Trump Revives Racist Birther Conspiracy for Kamala Harris
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 4 years ago • 19 commentsBy: Matt Stieb (Intelligencer)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Though Donald Trump flirted for years with an entrance into politics, it was the election of Barack Obama — and the bogus claim that the first Black president was not born in the United States — that finally brought him into the civic sphere. Over a decade since Trump launched his political career on the back of a racist conspiracy theory, he has revived the claim for the first Black vice-presidential nominee in U.S. history: On Thursday, just two days after Harris was named Joe Biden's VP pick, Trump suggested that she may not be eligible for the job.
"I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements, and by the way the lawyer who wrote the piece is highly qualified, very talented," Trump said in his coronavirus press conference. He was referring to a Newsweek column in which conservative law professor John Eastman claimed that Harris may not be considered a natural-born citizen — a requirement for those at the top of the ballot — because of what he calls the original understanding of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment. As Axios notes, "Eastman's view on birthright citizenship and presidential eligibility is not accepted by constitutional law scholars."
Earlier in the day, Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis also presented Eastman's op-ed as grounds for a birther revival, calling the baseless concern "an open question, and one I think Harris should answer so the American people know for sure she is eligible."
Democrats anticipated that the Trump campaign — initially launched in 2015 on the claim that Mexicans are "rapists" — would run a campaign steeped in racism if the vice-presidential nominee was a woman of color. According to Politico, during the vetting of Senator Tammy Duckworth, the selection committee was concerned that Republicans would question Duckworth — born in Bangkok to a father who was an American citizen and Defense employee — on her legitimacy as a candidate. (The concerns would also be bogus: Duckworth is legally a natural-born citizen.) But with another Black nominee on the ballot, Trump is returning to his wheelhouse, questioning the citizenship of a candidate born in the United States.
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Earlier today, on another seed, I predicted that Trump would say something like this, and I also predicted he would praise the lawyer who wrote the article in Newsweek.
I have to say though it is rare to have one's predictions like this proven true within hours.
And yet it can be done, because trump is scum and I have been perceptive enough to see it all along.
1 seeder JohnRussell 11 hours ago
Expect Trump to say --- "some people, very fine, incredible, very intelligent people, are saying she's not an American" ----- before long.
There might have been one or two others here who have felt the same way.
I guess once a racist birther always a racist birther...
yep
He is the most revolting human being on the entire planet
When you dont have intelligence, honesty or decency on your side , I guess you act like an asshole all the time and hope people like it. He has no other choice. In all honesty it has worked for him to a certain degree.
Sad you resort to pushing a distortion of the essay so blatantly. You are better than this.
Yet again, from the liberal editors at Newsweek:
" His essay has no connection whatsoever to so-called "birther-ism," the racist 2008 conspiracy theory aimed at delegitimizing then-candidate Barack Obama by claiming, baselessly, that he was born not in Hawaii but in Kenya.
The 14th Amendment is one of the most-studied areas of constitutional law, and questions were raised by the Constitution's Article II, Section 1 "natural born Citizen" requirement for presidential eligibility about both John McCain and Ted Cruz, at the time of their respective runs . The meaning of "natural born Citizen," and the relation of that Article II textual requirement to the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, are issues of legal interpretation about which scholars and commentators can, and will, robustly disagree.
Debating the meaning of these constitutional provisions and, in the particular case of Dr. Eastman's piece, the meaning of the 14th Amendment's phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof," is not an attempt to deny facts or to make false claims. No one is questioning Harris' place of birth or the legitimacy of an obviously valid birth certificate.
On the contrary, leading law schools have long entertained debates between competing scholars about the original public meaning of the Citizenship Clause. The issue discussed in these debates, and contested by Dr. Eastman, is whether birthright citizenship ( jus soli, birth by soil), as opposed to merely citizenship by parentage ( jus sanguinis , that is, citizenship by citizenship of one's parents at time of birth), is textually mandated. Again, scholars can, and do, disagree on this point.
So, you are saying or implying that Harris was not born on US territory?
As far as so called 'leading scholars', even as recent as the last decade there are 'so called scholars' that question whether The Holocaust ever happened.
And the only person that ever questioned another person's authenticity was Donald J. Trump who as I must add, has yet to offer one shred of a document his alleged 'investigators' uncovered. Which beg the question as to whether the investigators themselves ever existed.
No, not at all. I bolded this to make that clear " No one is questioning Harris' place of birth or the legitimacy of an obviously valid birth certificate."
Please read this.
ars ', even as recent as the last decade there are 'so called scholars' that question whether The Holocaust ever happened.
Really? What "leading scholars" question the existence of the Holocaust? You really need to find better (at least non batshit crazy) information sources if you think that's true.
But, again, no one is questioning the facts of her birth. It's simply a legal question about the Constitution defines "a natural born citizen." IF you are interested in whether the founders were referencing British common law, or British statutory law when the clause was drafted, this is the debate for you.
Then why bring it up?
No, his "investigators" in Hawaii never existed. Typical trump BS.
He should produce his own birth certificate. It will show his country of origin to be Hell.
Yeah, didn't tRumpturd say something like 'you won't believe what they found' or 'it's unbelievable what they found' 'cause they didn't find anything.
Because she may not be eligible for the Vice Presidency.
again, please read the actual op-Ed and not this misleading drivel.
I saw the Newsweek article, as did many other people. I assume you keep posting it on Newstalkers because it is all you have.
Trump was asked to comment on the story. He could have said "I have no opinion" He could have turned away and called on someone else like he did at the same press conference when a reporter asked him if he regrets lying thousands of times to the American people, but he didnt do either. He said that he had just learned she is not eligible due to the fine article written by a terrific lawyer and he wondered aloud why the Democrats hadnt vetted her.
Trump wants to get the ball rolling on a new birther conspiracy, that is the beginning and the end of it. The same goes for the right wing lawyer.
I'd say you are better than this but you have to defend Trump every day, and that ruins everyone who tries it.
Yet you still misrepresented it.
And, like clockwork, people here fall for it.
w birther conspiracy,
What conspiracy? Everyone agrees on the facts! Since when is an open legal question "a conspiracy!"?
The only person alleging a conspiracy exists is you.
Sean, Sean, Sean , you need to have more faith in your right wing brethren. Trump himself will have it turned into a conspiracy against him by the weekend.
Do you actually think this right wing lawyer wrote that article , in tabloid Newsweek for petes sake, because he wanted an academic discussion about eligibility for office?
It was to get people talking about how 'foreign' Kamala Harris background is, and your president* is the first to pick up the ball and run with it. What a surprise.
Birtherism is a Trump card he will play if he can. Will not play as well this time around. Trump's biggest problem is his base which remains static-unmoving with the exception of those who have been demised by the effects of time and nature.