Republican presidential candidate and constant front-runner Donald Trump is recycling one of his favorite claims against political rivals: their supposed ineligibility to run for office. This time, the target isn’t Barack Obama or Ted Cruz. Instead, it’s Trump’s own former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley. As with his previous attempts, this one falls flat.
Trump recently shared a post reportedly presenting “constitutional interpretation” by Paul Ingrassia, a 2022 law school graduate. The analysis concludes that because Haley’s parents were not United States citizens at the time of her birth in South Carolina in 1972, she is ineligible to run for either president or vice president. The post has since garnered more than 2,600 shares and more than 7,000 likes on the site.
But the claim is easily disproved by the 14th Amendment which states, “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.” Haley is a citizen by birth, regardless of the citizenship status of her parents at the time of her birth. As such, she is eligible to run for president.
If anything, this new round of birther nonsense shows the desperation by which Trump continues to operate. He maintains a double-digit polling lead over both Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). But Haley has risen in the polls as of late. Even though she has nowhere near Trump’s percentage of support, perhaps he views any gains by anyone as a threat against him. This might explain his support for an easily disproved claim he’s used in the past.
The problem is that these attacks are anti-American, racially motivated attempts to demean citizens. Personal feelings about a candidate’s personality and policy objectives should be set aside when false assertions such as this are made. The claims are not mere opinions about political solutions. They are not simply moments of campaign mudslinging. Stating that a citizen is disqualified because her parents were foreign-born is not only erroneous, it is fundamentally counter to American ideals. We should demand better from candidates.
America is a melting pot. One of the beautiful things about our country is that it’s made up of people with a wide array of personal stories and family histories. That individuals born in the United States come from families established elsewhere first is not a negative at all. That some of these natural-born citizens enter politics and run for the highest office in the land is truly an achievement. It’s part of the American dream. Several U.S. presidents have had one parent born outside the country. This list includes both Barack Obama and Trump.
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It’s frustrating that Trump is just repeating the birther argument he has used in the past. He cares little for the truth. He is for whatever riles up his base. He does the same with false assertions about a stolen 2020 election. Worst of all, the tactic works among those who already love him most.
Those who have criticized Trump for this new round of birtherism include not only Haley supporters but DeSantis supporters, as well as those on the left side of the political aisle. The broad show of condemnation is encouraging. Everyone should denounce the attack on Haley’s citizenship, not just those who agree with her as a candidate.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a columnist at Arc Digital.