The Curious Case of Trig Palin, Who May or May Not Have Been Born Under Unusual Circumstances

Recently, a Northern Kentucky University professor, Bradford Scharlott, published a 29 page report questioning the official story of Trig Palin’s birth. Scharlott complains that the media did not fully investigate the events surrounding the birth. He re-hashes the old “hoax” rumor that Trig, who has down syndrome, is actually Bristol Palin’s child, and thus Sarah Palin’s grandchild. He includes 4 photographs in his report, 2 of which allegedly show an abnormally thin Palin weeks before the birth. 

You can read Scharlott’s report in its entirety here.

And you can read Business Insider’s assessment of the report here.

The whole story certainly sounds like a conspiracy theory, which may in part explain reporters’ reluctance to pursue it. Aside from a lack of convincing evidence, there is in fact clear evidence against the hoax theory. Two photographs exist which show an obviously pregnant Sarah Palin being interviewed 5 days before Trig’s birth (see below). 

Scharlott acknowledges that Palin looks pregnant, but then says that nobody knows who took the photo, or who posted them to Flickr, or why the Flickr account disappeared a year later, or why the two photos were the only photos posted by that account. In other words, Scharlott is using a lack of information as evidence to support his theory. When presented with proof, he desperately tries to debunk it rather than question his own conclusion.

So what we have here are rumors, criticisms of the media, and a couple of odd but inconclusive photographs to support the hoax theory. This is hardly compelling evidence. The Palin family’s implied cover up is easily explained by their completely reasonable desire to protect their family’s privacy. Obama himself deemed the Palin family off limits to media scrutiny. Granted, the desire for privacy now seems questionable in the wake of multiple books and reality TV shows. Nonetheless, birth certificates of politicians’ kids are not regularly just handed out like flyers and a reporter asking Palin exactly when her water broke is just fucking creepy. 

Scharlott is of course always careful never to actually claim that the Palin family faked the whole thing. Instead, he just asks questions. Unfortunately for him and Andrew Sullivan (a good writer and a man whose judgment I respect), speculation does not equal evidence. The Palin family’s reluctance to discuss the issue is totally reasonable. Michelle Obama would probably not want reporters asking her when her water broke, nor would Hillary Clinton, nor would any average mother. 

Sarah Palin is unfit for the Presidency for a vast number of reasons, the best reason being that she’s a complete idiot. Even if she and Todd and Bristol (and presumably whoever got Bristol pregnant) did fake this whole thing, it likely won’t convince any of Palin’s half-witted supporters to stop liking her. Palin is widely disapproved of by both liberals and independents, and she is hardly the Republican Party’s top pick for 2012. If somehow the hoax theory were true, it would simply be one more reason for sensible voters not to support her. In the grand scheme of things, it wouldn’t change much. The Palins are already a gang of frauds.