In a moment of sheer humiliation, Trump tried to explain how he can end birthright citizenship with an executive order and failed miserably.
Trump said:
Birthright citizenship is a very, very important subject. In my opinion, it’s much less complex than people think. I think it says it very loud and clear in the Constitution that you don’t have to go through the process of whatever they’re talking about.
And by the way, it’s not a constitutional amendment. You don’t need a constitutional amendment for birthright citizenship. I believe that you can have a simple vote in Congress, or it’s even possible, in my opinion — this is after meeting with some very talented, legal scholars, that you can do it through an executive order. Now, I would rather do it through Congress, because that’s permanent.
But we can certainly do it through — I really believe we can do it through executive order. One other thing. If President Obama can get DACA approved — if you look at DACA, where he actually said, well, this isn’t legal, or this I can’t do, but I’ll do it anyway, and then he gets a judge to approve it, and it will ultimately be decided by the supreme court, I hope quickly. But certainly if he can do DACA, we can do this by executive with that being said, I think Congress will ultimately act. But I may very well do it by executive order. Just so you understand, a person comes in, was never in our country before, has a baby, and now all of a sudden the baby is a United States citizen. And through chain migration and other things, many other people come in through the baby. It’s ridiculous.
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Video:
Trump shows off his stupidity on birthright citizenship," In my opinion, it’s much less complex than people think. I think it says it very loud and clear in the Constitution that you don’t have to go through the process of whatever they’re talking about." https://t.co/UgdGQkwVxm pic.twitter.com/XA7ExVS7m2
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) October 31, 2018
This is just humiliating for the country. Trump doesn’t name any legal scholars that he has spoken to who believe that he can change the constitution with an executive order because there aren’t any.
The second point that needs to be addressed here is the false equivalency with DACA. Obama had a sound legal argument that DACA falls under the discretion of executive branch implementation. Even if the Supreme Court finds that Obama went too far, in no universe is that the same as a president claiming that he can rewrite the constitution with an executive order.
Thirdly, someone needs to tell Trump that congressional legislation is not permanent, or he is going to be in for a really big surprise when a future Democratic Congress and president kill his “permanent” tax cuts for the rich with a bill to repeal.
Trump can’t change the constitution by himself. This is Civics 101, and his bogus argument that he can is an insult and a threat to democracy.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
