I’ve been going out of my way to avoid politics lately, but I just watched Donald Trump on national television complaining that if you dare question Obama’s citizenship, people jump all over you.

Here’s why people jump all over you: Occam’s Razor. (Also, common sense.)

Scenario A: Obama was born in Hawaii as he claims, and as the valid birth certificate he released before he was elected confirms.

Scenario B: Obama was born in another country and an elaborate conspiracy is afoot:

• His campaign released a forged birth certificate to the press.
• FactCheck.org lied when they said they have seen it and verified that it is embossed with a seal and signed on the back, and that it does, in fact, meet all State Department requirements for obtaining a passport. (They also have photographs showing the certificate number that was blacked-out in the scan released by the campaign, explaining that, during the campaign, they rushed to release it but weren’t sure if it was confidential information, so they erred on the site of caution.)
• Hawaii’s Director of Health and Human Services lied when she said she had seen it.
• Hawaii’s Republican governor, Linda Lingle, lied when she said the President was “in fact, born at Kapi’olani Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii” after viewing the original birth certificate.
• His parents were in on the conspiracy decades ago, planting birth announcements in two Hawaiian newspapers claiming he was born in Hawaii — even listing an address. (These birth announcements were uncovered, by the way, by an anti-Obama, pro-Hillary “PUMA” activist, who really had every incentive to try to make it look like Obama was not, in fact, born in the US.)
• Barbara Nelson, who was one of Obama’s teachers in Hawaii, is lying when she said that she spoke with the doctor who delivered Obama at the time. The incident was remarkable because Obama’s mother’s name was Stanley, hence the doctor’s quip about Stanley delivering a baby. She wrote home to her father about it, also named Stanley. She also remembers Barack as a grade-school student.

Which situation seems more plausible?

Also, some in the “birther” movement have committed fraud themselves:

• That audio clip in which his grandmother alleges he was born in Kenya? Yeah, listen to the whole thing. It was delivered through an interpreter, over a speakerphone in a crowded room. She does imply he was born in Kenya, but then the interpreter clarifies the misunderstanding and the grandmother explains that he was born in Hawaii. Those that link to a version of the recording that stops right before this clarification are trying to mislead you.
• Obama’s Kenyan Birth Certificate has been widely debunked as being fake.

So next time someone asks why Obama hasn’t released his birth certificate, point out that he did, back in 2008, and that a whole slew of people have authenticated it.