# WTF is Obamagate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 12, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616 "2020-05-12T01:41:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/102 "2020-05-15T13:45:42Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > Well, if you want an answer from actual conservatives, give this a read > > [Obamagate Is Not a Conspiracy Theory](https://news.yahoo.com/obamagate-not-conspiracy-theory-214627867.html) > > Note: I am not endorsing or claiming anything in here is legitimate. But it is a bit more substantive than “he wore a tan suit”, or “because he’s black”, etc. From your link > [@](#): > > None of this means that Obama committed some specific crime; he almost assuredly did not. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/103 "2020-05-15T14:09:04Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Asahi can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think he meant that, deep down, even Trump supporters know there’s no there there — but they feel compelled to act and talk as if there were a there there. Basically, yes, that’s what I’m getting at. The truth is vague and subjective in Trump Land. I can only go with the observations of some members of my family and some old friends I’ve seen post on Facebook. But basically, they probably know that they’re buying into conspiracy theories without any evidence to support them, but they ascribe negative, fiendish attributes to their targets (“Killary”, Obama the Communist Socialist Dictator, etc), believing that these conspiracies _could_ be true. It’s enough to believe that Obama, Hillary, Bill, pick a Democratic governor, and Biden are capable of doing things that are part of a conspiracy theory -that passes for truth in Trump Land. The reason they believe that Democrats are capable of such atrocities is that, deep down inside, they know that Republicans are equally capable of viciously attacking and smearing their opponents, and many times, that’s exactly what right wing voters what they want them to do. They just assume that Democrats and liberals would want to do the same in return. It’s a type of projection. Believing that Hillary Clinton had Seth Rich murdered or that she ran a child sex trafficking ring in a pizza shop need not have facts to support them - if it’s humanly possible, they assume that progressives are doing it. They want to believe that. It helps them justify whatever shitty views of humanity they have. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/104 "2020-05-15T14:44:08Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I think the idea is that just the way people link Nixon with Watergate and they know it’s something bad _(although I’ll bet 90% of Americans walking around today don’t know what the “Watergate” crime was or why it’s named that)_, they’ll link the vaguely nefarious, accusatory “Obamagate” with “Obama”-- made extra simple for the stupid set because his name is part of it. :dubious: Not saying trump is capable of this level of reasoning and foresight, but his lackeys and minions are promoting it. This is Trumps entire life. Blame someone else. He has fucked up from day one, and now, of course he has to blame someone. I think he actually believes it though. Stupid people born into privilege believe they can do no wrong. Not all people born into privilege are stupid though. Many go on to do great things. Someone fed this to him though. “Distract them, rile up your supporters and give them something to cling to”. I REALLY want a reporter in a news conference/Trump rally, to stand up for the truth, call him a liar, and state that “This Obamagate bullshit is just an attempt to distract from your own incompetence, failures and crimes. It is not in any newspapers and only exist in your feeble brain”. He can then be applauded by other reporters and escorted out by the Secret Service. Wherein he will become a hero to actual Americans that care about out county. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/105 "2020-05-15T15:24:00Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Believing that Hillary Clinton had Seth Rich murdered or that she ran a child sex trafficking ring in a pizza shop need not have facts to support them - if it’s humanly possible, they assume that progressives are doing it. They want to believe that. It helps them justify whatever shitty views of humanity they have. It doesn’t even have to be humanly possible. The pizza shop accused of being part of the ring didn’t even _have_ a basement. I’ve said it before, stupid’s forever but ignorance can be fixed… but then there’s willful ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/106 "2020-05-15T16:24:24Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > It doesn’t even have to be humanly possible. The pizza shop accused of being part of the ring didn’t even _have_ a basement. > > I’ve said it before, stupid’s forever but ignorance can be fixed… but then there’s willful ignorance. It didn’t need to have a basement: one version I tripped over — Og knows, I wasn’t looking for it — held that the “basement” was actually on Mars, and the “basement door” was a teleport. In even a slightly more rational atmosphere I would have written this off as a whoosh, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been a) serious, and b) believed by a fair number of MAGAsses. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/107 "2020-05-15T18:01:16Z")
Since no-one has said it yet, I just want to express how utterly disgusting all this is. That trump supporters are happy to handwave everything that happened with Russia (obstructed justice in 11 ways, 7 members of Trump’s team indicted, Barr now letting off a guy who plead guilty twice)…and everything that happened with Ukraine (even most trump supporters accept a QPQ happened for trump’s personal benefit, then multiple, blatant attempts to obstruct justice at many levels, followed by a “trial” with no witnesses and no documents allowed), and now a pandemic response that has led to tens of thousands of deaths… _This_ is the worst scandal in history!? What the fuck is wrong with these people? Ok, sorry…guess I need to find a Pit thread. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/108 "2020-05-16T00:36:59Z")
