Breaking News – More BS from Trump. Today, after this article was posted, the Washington Post reported Trump as saying Ted Cruz could run into trouble if he won the party’s nomination because he was born in Canada. This is only a few months after he said the opposite. Speaking of Cruz’s Canadian birth, Trump told ABC News in September, “I hear it was checked out by every attorney and every which way and I understand Ted is in fine shape.” If Trump were truly concerned about Cruz’s eligibility to run for president, he would ask not about where Cruz was born (there is no doubt he was born in Canada), but to prove his mother was an American citizen at the time of his birth. As reported in my article, I believe Trump knows full well that if a child is born of at least one American parent, he or she is considered a “natural born citizen” eligible to run for the presidency. The lawyers Trump referred to in September are right. If Cruz’s mother were an American citizen at the time of his birth, Cruz has no problem. The whole Obama “birtherism” stunt was a way to demean our first president of color. End of story.
Donald Trump “made his bones” during the last presidential election questioning Barack Obama’s birthplace. The line of attack was simple: if Obama was not born in the United States, he is not a “natural born” citizen and, hence, ineligible to be president. Trump, who became known as ” king of the birthers” believed Obama was born in Kenya.
Trump demanded our president produce his “long form birth certificate” to prove he was born in Hawaii. Of course, such a document was produced but the birthers labeled it a fake.
So here we are in 2016 with Donald Trump as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination and not very much concern about the actual foreign birth of his closest Republican rival, Senor Rafael Edward Cruz. To many observers, it’s a puzzlement.
To me, this is no mystery at all.
The Constitution gives three eligibility requirements to be president of the United States: one must be 35 years of age, a resident “within the United States” for 14 years, and a “natural born citizen.” Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has never ruled on what “natural born citizen” actually means. The accepted law is that if someone is born of at least one American parent, no matter where, that child satisfies the “natural born citizen” requirement of the Constitution. Was there ever any question John McCain was eligible to run for president even though he was born in Panama?
I am guessing Donald Trump is smart enough to know Cruz’s mother is an American citizen born in Delaware. But wasn’t Obama’s mother also an American citizen born in Kansas? Of course! That is why the whole “birther” movement was, and is, nothing but a racist reaction to Obama’s status as the first African American president of the United States.
But since when have facts stopped Trump from smearing someone? After all, while the conventional understanding is that someone born of an American parent is deemed to be a “natural born citizen,” the Supreme Court has never weighed in on this topic. Fertile ground for a Trump attack, wouldn’t you think?
If Trump, or another of the other “birthers” wanted to create some havoc for Senor Cruz, they definitely could.
Cruz refuses to attack Donald Trump and visa versa. Why?
There is only one explanation for why Trump hasn’t aggressively gone there (besides our current understanding of the Constitutional requirements). Ted Cruz is part of Trump’s exit strategy. When Trump bows out of the race, and he will eventually, Cruz will be the heir to Trump’s fortune … his rabid base.
Photo | toprightnews.com
