Donald Trump's Friday press conference may go down as the biggest media (and voter) manipulation of the 2016 presidential election.
The ???? ?????Republican nominee for president hyped up a press conference at his new Washington, D.C. hotel, where reporters expected him to speak about his stated belief that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
SEE ALSO: LinkedIn cofounder will pay $5 million for Donald Trump's tax returnsObama's birthplace (Hawaii) has never been in doubt, yet Trump has ginned up racism directed at the president by suggesting he is an outsider who infiltrated the United States and does not belong.
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His "birther" issue rose again after Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton recently said Trump should apologize to Obama and the rest of America for lying to them for years.
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Instead, Trump began his press conference by talking about his "nice hotel."
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He then stepped offstage and allowed veterans and medal of honor recipients in attendance to praise him while networks and other reporters waited for Trump to retake the microphone and speak about his birtherism.
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And there the cameras stayed as person after person praised the Republican nominee, turning a press conference into something that amounted to an incredibly long campaign ad.
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Cable networks did eventually cut away, but came back almost immediately as Trump finally retook the microphone.
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He said Clinton had started the birther conspiracy, which is a lie. Then he said Obama was born in the United States, as if we did not know this.
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Ashleigh Banfield on CNN is completely fed up with Trump's "birther crap" 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/4AvcEckaAb
— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) September 16, 2016
Then he walked off the stage. If you had left to go to the bathroom, you would have missed it.
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Trump left to give a tour of his new hotel, but wouldn't allow reporters to follow him around.
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Media, in turn, has decided not to use the footage.