The Daily Blast: MAGA Rage Takes Unnerving Turn as Birthright Loss Rattles Trump Badly

I'm your host, Greg Sargent.

“Donald Trump lost a big one when the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship in a blockbuster ruling on Tuesday.”

But the way the ruling came down strongly suggests were heading into a much longer battle over this going forward. In that regard, Maga's furious reaction to the ruling was deeply unnerving. As many pointed out on social media getting rid of birthright citizenship is going to become akin to Roe V Wade for the right, especially the Maga right. How should liberals and Democrats proceed?

We're talking about all of it with Roe Pinto, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council.

Roe, good to have you on. Thanks, Greg. Good to be on. Quite a day, so the Supreme Court ruled by six to three against Trump's executive order ending automatic citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. Five justices upheld the 14th Amendment guarantee of birthright citizenship. Red cabin avoided with them, but not on the constitutional argument.

He effectively said Congress can theoretically change this with legislation. So only five justices are with us on the constitutional argument.

“Good, but not good enough. Roe, what's your immediate reaction to how this happened?”

Yeah, I would put it as a five four decision because it's raised to raise or thin margin, right? And as you're saying five justices actually said that this wasn't trying in the constitution that birthright citizenship is actually part of the 14th Amendment. And it's very discouraging to see that four other justices didn't agree with that. And that at the end of the day, we may have to battle this again. So Trump and Maga absolutely exploded in rage over this.

Trump said that Congress can now act to end birthright citizenship, which is false since five justices. It's protected by the constitution, but I want to read what Maga personality Matt Walsh said. Now that Scotus has opened the floodgates for foreign invaders to flock across our borders and spawn, the only choice we have is to triple down on immigration enforcement, militarized the border, mass deportations, round every illegal up. Don't pull back when the lesbian activists start screeching about it.

Use whatever force is necessary.

“Role, that's a straight up threat of mass violence, isn't that?”

Yeah, and I do think that the concept of birthright citizenship, as established in the constitution, it's historical. The decision today was based on historical principles in how the amendment the 14th Amendment came about.

And so I do find that those views are very extreme and hopefully, you know, cooler hits prevail, but we know that that hasn't always been the case, i.e. January 6th.

Right, I think Matt Walsh is essentially saying pretty explicitly that Maga doesn't give a shit about the constitution, and especially the 14th Amendment, they really have special distinct for the 14th Amendment for all sorts of reasons. He's essentially saying screw the constitution, let's just use mass violence to quote unquote protect the country against invaders. It's it's sad that that that it's being approached in this particular way. The decision today is rooted in historical precedent as to how the 14th Amendment was drafted, as well as trying to correct some of America's darkest periods.

Like the dreads got decision, which allowed the descendants of slaves to become U.S. citizens as well as wonky mark with the decision which allowed a Chinese immigrant to become a U.S. citizen as well. Well, here's Steven Miller quote, one of the most destructive and outrageous decisions in the long history of the Supreme Court, American citizenship as not the birthright of the world, it belongs only and solely to Americans. No provision of the constitution can be read to require our national self obliteration, close quote.

Well, let's talk about how deranged that is, immigrants are not obliterating us, he treats that as a given, it's complete fantasy. How does he think people become Americans, he personally is descendant for people who immigrated here and were attacked with very similar language, but rule.

If this situation is tantamount to national self destruction, surely Miller will expect Trump to do that here, yes.

I don't want to get into Steven Miller's head, I really don't, but what I can say right is that immigrants are definitely not ruining the United States and it's a matter of fact birthright citizenship was still a thing in the first Trump administration and the world didn't end. And immigrant contributions continue throughout throughout the darkest periods of the administration and beyond. And so one of the interesting things that it's important to know is the impact that this decision has on those children that would have been targeted by the executive order, it would create a second class system for them.

“They wouldn't have been eligible for social security numbers, passports or any proof that they actually belong to a certain nation and that's also something that's addressed by Justice Roberts.”

And it's really good that he addressed that, because I think at that bottom what mega really wants is that two tiered system, they really want to end the Constitution's guarantee of equality.

That that to them is really what is is the big Kahuna for them ending equality, they want to hire our system, what they want is a large sub pool of stateless and rightless people that they can target would state violence. I think that's the essence of this and I think it's good that Justice Roberts made it clear that that was off the table. And why I think it's important that the court today said that it is a constitutional right and as you're saying that comes with certain weaknesses and yes, it was a flimsy majority, but we do have decades of precedence that would have to be overturned for that to happen, I'm worried.

“To day decision was it was important and I think it was positive. One of the core tactics that this administration is using that mega is using to try to ethnically cleanse the country is to use whatever illegal.”

