But he may as well had.

http://www.slate.com/blog...-born.aspx

Where Was Donald Trump Born?

Posted Tuesday, March 29, 2011 8:09 AM | By David Weigel

I keep underrating the interest people have in birtherism, because, seriously, we're two years and two months into the Obama presidency and I keep expecting it to end.

But Donald Trump decided to go even harder on his campaign for the Truth About Obama's citizenship and gave this document to Newsmax -- whose Ron Kessler, remember, takes credit for inspiring the Trump campaign.

The Smoking Gun points out the not-so-obvious: This is not a "long-form birth certificate," the proof of citizenship that birthers demand from Barack Obama.

It's a copy of the certificate from the hospital that features contemporary signatures from physicians.

How's this different from the certification of live birth that Barack Obama provided on FightTheSmears.com in 2008?

Obama's certification was a state document (there was a long, tedious, and unsuccessful effort to prove that it was forged), but didn't contain contemporary signatures or a baby's footprint. Trump's certificate is from the hospital, not the state, so it's not really an official document.

Are you seeing now how stupid and complicated this stuff is? Okay.

Trump can obviously clear this up if he provides everything Barack Obama's provided to the press, and everything he's demanded from Obama. This would be:

- Two (or more) contemporary newspaper announcements confirming that Donald Trump was born in the United States. (Two of these exist for Barack Obama.)

- A certification of live birth produced by the state Trump was born, verified by hand by reporters. (FactCheck.org verified Obama's certification in 2008.)

- A picture of the young Donald Trump and or/interviews with people who knew him.

Hey, I didn't dig this rabbit hole. Trump decided to jump down it.

UPDATE: I'd missed Ben Smith and Maggie Haberman's reporting on this, which confirms that this is unofficial and ads some solid gold snark.

Trump's mother, it should be noted, was born in Scotland, which is not part of the United States. His plane is registered in the Bahamas, also a foreign country.

This fact pattern -- along with the wave of new questions surrounding what he claims is a birth certificate -- raises serious doubts about his eligibility to serve as President of the United States.

One of the Orthodox birther* arguments that Obama can not be president is that his father was Kenyan, which made the son a citizen of the British Commonwealth at birth. If that held true for Trump, then obviously he would be ineligible.

***Mods since Trump is an actor and not a Politician to be taken seriously in any way, I put this in GD as opposed to P&R.***

So our buddy Mr. Trump is a Jamaican born 1/2 bred Scottsman?

Must be where he found those lips.

paintedlady said:

So our buddy Mr. Trump is a Jamaican born 1/2 bred Scottsman?

Must be where he found those lips.

I was trying to explain this very thing to somebody in P&R last year. I couldn't get them to understand that the hospital certificate is not recognized as an official state birth record.

Trump, like a lot of the birthers and others don't understand what constitutes an official birth record.

I don't understand why Obama's nationality was questioned from jump even if he had been born in Africa or whatever other foreign country. His mother was an American citizen, and that automatically made him a citizen. I saw first hand how women from foreign countries worked the system. The female residents themselves or the wives of male residents could hardly wait to conceive and bear their children in this country because they knew they would automatically become citizens.

Shyra said:

I don't understand why Obama's nationality was questioned from jump even if he had been born in Africa or whatever other foreign country. His mother was an American citizen, and that automatically made him a citizen. I saw first hand how women from foreign countries worked the system. The female residents themselves or the wives of male residents could hardly wait to conceive and bear their children in this country because they knew they would automatically become citizens.

No, that's not why. One of the requirements to be US President (as stated in the Constitution) is that one must be a "native born" USA citizen (ie. born in the USA or if in a foreign country, to parents who were both US citizens). His father was not a US citizen, so if Barack had not been born in the US, he would not meet the requirement. It was the fact that Barack was born in the US that made him a citizen, not that his mother was a US citizen.

Therefore, if Obama was born in a foreign country (Kenya, for example) and to parents who were not both American citizens he would not be eligible to be President. Since his father was not a US citizen, if Obama were to have been born in Kenya he would not meet the requirement.

.

[Edited 3/29/11 10:33am]

Since The Donald doesn't know what an OFFICIAL, STATE ISSUED Birth Certificate looks like, I thought I'd help him out.

The people over at factcheck.org posted some very in-depth, high resolution examples of one, back in 2008.

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_1.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_2.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_3.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_4.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_5.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_6.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_7.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_8.jpg

http://www.factcheck.org/...cate_9.jpg

* Edited to correct duplicated link*

.

[Edited 3/29/11 12:33pm]

paintedlady said:

So our buddy Mr. Trump is a Jamaican born 1/2 bred Scottsman?

Must be where he found those lips.

I believe that hospital on his birth certificate is "Jamaica Hospital Medical Center" located in Jamaica, Queens, NY.

[Edited 3/29/11 13:02pm]

2elijah said:

paintedlady said:

So our buddy Mr. Trump is a Jamaican born 1/2 bred Scottsman?

