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Donald Trump has a long history with accusing people in public office of having been born outside of the US. During Barack Obama’s administration, Trump championed a debunked conspiracy theory that alleged that Obama was born in Kenya. In reality, Obama was born in Hawaii, which is within the fifty states of the Union. On Thursday, Trump floated a new conspiracy theory that rings surprisingly similar to the Obama theory.
Trump suggested that claims “on social media” told him that Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s running mate, would be unable to serve as president or vice president. “I heard today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” Trump told reporters. He then referred to Chapman University professor John Eastman, a lawyer who raised similar accusations, as being “very highly qualified”. John Eastman’s claims hold that Harris was not born in the US, thus she is unable to hold the office of President or Vice President.
Fact checkers were quick to debunk the claims Thursday. Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California. California is, in fact, a state in the US. Harris’s father immigrated to the US from Jamaica, and her mother immigrated from India. However, Harris herself was born within the US, making her eligible to hold the office of President or Vice President.
Suggestions to the contrary are more puzzling than angering, however. Trump capped off the claims by stating “I just heard about it, I’ll take a look,” framing the exchange as “just asking questions”. This “just asking questions” framing is a common one for Trump, who often makes incendiary claims about various conspiracy theories under the guise of “asking questions”.
However, by giving the ideas a platform, and by giving credence to the people who espouse those ideas, Trump is acting purposefully. In so doing, he may leave deniability for himself, but he gets the message to his supporters: “Harris is a foreigner. Do you want a foreigner in office?”
The election has been completely upended in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While online searches for “Enbrel for rheumatoid arthritis” were once the most common among older Americans, “COVID-19 symptoms” has overtaken it. Meanwhile, the pandemic threatens to make voting in person a difficult task.
Trump has decried mail-in voting, all while the pandemic makes mail-in voting a very appealing option for many. However, Trump himself recently filed for mail-in ballots for himself and his wife to vote in a Florida primary.
