The Barack Obama Birthplace Conspiracy Explained (& Debunked)

The Barack Obama birthplace conspiracy loomed large during 44's presidency. Despite being repeatedly debunked, it still lingers. At the time of posting, a Google search for "Was Barack Obama born in Africa?" yields over 4.5 million results.

Credence to the conspiracy was supposedly added after a video resurfaced in March 2022 purporting to show Obama telling a crowd he was born in Kenya. "It's true, I'm not an American," he appears to announce. "I was not born in Hawaii. I wasn't born in the United States of America. I come from Kenya." The clip is clearly satirical, as stated in the opening credits, which read "spoof." Plus, its title, "birthers delight," kind of gives the game away.

Per Reuters, the video of Obama is from a speech he made in Turkey — where he obviously did not make those comments. It was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, from an account that's since been suspended. "Yep, truth always comes out," a follower commented, seemingly without even a hint of irony. A user named "Taking USA back" also shared it on the Alt-tech and Alt-right social media platform Gettr. "Here it is.... Share it everywhere. Barry won't mind," they captioned the doctored video. 

Nowadays, it's a case of "never let the truth get in the way of a good story," especially when it backs up an unfounded narrative with an agenda. Still, where and how did the Obama birthplace conspiracy begin? And what's it all about?

Before Barack Obama's presidency began in January 2009, false claims surfaced that he wasn't eligible to be commander-in-chief because he was born in Kenya. The narrative also included the fake assertion he's a Muslim. Over time, the conspiracy became an Alt-right movement, and it persisted throughout Obama's time in office and beyond.

Despite becoming a staple of Alt-right propaganda, the conspiracy is believed to have started on the other side of the fence. Per BBC News, fact-checkers have traced the origins of the rumors to Hillary Clinton supporters. It's thought that the gossip started during the desperate end days of Clinton's failed presidential run against Obama in 2008. The junior United States senator from New York fanned the flames during a "60 Minutes" interview in March 2008. "I take him on the basis of what he says," she answered coyly when asked if she believed the rumors regarding Obama's birthplace. "You don't believe he's a Muslim?" Steve Croft pushed. "There is nothing to base that on," Clinton stutteringly replied. "That I know of."

However, despite Clinton doing little to dispel the conspiracy, there's no evidence that she started it — or engaged in spreading it. "There is no record that Clinton herself or anyone within her campaign ever advanced the charge that Obama was not born in the United States," PolitiFact and the Washington Post found following a joint investigation. Still, despite not being the conspiracy's orchestrator, Clinton was accused of it — by the leading proponent, Donald Trump.

Once the Barack Obama birthplace conspiracy surfaced, Donald Trump seized on it and ran with it. Obama's stance on Trump has always been crystal clear. There is definitely no love lost between the two — as evidenced by the choice words Obama reportedly used to describe Trump. In his book "Battle For the Soul," Edward-Isaac Dovere quotes Obama referring to the former reality TV star as "a racist, sexist pig" and "f****** lunatic."

So, it was a no-brainer that Trump would jump on the chance to smear Obama. "Why doesn't he show his birth certificate? There's something on that birth certificate that he doesn't like," Trump pondered on "The View" in March 2011. "Now, somebody told me — and I have no idea if this is bad for him or not, but perhaps it would be — that where it says 'religion,' [on his birth certificate] it might have 'Muslim.' And if you're a Muslim, you don't change your religion, by the way," Trump claimed on "The Laura Ingraham Show" later in the month.

Obama released a long-form copy of his birth certificate in April 2011. It states he was born in August 1961 at the Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. "Normally, I would not comment on something like this," Obama said during a press conference in April 2011, explaining he felt the need to as the never-ending speculation was an unnecessary distraction from more important issues.

Donald Trump's persistence in propagating false rumors about Barack Obama's birthplace didn't go unnoticed. Obama mercilessly roasted Trump during the White House correspondents' dinner in May 2011. "Tonight, for the first time, I am releasing my official birth video," Obama announced, playing a clip from "The Lion King" of Simba's birth. "No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald," Obama said. "And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?"

Trump was not amused, though he was forced to admit Obama was born in the USA. Or, at least, one would think. "An 'extremely credible source' has called my office and told me that Barack Obama's birth certificate is a fraud," Trump posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in April 2012. "Was it a birth certificate? You tell me," he said in an interview with ABC News in August 2013. "Some people say that was not his birth certificate. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I'm saying I don't know. Nobody knows."

Trump also continued to falsely insist Hillary Clinton started the conspiracy. "[She] first raised this issue to smear then-candidate Barack Obama in her very nasty, failed 2008 campaign for president," Team Trump claimed in a September 2016 statement (via PolitiFact). "This type of vicious and conniving behavior is straight from the Clinton playbook."