Many of the 17 candidates seeking the 2016 Republican nomination entered the race banking on a unique claim to fame–until The Donald happened. Chris Christie’s ticket was his reputation for straight talking and boorish insensitivity, a hot knife to cut through Washington like butter.
Next to Trump, Christie is a teaspoon; so long, Governor.
Meanwhile many consider Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker a “Republican Obama,” not for his policies, but for his unflinching, partisan manner of defeating unions and Democrats when ramming Right-to -Work through the legislature.
This term, however, the president has distinguished himself not by partisan legislation, but by contempt for the Constitution, particularly its principle of separation of powers, through his quick-draw of executive orders.
As such, Trump, not Walker, is the pendulum’s counterweight. Writes The Hill contributor Raoul Lowery Contreras, Trump is ready to dump the Constitution to put a stop to “anchor babies”:
“The prime example of Trump’s disrespect of our country’s foundation is his trashing the 147-year-old 14th Amendment.
“From Trump’s formal immigration proposal: ‘End birthright citizenship. This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. By a 21 margin voters say it’s the wrong policy, including Harry Reid who said ‘no sane country’ would give automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.’ …
“The 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause: ‘Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.’ …
“Ken Klukowski, legal editor of Breitbart News, focuses on the phrase ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ He thinks that Americans born under the 14th Amendment aren’t citizens at all because the court has never decided the issue of ‘jurisdiction.'”
Contreras goes on to rebut Klukowski (instead of Trump, since Contreras thinks Trump “has no clue about the 14th Amendment and its citizenship clause”):
- In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled that because the Chinese parents whose child was born in America were not diplomats, they were subject to U.S. jurisdiction, so their child was born a U.S. citizen.
- In 1985, the Court ruled that a child born in the U.S. amid its parents’ deportation proceedings is a U.S. citizen.
- In 1967, the Court ruled that citizenship cannot be taken away without the citizen’s permission.
Trump is the Republican Obama. The sword slices a different way, but a shredded Constitution hurts both sides.