(CNN) Donald Trump's political career was birthed of a conspiracy theory: The much-debunked idea that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

Trump, beginning around 2011, seized on the issue -- which had been percolating in the fever swamps on the far right since Obama won -- and used it to cast himself as the lone voice among conservatives willing to stand up to Obama (and political correctness).

That the whole thing was, wait for it, a totally false conspiracy theory was beside the point for Trump. It proved useful to him, so he used it.

Given that origin story, we shouldn't be terribly surprised that Trump's willingness to engage in conspiracy theories as a candidate has continued since he entered the White House.

Take Trump's tweets on Saturday alone. They amounted to a conspiracy theorist's dream.