Must be where he found those lips.

I believe that hospital on his birth certificate is "Jamaica Hospital Medical Center" located in Jamaica, Queens, NY.

[Edited 3/29/11 13:02pm]

Ah, OK I read the certificate and didn't see a USof A anywhere.... couldn't tell if it was a hospital named named after a cityalled Jamaica or a hospital named after the actual island of Jamaica.

jone70 said:

Shyra said:

I don't understand why Obama's nationality was questioned from jump even if he had been born in Africa or whatever other foreign country. His mother was an American citizen, and that automatically made him a citizen. I saw first hand how women from foreign countries worked the system. The female residents themselves or the wives of male residents could hardly wait to conceive and bear their children in this country because they knew they would automatically become citizens.

No, that's not why. One of the requirements to be US President (as stated in the Constitution) is that one must be a "native born" USA citizen (ie. born in the USA or if in a foreign country, to parents who were both US citizens). His father was not a US citizen, so if Barack had not been born in the US, he would not meet the requirement. It was the fact that Barack was born in the US that made him a citizen, not that his mother was a US citizen.

Therefore, if Obama was born in a foreign country (Kenya, for example) and to parents who were not both American citizens he would not be eligible to be President. Since his father was not a US citizen, if Obama were to have been born in Kenya he would not meet the requirement.

.

[Edited 3/29/11 10:33am]

So, does that mean that an American who wasn´t born on American soil, for instance Bruce Willis (born in Germany) could theoretically become a US president as long as both his parents are American citizens? I didn´t know that. I used to think that those who were born abroad were excempt from being eligible for presidency.

KoolEaze said:

jone70 said:

No, that's not why. One of the requirements to be US President (as stated in the Constitution) is that one must be a "native born" USA citizen (ie. born in the USA or if in a foreign country, to parents who were both US citizens). His father was not a US citizen, so if Barack had not been born in the US, he would not meet the requirement. It was the fact that Barack was born in the US that made him a citizen, not that his mother was a US citizen.

Therefore, if Obama was born in a foreign country (Kenya, for example) and to parents who were not both American citizens he would not be eligible to be President. Since his father was not a US citizen, if Obama were to have been born in Kenya he would not meet the requirement.

.

[Edited 3/29/11 10:33am]

So, does that mean that an American who wasn´t born on American soil, for instance Bruce Willis (born in Germany) could theoretically become a US president as long as both his parents are American citizens? I didn´t know that. I used to think that those who were born abroad were excempt from being eligible for presidency.

I guess so. (I'm not a Constitutional nor Presidential eligibility expert.) Presidential candidate John McCain was not born in the USA, he was born in the Panama Canal Zone but both of his parents were US citizens.

.

[Edited 3/29/11 13:54pm]

jone70 said:

KoolEaze said:

So, does that mean that an American who wasn´t born on American soil, for instance Bruce Willis (born in Germany) could theoretically become a US president as long as both his parents are American citizens? I didn´t know that. I used to think that those who were born abroad were excempt from being eligible for presidency.

I guess so. (I'm not a Constitutional nor Presidential eligibility expert.) Presidential candidate John McCain was not born in the USA, he was born in the Panama Canal Zone but both of his parents were US citizens.

.

[Edited 3/29/11 13:54pm]

There was a Congressional "exception" made for John McCain.

http://www.opencongress.o...sr511/text

This would all be a mute point had Arnold Schwarzenegger really wanted to run for President because had he...there would have been an Amendment of the Constitution altogether.

http://www.infowars.com/p.../hatch.htm

Okay, I know this man is not a comedian but a business man but I'm having a difficult time taking him seriously in this case. There's a hook somewhere I know it, I don't know where, but it has to be.

never mind about the hairpiece. does anyone else wonder if donald is an alien?? him being an alien would explain soooo much...

[Edited 3/29/11 18:30pm]

[Edited 3/29/11 18:45pm]

babynoz said:

I was trying to explain this very thing to somebody in P&R last year. I couldn't get them to understand that the hospital certificate is not recognized as an official state birth record.

Trump, like a lot of the birthers and others don't understand what constitutes an official birth record.

I found this out the hard way. Before the US Customs switched over to United States passports for Canada and Mexico --a few years ago, not sure exactly when-- you could show your birth certificate and go to Mexico, no problem. Well, flying to Cozumel, Mexico in 2003 I showed them what I thought was my birth certificate and got in without any problems. When I returned to Minnesota a week later, going thru US Customs, I showed them what turned out to really be my hospital certificate, not my official state issued birth certificate(which I didn't have). They made me sit in an office for over 3 hours until they cleared me, making sure I knew next time I travelled to Mexico, I had to have my official state BC. I was scared because after 9/11 they took this very seriously and I thought I would be there for days, or until I produced a real BC.

L O (freaking) L

Karma is a biiiiitch!