Lever they can to make life fundamentally unlivable for immigrants what they were really hoping for was to be able to create this new second class cast that could be then subjected to all sorts of maltreatment and discrimination and wouldn't have any legal protections of pretty much any kind. Let's listen to mega personality, Tim pool. Kagan Sonomear, Kaiju Brown Jackson, we know exactly what they think and they want to burn this country to the ground.

“Unfortunately, Trump won't make the moves needed, Congress won't make the moves needed and Republicans should pack the court right now.”

13 federal district circuits 13 Supreme Court justices and Trump can add a good ol four more conservative court members which guarantee we will never lose another ruling again.

But he won't. So I can only say this without men of action, your nation be damned. We do not have men of action. Note how he says they want to burn the country down, meaning you and me want to burn the country down because we want to uphold birthright citizenship as a constitutional mechanism. And how he says only men of action can save us. He's basically saying we need Caesar, isn't he? It's such a dog whistle, right, but it is also extremely important to point out that many of the children of immigrants who would have been subject to the executive order.

America is all they're going to know as a home and they are going to be rooting for the U.S. New World Cup and and and part of the social fabric of this country. And so I find it troubling that that is the that is the rhetoric that happens on the other side because they can become as patriotic as you as you are not and uphold those those American values that we hold here. Right, America is the only country that many of these kids are ever going to know absolutely and and only that, but ending birthright citizenship would have again left them without without a real home despite the fact that their parents may have been in the country for for long period of time.

The fourth of them is is very clear and just as Robert says we are grounding this decision on the constitution and that's important. Yes, it was really important that he said that I just want to return to something that you said earlier, which which really resonated with me, which is that Donald Trump has actually succeeded in quote unquote securing the border. You know, he's used a lot of tactics that I think are obviously heinous and indefensible, but what's interesting to me is that mega can't even accept that as a victory.

And mega can't say to themselves, well, we want on that, you know, we got what we wanted because they need to feel like they're being invaded by immigrants at all times and here's why their movement isn't actually just about securing the border. It's about ethnically cleansing the country. They want mass removals. They want to roll back the demographic evolution of this country and reverse engineer and some sense, and that's why they can't accept Trump securing the border as a victory because it doesn't count as ethnic cleansing, which is the thing they really want.

“I also got to remember that this decision comes that the heels of two other immigration decisions that went in the Trump administration's way and one of them, which limited access to asylum at the border.”

Another one which allows the Trump administration to end temporary protect the status for hundreds of thousands of people, the general rhetoric that the world is going to end because we have birthright citizenship is just incorrect.

Or that this court is by by any means sort of favorable to immigrants because of a birthright citizenship decision that is actually rooted in the constitution, that's just incorrect.

Right, they can't even accept the ending of TPS in effect as a victory in the ending of asylum in effect as a victory. They want those things, but they don't constitute the dramatic mass removals, the enormous ethnic purging that they really want. I think that's the essence of this. Yeah, and I would say that with exactly what you're saying, if you're ending birthright citizenship, there are thousands of children who would have been undocumented and potentially subject to immigration enforcement, with their family members.

And so that is obviously problematic because now you're expanding the universe of folks who would be subject to removal.

“That's exactly what they want to do. So let's just close this out. What do Democrats and liberals do now?”

I mean, if you look at this situation, it's now clear that this is going to take on the kind of cast of a major cause something like targeting Robie Wade, the way the right did for decades.

They are clearly going to set in their sights, the ending of birthright citizenship. Do you think that that's a major thing that we should take seriously and how should we perceive? Yeah, as we said at the top, it's concerning that the margin of victory was that small.

I do think that president in history is on our side and it will be going forward, but obviously we are concerned and there are concerns with that.

I would say that ending birthright citizenship is not popular among the American population and most American support birthright citizenship. So I take some solace in that. The results in the fact that Justice Roberts who sided with them with the majority on the other cases that went the other way on immigration, I would say that if he can is able to think through this issue and see it sort of as a constitutional matter.

“I think that's that's important and if president continues to be important to the U.S. Supreme Court, then we will continue to get good rulings on this issue that doesn't mean that we won't see attempts to try to do this to legislative action.”

But it is a constitutional issue now. And so I think it's important granted. I will give you the fact that there could be a different interpretation and someone can come in and agree with the other four judges. But it is important then for that majority of individuals who is in favor of keeping birthright citizenship for children born in U.S. oil that we are expressing those views to Congress so that that doesn't happen because I do think that. I think at the end of the day, I think the Americans are not going to stand for that.

You know, I'm going to choose to be optimistic about this as well. We won today and that's a big deal. Role Pinto, great to talk to you. Thanks for coming on. Likewise, very thank you.