Why Did Trump Stick to a Birther Lie?

New York Times: “The essential question — Why promote a lie? — may be unanswerable. Was it sport? Was it his lifelong quest to court media attention? Was it racism? Was it the cynical start of his eventual campaign for president?”

“It might not matter. He kept doing it, even as his most senior aides assured the public that he had long since abandoned the fallacy.”

“He had not. He was disingenuous until the very end, telling a Washington Post reporter just 72 hours before that he was unready to concede the president’s place of birth. But he treated the weighty topic, as he does so much else, like a television cliffhanger, promising a major declaration on Friday.”

Washington Post: Trump’s stance on display: Never wrong, and never loved more by his supporters.