Fox News revives birtherism attacks on Obama before DNC speech
Fox News host Jesse Watters resurrected conspiracy theories falsely accusing Barack Obama of not being born in the US just hours before the former president’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.
It’s been 16 years since baseless, racist rumors surrounding Obama’s heritage first swirled – which were proven unequivocally false.
The birther movement, better known as “birtherism”, emerged when false rumors spread that Obama’s birth certificate was forged and that his birthplace was in Kenya or Indonesia, not Honolulu, Hawaii.
Despite the widely disproven theory, according to the loose description in the constitution, only a natural-born citizen who is at least 35 years old and has been a resident of the US for 14 years or more can be president.
On Tuesday’s live episode of The Five, Watters took a stab at Obama hours before the former president’s electrifying DNC speech where he slammed Donald Trump, praised Joe Biden for his service and threw his support behind Kamala Harris.
“He’s definitely going to interfere in this election,” the Fox News host claimed, pulling rhetoric often used by Trump.
“That’s why we’ll be sending Johnny [producer on The Five] to Hawaii to get the truth about the birth certificate,” Watters told viewers. “This time we will dig deep and find out what really happened.”
Co-host Greg Gutfeld intervened saying that the producer must get his passport, before Watters retorted: “To go to Kenya.”
“I meant to Hawaii, just to see him do it. Ask him what the exchange rate is for the Hawaiian dollar,” Gutfield sniggered.
Today, some conspiracy theoristsstill subscribe to birtherism, despite the release of Obama’s birth documents and confirmation of his birth by the Hawaii Department of Health before