A funny thing happened as the GOP race for the
Presidency got out of the gate. A
candidate whom many were not convinced would even run, and whom others figured
would bow out quickly, if he did run, and whom others still, presumed would be
minimized, if not nullified, by the time the campaign began in earnest, is in
fact, leading the race. The Donald, who
boldly and frequently proclaims the American Dream is dead, and only he can
bring back sexy…I mean the American Dream, has all but made a mockery out of
the race to determine the Republican nominee for the White House, in the early
going.
He leads his nearest opponent by a nearly 2:1
margin in most polls, more in some. Mr.
Trump appears to be single-handedly redefining the playbook for
GOPolithink. It was not that long ago,
the collective wisdom of the Grand Old Party was, “that Barack Obama guy took us
to the woodshed twice by dominating the Hispanic vote. In 2008, Senator Obama garnered 62% of the
Hispanic vote. In 2012, the number rose
to 71%.
After November 2012 Presidential Election, the
GOP Mantra was, we are going to plan and execute a brand new policy initiative
expressly for 2016. We’ll show ‘em.”
Wow, did they ever! On the evening of June 16, 2015, Mr. Trump
announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2016 election
at the Trump Tower
in New York City
with the slogan "Make America
Great Again.
Part of his
formula for making America Great Again included plans to complete the Mexican
border fence, or a wall, as he calls it, and make Mexico pay for it. But he did not stop there. He went on to say:
"When Mexico sends its people,
they're not sending their best...They're sending people that have lots of
problems, and they're bringing those problems with [them]. They're bringing
drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good
people.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Trump
announcement, a number of entities severed ties with the mogul candidate. Several businesses and organizations – including NBC, Macy's, Univision, and NASCAR (along with sponsor
Camping World) – cut ties
with Trump over his comments. The
response among his fellow GOP candidates was mixed. Two of them, Senator Lindsey Graham, of South
Carolina, and former Texas Governor, Rick Perry, quickly squared off against
Trump and his stinging remarks.
Interestingly, for all practical purposes, they both dropped of the
political radar.
Trump,
alternately, zoomed to the top of the polls, and has held a commanding lead for
the first two months of the campaign. Of
course, we are talking about Donald Trump; so naturally, he was not through
with the issue. In fact, he has since
doubled and tripled, perhaps even quadrupled down on the idea. He has promised to build the biggest most
sophisticated and effective wall imaginable.
He has referenced the Great Wall of China as just one example of what’s
possible. What a novel and potentially
historic idea.
Most of us
know there are 17 candidates that the media and GOP Polling sites consider
serious. However, there are more than
twice that many declared candidates for the GOP Ticket. Since you have almost surely not seen this
list, and will likely never see it again, I thought it would be instructional
to share it here. So, for your
edification only, here it is. First
there is the list, in polling order, based on the first debate. This is the list with which most of us are
familiar. The first 10 made it to the
Prime Time Main Stage:
·
Donald
Trump, 23.2 percent
·
Jeb Bush, 12.8
·
Scott
Walker, 10.6
·
Ben
Carson, 6.6
·
Mike
Huckabee, 6.6
·
Ted Cruz, 6.2
·
Marco
Rubio, 5.2
·
Rand Paul, 4.8
·
Chris
Christie, 3.4
·
John
Kasich, 2.8
The second group
includes the 7 candidates who appeared in the Matinee edition of the GOP
Debate:
·
Rick
Perry, 2.0
·
Rick
Santorum, 1.4
·
Bobby
Jindal, 1.2
·
Carly
Fiorina, 1.0
·
Lindsey
Graham, 0.4
·
George
Pataki, N/A
·
Jim
Gilmore, N/A
And then you have the list of declared
candidates in its entirety, in Alpha Order:
As a
frontrunner, the one thing about Trump is no one can say he has been forced to
tone it down or play it timid. In fact,
some of his best stuff has almost surely not even been uttered yet. However, one of the most recent “get the eff
outta here ideas he released so far came up a few days ago when he suggested that
the 14th Amendment to the Constitution is actually illegal. Newsflash; the Constitution is illegal! This comes from the frontrunner of the Party
that feigns irreducible fealty to the Constitution. For a point of reference, just think Second
Amendment and gun rights. Say what?
