Let me finish tonight with Donald Trump's masterful move to convert the competition for the Republican presidential nomination into a reality show.
This reality show is a work of art. When it comes to hype like this "birther" thing of his, the guy's no "apprentice" - he's a grand master. It's based on his proven ability of getting people to focus where he wishes them to focus. His first and enduring technique - using staging, lighting, personality, suspense, is to get the audience's attention and not let it go.
Here it's "birther-ism," the dark suspicion that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and therefore is ineligible to hold the office of president. It's obvious why Trump would choose this topic. 4 out of 5 Republicans have doubts that Obama was born in the U.S. If Trump's willing to join them -- and the other candidates won't -- he's in Clover.
What's not so obvious is whether Donald has thought through the supposed intrigue behind his indictment - for certainly it is a criminal indictment, even treasonous, for someone to assume the presidency knowing his parents conspired with the state of Hawaii, the Honolulu hospital that confirmed the birth announcement in the local newspapers, their family and friends, to confect the false narrative of this baby's birth; not only that but the covering up of all those secret travel documents that showed Obama's mother flitting off to Africa, having him there and heading back - for the weird purpose of having him say he was born in the U.S. - the only legal reason for which would be to have him, this mixed race kid, elected to the country's highest office. Barack Obama would be an American where-ever he was born simply because his mother was. Let's get that straight.
Just think of what this guy could be doing if he put his moxie to good use and talked about something important - like how to avoid what looks a lot like an American economic reset downward!