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Trump got fresh attention this year for reigniting the "birther" controversy, insisting there were unanswered questions about whether Obama had been born in Hawaii. Trump won admiration from many on the right who have insisted Obama was born overseas and thus ineligible to serve as president. Despite years of ignoring such claims, Obama finally pressed the state of Hawaii to release his long-form birth certificate last month
-- an acknowledgement that Trump had succeeded in bringing into the mainstream what had once been a fringe controversy. At a brief appearance before reporters after the birth certificate was made public, Obama indirectly cast Trump as a carnival barker and the controversy as a sideshow. Trump took credit for the release even though it robbed his fledgling candidacy of a signature issue. Obama retaliated days later in his monologue at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, where he poked fun at the birth certificate matter while mocking Trump and his show as the TV host watched from the audience. "Just recently, in an episode of 'Celebrity Apprentice' at the steakhouse, the men's cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks," Obama said as Trump sat stone-faced in the same room. "You, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn't blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. These are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night." A day later, NBC interrupted the airing of Trump's show with word of an Obama announcement
-- within 45 minutes the president informed the nation and the world that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden had been killed. Whatever buzz that had remained over a Trump candidacy fully faded. In a May 4 Quinnipiac University national poll, 58 percent of voters said they would never vote for Trump for president, including 32 percent of Republicans. NBC said that "The Celebrity Apprentice" would be coming back in midseason. The show has averaged 8.9 million viewers an episode this season, up 12 percent over last year, the Nielsen Co. said.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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