Conspiracy theorist in chief?

Donald Trump’s political career was born amid the fever swamps of the far right. He seized on a favorite conspiracy theory bubbling there— that Barack Obama was not in fact born in the United States and therefore was an illegitimate president— to boost his profile in national politics.

That boost eventually led to his 2016 candidacy. That candidacy led to President Trump. But what never changed is Trump’s willingness to actively engage the world of conspiracy theorists.

The latest example came Saturday morning when Trump took to Twitter— where else?— to allege that he was the target of a wiretapping campaign authorized by Obama during the 2016 race.

How did he know this, you might ask? When and what government agency told him about the wiretapping, you might ask?

The answer appears to be that Trump made the allegations after reading a Breitbart News article. That article, based heavily on conservative talk radio host Mark Levin’s views, suggested that the Obama administration had conducted a “silent coup” to keep Trump from the presidency.

The problem for Trump and his White House is that while they were dodging direct requests for proof of his allegations, people in a position to know were flatly denying the claims.

Former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday that “there was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president- elect at the time as a candidate or against his campaign,” adding that he would “absolutely” have been aware if there had been.

Here’s the thing: If you are going to say there is a grand conspiracy that only you and a handful of others see, you need to offer a step- by- step explanation to the broader public to show why you’re right.

And that goes double when you have shown a penchant for embracing conspiracy theories— Obama wasn’t born in the United States, Sen. Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Muslims were cheering on rooftops in New Jersey after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and so on and so forth.

The ball is in Trump’s court. Short of convincing evidence to back up the wiretapping claims, the conspiracy- theory candidate will have transformed into the conspiracy- theory president.