Sometimes you really have to hand it to Donald Trump. The press has been after him recently about whether he believes the Hillary Clinton campaign’s claim that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. For years, the press has obsessed on “birtherism,” considering it to be a major issue on a par, at least, with a lousy economy and pitiful defense policy. Last night the Trump campaign released a statement to the effect that “Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States.”

This morning, Trump himself tweeted:

I am now going to the brand new Trump International, Hotel D.C. for a major statement.

Reporters assumed the statement would be about Obama’s birthplace, and, sensing an opportunity to halt Hilary’s decline in the polls, hurried to the Trump International en masse, with camera crews in tow. The cable news networks cleared time to broadcast the anticipated Trump humiliation live.

Instead, they were treated to 20 minutes of military figures endorsing Trump. Live, on CNN and MSNBC! Reporters responded in typically classy fashion. E.g, Glenn Thrush of Politico (author yesterday of 5 reasons Trump might fall in autumn):

18 months into this cable networks are still letting Trump hijack them for free airtime — ad time — by promising a "major announcement' — Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) September 16, 2016

This is a f–king disgrace… https://t.co/YtSjlt57Os — Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) September 16, 2016

Networks going to stick with Trump as he tries to cloak his racist birtherism in the herosim and service of these vets? — Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) September 16, 2016

Once again, the American news media gets totally played by Trump. Wall-to-wall coverage. We’re all guilty. — Jim Roberts (@nycjim) September 16, 2016

What’s funny about this is that reporters were done in by their own partisan obsession with “birtherism,” the now-discredited suspicion that Obama was telling the truth when he claimed for many years to have been born in Kenya. Trump’s tweet said not a word about it, but reporters let wishful thinking get the better of them.

To be fair, it isn’t difficult to outsmart most reporters. But it is still fun to see it done in such epic fashion.

Via Drudge, who is riding high these days.