I saw something elsewhere that seems to perfectly answer the question of what Obamagate is: “Obamagate is a slogan in search of a scandal.” I’d say that it’s a pretty good answer. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/109 "2020-05-16T13:09:45Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Since no-one has said it yet, I just want to express how utterly disgusting all this is. > > That trump supporters are happy to handwave everything that happened with Russia (obstructed justice in 11 ways, 7 members of Trump’s team indicted, Barr now letting off a guy who plead guilty twice)…and everything that happened with Ukraine (even most trump supporters accept a QPQ happened for trump’s personal benefit, then multiple, blatant attempts to obstruct justice at many levels, followed by a “trial” with no witnesses and no documents allowed), and now a pandemic response that has led to tens of thousands of deaths… > > _This_ is the worst scandal in history!? **What the fuck is wrong with these people?** As I’ve said before, they get something of psychological value out of siding with Trump. I don’t think every Trump supporter is hopelessly racist, but an overwhelming majority have anxieties about the demographic shifts that have occurred over the last 40-50 years. Even for whites who are living from food stamp payment to food stamp payment, they fear losing their “rank” in society. Something _is_ wrong with that, though. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/110 "2020-05-16T22:58:33Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Since no-one has said it yet, I just want to express how utterly disgusting all this is. > > That trump supporters are happy to handwave everything that happened with Russia (obstructed justice in 11 ways, 7 members of Trump’s team indicted, Barr now letting off a guy who plead guilty twice)…and everything that happened with Ukraine (even most trump supporters accept a QPQ happened for trump’s personal benefit, then multiple, blatant attempts to obstruct justice at many levels, followed by a “trial” with no witnesses and no documents allowed), and now a pandemic response that has led to tens of thousands of deaths… > > _This_ is the worst scandal in history!? What the fuck is wrong with these people? > > Ok, sorry…guess I need to find a Pit thread. What’s wrong is that they’ve been led to believe that all the stuff above is to Trump what Birtherism and the tan suit are to Obama supporters. Whether you then place more blame on the people telling the lies or the people who believe them is up to you. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/111 "2020-05-17T00:22:20Z")
Yer all overthinking it. “A slogan in search of a scandal.” That’s good. That might even be true. But last night, I drank a quart of Old Overcoat and inflicted a head injury on myself, and then watched several hours of Fox News in order to simulate the mindset… and the answer slid neatly into place. It did. And it made SENSE, and EVERYTHING! Really quite simple. Obamagate is, in fact, "The brazen and corrupt act of permitting, aiding, and abetting, nay, ENCOURAGING… a NEGRO… to be PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES! TWICE!!! And after eight YEARS of this ATROCITY, attempting to follow it UP by putting a woman, A WOMAN IN THERE!!!" Makes perfect sense. That’s why he doesn’t have to explain it. More than HALF of ALL AMERICANS were IN on the conspiracy… ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/112 "2020-05-17T02:04:55Z")
I think you’re right. Obama’s crime was… …wait for it… **Being President While Black! Twice!** He can’t deny it! ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/113 "2020-05-17T02:47:59Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I think you’re right. Obama’s crime was… > > …wait for it… > > **Being President While Black! > Twice!** > He can’t deny it! The only flaw I can find in this theory is that it makes perfect sense. The current president often does NOT make sense, and he’s far from logical, even when he’s lucid. So maybe the theory about “A slogan in search of a scandal” is better. At least it doesn’t have to make sense. It just has to be believed by the faithful. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/114 "2020-05-17T04:02:05Z")
Well, and his mother’s name was Stanley. What the hell kind of name is that? Obviously his parents were gay, so that makes him a gay black muslim. That is just all kinds of wrong. He should be locked up for perpetrating that big a fraud on the country. ---
**Author:** ![CaseyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@CaseyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaseyR)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/115 "2020-05-17T05:12:03Z")
The definitive report on Obamagate was given on the Daily Social Distancing Show: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/L_Be2e87A38/maxresdefault.jpg "Seriously, What Is “Obamagate”? | The Daily Social Distancing Show") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Be2e87A38) ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/116 "2020-05-17T06:41:44Z")
[quote=“CaseyR, post:115, topic:853616”] The definitive report on Obamagate was given on the Daily Social Distancing Show: [/QUOTE] While that was entertaining, the Foxsplanation part hurt my brain. Then again, so does Fox News. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/117 "2020-05-17T09:02:02Z")
Obama shared a meal with Anthony Bourdain in Vietnam, therefore he’s a filthy communist sympathizer?? Other than that, I’ve got nothing. Hey, can someone enlighten me re the Tan Suit thing? It didn’t blip my radar here downunder. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/118 "2020-05-17T10:29:14Z")
[Obama tan suit controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama_tan_suit_controversy) Basically, Obama wore a tan suit for a news conference about ISIS and Republicans went ape-shit over how unpresidential it was. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/119 "2020-05-17T13:43:49Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Obama tan suit controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama_tan_suit_controversy) > Basically, Obama wore a tan suit for a news conference about ISIS and Republicans went ape-shit over how unpresidential it was. Well, THAT was fun to revisit. Imagine the hoopla if he had worn seersucker and a boater. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/120 "2020-05-17T13:56:02Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Well, THAT was fun to revisit. Imagine the hoopla if he had worn seersucker and **a boater.** [Even worse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Shoe_Laces), a big Panama with a purple hatband. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616/121 "2020-05-17T14:57:36Z")
CaseyR Join Date: Nov 2000 Posts: 1 Looking forward to hearing from you again in 2040! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-obamagate/853616.md?page=7)