Weigel considers the consequences of Trump questioning Obama's birthplace:
I tried to get at this in my piece about the "birther primary." The problem for Republicans, who are still slow-walking their entry into the race, is that they've got a media lightning rod who's reintroducing an issue that they'd hoped would either 1) go away or 2) come up only in town halls where they could dispatch it.
But the base believes this. And maybe Trump does too. Sometimes the people who cover politics assume more tactical and cynical calculations than, in reality, exist. I have no issue in principle with a public demand for a birth certificate. But once Obama provided the proof, the game is over.
And this is the key difference between "Birthers" and "Trig Truthers". There is evidentiary proof that the Birthers are completely wrong. We have no proof of the maternity of Trig Palin - and no journalist has ever asked her to explain the circumstances of her fifth alleged pregnancy. And it would be as easy to provide as a birth certificate.