There must be a stronger word than hypocrisy to describe the media/Democrat reaction to President Donald Trump’s legitimate and commonsense interpretation of the 14th Amendment and “birthright citizenship.” Section 1 reads: “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.”
Trump rejects the widely accepted interpretation that the 14th Amendment grants immediate citizenship to any child born on American soil, even if the child’s parents are in the country illegally. Trump believes the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, was designed to confer citizenship on newly freed slaves.
In fact, Sen. Jacob Howard of Michigan, who introduced the amendment, said, “[The 14th amendment] will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the government of the United States, but will include every other class of person.”
Trump’s opponents cry, “How dare Trump ‘unilaterally’ and by ‘executive order’ reinterpret the 14th Amendment?” Trump, they say, thinks he’s a king. He is “acting like a tyrant.”
The Supreme Court will have the final say and will almost certainly interpret the 14th Amendment in Trump’s favor.
Where were the “Trump is not a king” critics during the Obama and Biden presidencies?
In October 2010, President Barack Obama said he lacked the power to grant protected status to illegal aliens. “I am president. I am not king,” Obama said. “I can’t do these things just by myself.”
Two years later, during his 2012 reelection campaign, he proceeded to act like a king. He issued the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to protect some 1 million illegal immigrants from deportation. Obama then protected another 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation under the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program.
Days ago, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against DACA. Eventually, the Supreme Court will likely definitively decide that these programs exceed presidential power as Obama, who taught constitutional law, used to believe.
This brings us to President Joe Biden and his student debt relief programs. In July 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power.”
Later that year, Biden provided student debt relief to hundreds of thousands of borrowers. Eventually, Biden forgave some $180 billion of student loans in total. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against Biden’s student debt relief. Biden simply crafted another debt relief program recently blocked by a federal court.
This brings us to DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of race as a criterion in admission to colleges and universities, even if the goal is to achieve diversity. The court held racial preferences violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, as well as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yet, Biden made DEI a goal of every part of the federal government, as did Obama.
Biden went even further. On his first day in office, Biden issued an executive order called “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.” Months later, Biden issued another DEI executive order that said, “As the nation’s largest employer, the federal government must be a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, where all employees are treated with dignity and respect.”
Trump in the first days of his second presidency nullified Biden’s DEI executive orders. Trump’s executive order revoked the “illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
Hypocrites in the media and Democrats denounce Trump’s “dictatorial” interpretation of 14th Amendment on birthright citizenship, but cheered Biden’s blatantly illegal and unilateral measures to protect illegal immigrants from deportation, to grant student debt relief and to inject race into virtually every aspect of the federal government.
It’s going to be a long four years.
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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