Trump Is Willing to Destroy the Constitution to Win an Election
Trump wants you to be terrified. Particularly of people of color, or anyone who might dare try to immigrate to the United States from anywhere outside of Scandinavia. It’s why with a week until the midterms he is sending thousands of troops to the border to thwart a rapidly dwindling migrant caravan that isn’t even going to make its way through Mexico for months. It’s a transparent ploy, but it’s all Trump has left. Stoking fear over immigration is the bedrock of his presidency. It got him elected, and now he’s hoping it will allow Republicans to retain control of Congress.
It doesn’t end with an imaginary “invasion,” either. On Tuesday morning, Axios reported that Trump is planning on signing an executive order that he thinks would revoke birthright citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment and holds that anyone born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen. Axios broke the news through a clip from its new show, Axios on HBO. Host Jonathan Swan was positively giddy as the president sloppily detailed his plan to undercut one of America’s core principles.
“It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment,” Trump said of revoking birthright citizenship. “Guess what? You don’t.”
You do, though, and if Trump were to bypass Congress and attempt to override a constitutional amendment with an executive order it would set off a firestorm of litigation. Trump doesn’t seem to mind, though; “they” told him he could do it. “Now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order,” he continued. “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes, has a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years, with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It has to end.”
The bit about being the only country to allow birthright citizenship is a lie. Several countries practice unconditional “jus soli,” or “right of the soil,” including almost the entire Western Hemisphere. Several more, like Australia and the United Kingdom, practice it on a restricted basis. It doesn’t matter, though. Trump thinks it’s ridiculous, and he confirmed to Axios that he has had real discussions about abolishing the practice and that his administration is in the process of putting together an executive order. “It will happen,” he said.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-14th-amendment-749396/
= new reply since forum marked as read
