During President Obama's press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he was asked if he was to blame for the rise of Donald Trump because of the "incredibly polarized political climate under his administration."
His response was to say that he has been blamed by Republicans for a lot of things, but to blame their crazy primary selection process and who they are nominating on him is a "novel" idea.
He then blamed Trump's participation in the birther movement, which was not prompted by his actions, for being the touchstone moment for the present day Republican crackup. "So what you're seeing within the republican party to some degree, all those efforts over a course of time, creating an environment where someone like a Donald Trump can thrive."
Obama then went on to explain that Trump's positions on a whole range of issues are very similar to those of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio's, including immigration, which is surprising since both Cuban candidates were products of immigration.
..but what I'm not going to do is validate some notion that the Republican crackup that's taken place is a consequence of actions that I've taken."
More from Obama's presser:
