as soon as he defended the president.
The genesis of the accusation that Root supports the conspiracy that former President Obama was born outside the United States apparently stems from a Root tweet in 2011 that stated: "Good job Donald Trump. I can produce my birth certificate in one minute. I have it in my safe."
As a guest on Newsmax TV's "Liquid Lunch With John Tabacco" on Thursday, Root noted the people now trying to brand him as a conspiracy theorist were the same ones who were fixated for two years on the Russian-collusion conspiracy theory that has been debunked by the Mueller report.
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