Jun 27, 2024; Atlanta, GA, USA; Mary Trump, the niece of former President Trump, talking to media at Georgia Tech
Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist and the out niece of Donald Trump, slammed her uncle’s promise to end birthright citizenship without, apparently, realizing that the Constitution would get in his way.
“Look, let’s be very clear here: it’s despicable,” she said on MSNBC. “Also, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I think that’s the first time he’s ever heard any part of the Constitution in his life.”
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She was discussing comments made by her uncle during an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press, where he said that birthright citizenship — or the legal concept that people born in the U.S. automatically get U.S. citizenship — is “ridiculous.”
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“We have to end it,” he said.
“We’re the only country that has it, you know,” he added, apparently not knowing that over 30 other countries have birthright citizenship.
Welker asked him if it was still his plan to end birthright citizenship on his first day in office and he said, “Yeah, absolutely.”
“The Fourteenth Amendment, though, says that, quote, ‘All persons born in the United States are citizens,’” Welker said. “Can you get around the Fourteenth Amendment with executive action?”
“Well, we’re going to have to get it changed,” Trump responded. “Maybe have to go back to the people.”
Changing the Constitution would require support from two-thirds of both the House and the Senate and three-quarters of state legislatures, which is unlikely to happen.
Welker: You promised to end birthright citizenship on day one. Is that still your plan?
Mary Trump pointed out that her uncle doesn’t even seem to understand that he himself is the descendent of recent immigrants, including his mother who was born in Scotland, and his father’s parents, who were both born in the Kingdom of Bavaria.
“He’s a deeply ignorant, cruel man who seems to forget that his father was a first-generation American,” Mary Trump said about her uncle’s comments. “So, if it hadn’t been for birthright citizenship, my grandfather probably wouldn’t have been allowed to stay here.”
“Obviously, the immigrants Donald hates are people of color,” she continued. “And what he also doesn’t understand is the reason why we have the Fourteenth Amendment was because we enslaved an entire race of people, and it was to ensure that after the Civil War was over and they were freed, they were, in short, protected by citizenship being conferred upon them.”
“So, it’s a power grab. I don’t think there is any mechanism by which he can make it happen, but this is another instance in which we are in the unfortunate position of having to rely on Republicans to do the right thing and protect American citizens,” she said.
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