Thoughts on the Birther Movement

I just simply had to write this article. Great news everyone, Donald Trump is running for president! Have I gone completely right-wing in thinking this is good news? No, I'm still a lily-livered, bleeding-heart, liberal, egghead communist (well done if you got the reference). This is great news because Donald Trump is crazy! He'll certainly be entertaining, and he almost certainly won't win. I imagine the first thing he'll do is get back to being a birther. If you follow American politics, you should be familiar with that term. For those of you who aren't, I shall explain.

Cast your mind back to 2011. Donald Trump was the leading voice of the birther movement. Birthers are people who believe that President Barack Obama was not born in Hawaii, but in Kenya (where his father was born). These conspiracy theories had been floating around since 2008, but during the 2012 campaign, they resurfaced. Why does it matter where President Obama was born? Well Article Two of the United States Constitution outlines who can and cannot be president. There are three requirements.

"By the time of their inauguration, the President and Vice-President must be:

• Natural born citizens
• At least 35 years old
• Inhabitants of the United States for at least fourteen years

Added to these requirements are the Twelfth Amendment, which states that the Vice-President must meet all requirements to be President and Twenty-second Amendments to the Constitution which prevents a President from being elected more than twice.

Birthers claim that because Barack Obama was born in Kenya, he is not a natural born citizen and therefore not eligible to be president. There are two major problems with this claim. First, Barack Obama was not born in Kenya. Second, the constitution is rather vague on what constitutes a natural born citizen.

So why am I bringing this up? Well as I said Donald Trump is running for President and one of his fellow candidates is Senator Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz is a Republican (like Donald Trump) and batshit insane (like Donald Trump). So why does a birther need to be riding Ted Cruz? Well the idea that Barack Obama was born in Kenya is a conspiracy theory. It is however an undisputed fact that Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Senator Cruz says that because he has an American mother, he is a natural born citizen and thus eligible. Well that's all well and good, President Obama's American mother did not protect him from these Birther claims, so why should Ted Cruz have it any differently. Mr. Trump, you know your duty. You're just a concerned American citizen who wants to make sure the constitution is being upheld. I mean, what's the difference between Ted Cruz and Barack Obama? It surely can't be... No, that problem has been solved in America... right?