Seth Meyers calls Donald Trump a lying racist liar over his long 'birther' charade

Seth Meyers calls out Donald Trump&#039;s many birther lies

(Image credit: Late Night)

last updated 20 September 2016

Donald Trump appears to believe he put the whole "birther" thing behind him by gathering the media on Friday to announce, in 30 seconds, that President Obama was born in the U.S. after all. Nope. He just gave late-night TV hosts and writers the weekend to stew over his mendacity, and on Monday's Late Night, Seth Meyers wasn't about to let this go. "Obama was born in the United States, period? F--- you, exclamation point," he said. "You don't get to peddle racist rhetoric for five years and decide when it's over. We decide when it's over, and it's certainly not over after a 30-second statement in the middle of a hotel commercial."

Meyers tackled Trump's ring of untruths systematically, beginning with his lie that Hillary Clinton started the "birther" conspiracy. Even if you believe that Clinton friend Sid Blumenthal tried to get a reporter to look into Obama's birthplace in 2008, "'Obama wasn't born here' is your No. 1 hit," Meyers told Trump. "Saying you got it from Hillary would be like Springsteen saying he only wrote 'Born to Run' because he heard Bon Jovi say it once." Chris Christie got nailed for falsely claiming that Trump hasn't been questioning Obama's birth for five years, but thanks to cameras, that lie did not stand. Then there's Trump's Twitter trail.

Trump "was still saying the birth certificate could be fake last year," Meyers said. "And by the way, I'm not sure the guy who holds fake press conferences, has a fake university, a fake foundation, fake hair, and a fake tan should be the one in charge of deciding what's real." At this point you may be ready for Meyers' bottom line. "The bottom line is this," he said. "Trump built his career on a racist lie because he's a racist and a liar. And instead of denouncing that lie, the GOP doubled down on it completely. And now Trump is trying to trick people again by convincing them he was never really a birther at all, and that it was Hillary Clinton who started it." You can watch Meyers' blistering takedown of Trump's birther charade below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.