The most sociopathic president in US history is trying to bring back birtherism, targeted against Kamala Harris, but something’s different this time — the media seem to be unwilling to play along to the same degree they did with Trump’s smears against Barack Obama.

Trump is basing this ridiculous nonsense on a risible article by a right wing crank, of course.

Trump, who led a “birther” conspiracy movement against former President Barack Obama, told reporters Thursday that he heard a “highly qualified, very talented lawyer” opine that Harris didn’t qualify to serve as vice president but did not know if it were true or not. Trump was responding to a question and was referring to a Newsweek opinion piece by law professor John Eastman inaccurately calling into question Harris’ eligibility.

“I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” Trump said. “I have no idea if that’s right. I would have assumed that the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president.”

Check out these headlines from major news sites. They all label this as false, and some of them even state — correctly — that this conspiracy theory is racist at its core. I even see the word “lie.” Be still my heart.

Back in the bad old birther days, the attitude was either “both-sides” or “ignore this silliness,” and this irresponsible coverage undoubtedly helped Donald Trump. I wouldn’t get too hopeful yet, but apparently some lessons were learned at some outlets. (But not at Newsweek, where they published the garbage article that fueled Trump’s attack.)