Photo by History in HD on Unsplash
In 2011, Donald Trump went on Fox News and made a claim that started an absolute wildfire in the conspiracy theory community. A theory that had been floating around the internet for years finally got the exposure it needed, and Birtherism erupted, engulfing half of the Republican party and creating a path to the White House for Mr. Trump and a path to the mainstream for conspiracy theories.
While Trump is often credited with the origins of the birtherism theory (that Barack Obama was in fact not born in the US and therefor ineligible for the presidency), its genesis lies within the Democratic party. In 2008, some supporters of then candidate Hilary Clinton circulated a 2004 email embellishing an old claim about her Democratic primary opponent Barack Obama’s “secret Muslim faith” by adding that he was in-fact born in Kenya, not in Hawaii as he had claimed. The power of anti-Muslim fear in the early 2000’s was weaponized against Barack Hussein Obama for having a Muslim-sounding name.
Barack Obama’s mother was living in Kenya with his Arab-African father late in her pregnancy. She was not allowed to travel by plane then, so Barack Obama was born there and his mother then took him to Hawaii to register his birth
chain email from 2008
Though Clinton and her campaign never promoted the lie, it gained enough traction to circulate for a few years before it really took off when it started coming out of a big enough celebrity mouthpiece.
By the time Trump embraced birtherism as a theory in 2011, It had already been shot down by both parties and the majority of Americans considered the matter settled. But Trump’s statements acted as a celebrity endorsement, turning the once-settled matter into a new raging fire. With the powers of fear, celebrity, and the repetition Fox News was able to provide, birtherism finally had what it needed to flourish.
By the time Obama released his long-form birth certificate in 2011, it was too late. At that time, only 55% of Americans were confident he was born in the US. Its release had some effect on squashing the doubt, but not as much as you’d think. If people were arguing based on facts, perhaps its release would have had a more meaningful impact on those numbers, but since this campaign was driven more by fear, the facts just… didn’t matter.
Which brings us to the present.
How Birtherism Led to The Big Lie
While Trump eventually caved to pressure from both sides to disavow the birther theory and announced that Obama was, in fact, born here, the stage had been set. He had proven to himself and to the world that we were moving into a post-truth era where falsehoods, even once debunked, could not only be used to inspire, but could become emblems of entire movements. When Trump lost the 2020 election to Joseph R. Biden, he used many of the same tactics he had success with in birtherism. He wore denial like a badge of honor, making claims to appeal to his supporters’ emotions and repeated the message at every opportunity. The formula was simple: a theory in search of evidence.
While he continued to push this misinformation, many of his most loyal constituents, hoping to gain the favor of Trump, and thereby increase their own celebrity, repeated the claims and did his work for him. Mike Lindell (the MyPillow guy) even held a “cybersymposium” wherein he claimed he’d prove the election was stolen, only to fail to provide anything tangible. But again, we’re not dealing with scientific evidence here. Trump, Lindell and others know that. They motivate people and push their “theories” through fear and repetition.
As he now faces 91 federal and state felonies, the most severe of which are related to The Big Lie, some of this could be unraveling. Still, with nearly 70% of Republicans still believing President Joe Biden’s win was illegitimate, it may be years before this conspiracy leaves the mainstream. Until then, it might be wise to brace for another conspiracy the next time a Democratic is elected President.