COPYCAT: Florida’s Republican Governor pushes Trump’s worst idea
The Florida Governor is copying one of the most racist and unconstitutional notions floated by his primary opponent.
Ron DeSantis would like to strip the idea of birthright citizenship in the United States if voters will elevate him to the White House and give him the power to change the foundations of this country.
Of course, he’s not the first to float the idea — he’s echoing Donald Trump’s proposal from just last month.
The former president seemed to be parroting talking points from the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which claims that Constitutional scholars have simply misunderstood the 14th Amendment since it was signed a century and a half ago.
The right-wing think tank argues that it’s not at all meant to grant citizenship to people who were born in the U.S. to parents who trigger the right’s xenophobia — or, in their words, to noncitizen parents.
Trump said he’d eliminate birthright citizenship for anyone who doesn’t have at least one citizen parent at birth, and while DeSantis hasn’t laid out an exact policy, his plan sounds similar, eliminating birthright citizenship specifically for children of undocumented immigrants. Axios reports:
“As president, DeSantis told supporters, he would ‘take action to end the idea the children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship if they are born in the U.S.'”
He also made it clear he plans to rule with authoritarian force rather than acting as a representative of and advocate for the American people, declaring, “We’re gonna marshal every bit of authority that we have,” describing executive orders as a first course of action rather than a last resort, and working with Congress as something to do “when we have to.”
The Florida Governor has not been secretive about his disdain for immigrants and is already under investigation for multiple events in which he allegedly initiated a transport of a group of asylum seekers (at least some of whom had gone through the initial process and set up court dates to complete it) from Texas (where DeSantis is not Governor and has no authority) to other states.
Governor DeSantis is leaning heavily into the role of someone whose policies will be as racist as Trump’s but without some of the legal baggage.
You can see him in the clip below jumping on the former president’s “build a wall” bandwagon while trashing Trump for failing to actually do so.
Watch Florida’s Governor try to have it both ways:
Desantis rips Trump’s record on the border: “Obama’s first 4 years had more deportations than Trump’s term, which is incredible .. You did have some wall built, but not nearly enough. A lot of things he is saying are the same things that were said in 2016.” pic.twitter.com/xNgykcXNcz
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 26, 2023
Steph Bazzle covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph.