In addressing
the matter with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, Mr. Trump said that the 14th
Amendment –
which guarantees citizenship to all people “born or naturalized in the United
States,” including children whose parents came to the country illegally is
unconstitutional.
“It’s not going to hold up in court.”
The key
language, found in the first section is as follows:
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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.
A central
element of this section is the Citizenship Clause, which overruled
the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision
that black people
were not citizens and could not become citizens, nor enjoy the benefits of citizenship. Some members of Congress voted for the
Fourteenth Amendment in order to eliminate doubts about the constitutionality
of the Civil Rights Act
of 1866, or to ensure that no subsequent Congress could later repeal
or alter the main provisions of that Act.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 had granted
citizenship to all persons born in the United States if they were not subject
to a foreign power, and this clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
constitutionalized this rule.
So, suddenly,
Donald John Trump, turned Constitutional scholar, has declared an Amendment,
adopted July 9, 1868. One more element
of this facet of the conversation is the use of the term Anchor Baby. The term is a pejorative description for
a child born to an illegal
immigrant mother to the United States.
There is a
popular misconception that the child's U.S. citizenship status (acquired by jus soli) legally helps
the child's parents and siblings to quickly reclassify their visa status (or
lack thereof) and to place them on a fast pathway to acquire lawful permanent
residence and eventually United States citizenship. Current U.S. federal law prevents anyone
under the age of 21 from being able to petition for their non-citizen parent to
be lawfully admitted into the United States for permanent residence. At best,
the child's family would need to wait for 21 years before being able to use
their child's US citizenship to modify their immigration status
The term is
generally used as a derogatory reference to the supposed role of the child, who
automatically qualifies as an American citizen and can later act as a sponsor
for other family members. The term is
also often used in the context of the debate over illegal immigration to the United
States to refer to children of illegal immigrants, but may be
used for the child of any immigrant.
The
pyrotechnics over the use of the term has spilled over into the jousting
between Jeb Bush and Trump. But the real
elephant (GOP symbol) in the room is that several of the current GOP
Presidential candidates have direct ties to immigrants.
One, Ted Cruz,
was not born in the United States, though he gets his citizenship from his
mother, who was an American citizen. His
father is Cuban born; his American mother gave birth to Rafael Edward
"Ted" Cruz in Calgary, Alberta
(Canada).
A second, Marco Antonio Rubio, would, by
Jeb Bush and Donald Trump’s definition, be considered an Anchor Baby. Marco was born in Miami in 1971. His parents applied for Citizenship, and were
Naturalized in 1975.
Another, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, also fits
the profile. His parents moved to Baton
Rouge, Louisiana, from Malerkotla, Punjab,
India, in January 1971, a few months prior to
Bobby’s birth on June 10th.
Jindal’s case is particularly curious in that he has voiced support for
the effort to end the practice. Upon
reflection, I must wonder, if in fact the practice is ended, is there a way to
make it retroactive. That would help
thin out the GOP field of candidates. At
least it would eliminate a couple of candidates polling in single digits
anyway.
For the sake of full disclosure, it’s important to note Trump and Jindal
are not the only GOP candidates to board the Anchor Baby bandwagon. Governor Scott Walker, who I wrote about last
week, Governor Chris Christie, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Rand Paul, and
former Senator Rick Santorum have all embraced the questionable and
controversial position. I will reiterate
my most fervent plea. Do you research,
and by all means, vote. Your very way of
life may depend on it.
As for that Mantra, and the commitment to devise and execute a new
initiative to turn the tide, we will see.
At this point in the race, it’s difficult to be anything other than
dubious.
A common phrase related to the race is, “it’s early; and it is. There is still a lot of time for the “Change
We Believe In” to occur. At this time in
2007, Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney led the polling for their respective
Parties. Of course, neither of them went
on to win. So, perhaps that bodes well
for those who hope not to have to contend with the likes of President
Trump. For whatever it’s worth, it
shouldn’t instill much confidence for Clinton backers either. But that’s a discussion for another day. Right now, just sit back and contemplate “The Team GOP Conundrum: “Trumping” theImmigration Issue!”
I’m done; holla
back!
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