Of all the odd, counterfactual and conspiratorial claims President Donald Trump has made over the past four years or so, this one may take the cake: He said Tuesday that his father was born in Germany, even though he wasn't.
It is at least the third time he has said this.
"My father is German - was German," Trump said. "Born in a very wonderful place in Germany, so I have a great feeling for Germany."
Fred Trump is of German descent, and his father was a German immigrant. But Fred Trump was born in New York. As The Washington Post's Philip Bump detailed shortly after Trump's election:
"Donald Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1885. He landed in New York City but eventually made his way west, settling in Seattle. In November 1891, he bought a restaurant at 208 Washington Street in the city for $600. (This history is from Gwenda Blair's The Trumps, a history of the family.) It was in Seattle that Friedrich became a citizen - on October 27, 1892, just in time to register to vote in the 1892 presidential election, the first for which Washington was eligible to cast its ballots. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer listed Trump as a registered voter shortly before the November election."