On Fox News on Tuesday night, Bill O’Reilly asked Donald Trump if he believes his “birther position” has “hurt” him among black voters. As he has done in recent weeks, Trump first insisted that he “doesn’t talk about” the settled fact of whether Barack Obama was born in the United States anymore—an issue that helped him rise to political prominence during the last presidential election. But this time, Trump went on to first admit that “maybe some” black voters don’t like him because of his past birther comments, before adding “I don’t think so” and citing his “lovefest” with black churchgoers in Detroit over the weekend. Earlier in the day, Trump surrogate Ben Carson said the GOP candidate should apologize for pushing birtherism.
