Trump must not get a pass on key element of his immigration plan

In politics, the devil is always in the details, but supporters of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump seem more than willing to let him get away with vague pronouncements on major issues.

The most glaring of Trump’s strategy to not let the facts get in the way of a good political sound bite came Sunday during his appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

The topic was immigration, arguably the most incendiary issue in the battle for the Republican nomination for president. And true to form, Trump, the billionaire businessman from New York City, doubled down on his initial stance.

Not only did he reiterate his popular position that all 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States should be deported, he added this twist: All U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants should also be kicked out of the country.

Chance to return

The brash, flamboyant, self-aggrandizing real estate developer attempted to soften his stance somewhat by saying that these families would then be given a chance to return to the U.S. legally. For Mexicans, it would mean going through the huge gate that will be a part of the very long wall Trump says he will build along the U.S.-Mexico border. He also repeated his now familiar diatribe that he will make the government of Mexico pay for the wall. And again, he didn’t say how he intends to force a sovereign nation to pay for something built by another country.

But it was his plan to end “birthright citizenship” that took the GOP presidential contest by storm.

“They have to go,” Trump said Sunday. “What they’re doing, they’re having a baby. And then all of a sudden, nobody knows … the baby’s here.”

But the fact is that native-born children of immigrants – even those living illegally in the U.S. – have been automatically considered American citizens since the adoption of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in 1868.

And therein lies the problem with Trump’s pronouncement. While he acknowledges that the Constitution would have to be changed to make possible what he is proposing, he does not say how he would go about repealing the 14th Amendment.

The votes of two-thirds of both houses of Congress would be required, along with the support from three-fourths of the nation’s legislatures.

As the Associated Press noted this week, Republicans in Congress have pushed without success to repeal the 14th Amendment since 2011. There are conservatives who believe the provision could be eased in without amending the Constitution.

As the wire service puts it, there is little chance of the amendment’s citizenship clause being repealed.

Thus, our observation that Trump’s supporters are willing to buy what he’s selling without asking the price.

The real estate mogul either knew that the chances of erasing “birthright citizenship” were slim to none, but he tossed out the idea, nonetheless, or he had not given any thought to how he would implement his plan.

As we said at the outset, in politics, the devil is in the details, but thus far, Trump has been able to maneuver without providing any specifics. The strategy of speaking in generalities seems to be paying off.

Deflecting political blows

He continues to lead in the polls and to date has managed to deflect any political blows that have been delivered by some of the other candidates in the race.

There are 17 contenders for the Republican nomination, but day in and day out, Trump grabs the headlines.

Even his refusal to pledge that he would support the GOP nominee and to say that he would not run as a third-party candidate have not made him a political pariah among potential Republican voters.

There’s no doubt that his willingness to speak his mind, his eagerness to take on political sacred cows, including major Republican donors, and his constant boasting about his $10 billion net worth have endeared him to a goodly number of voters, but at some point in the campaign Trump will have to fill in the blanks (provide details) on the positions he has taken.

His supporters may be willing to give him a pass, but the rest of us shouldn’t.