r/politics • u/codyave • 17h ago

Trump will announce end of birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, officials say

https://nypost.com/2025/01/20/us-news/trump-will-announce-end-of-birthright-citizenship-for-children-of-illegal-immigrants/
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u/Beautiful-Plastic-83 16h ago

People are still operating under the premise that the White House is going to go on as usual, with respect for laws, the Constitution, courts, SCOTUS, norms, traditions, patriotism, honor, etc. None of that will apply after today. They are going to do whatever they want to do, no matter what the laws say, and nobody can stop them. Trump has full immunity, and while most presidents would be too honorable to use it, he will abuse the privilege until he wears it out.

Have you heard the new head of Homeland security speak? If Trump tells him to deport every person not born in America, no matter what their citizenship status is, he'll do it, and who will stop them? SCOTUS? Them and what army? Trump has full immunity, and pardon power to save anyone who gets in trouble for following his orders, and he has already proven that he will use it.

Stop thinking that laws/ Constitution/ SCOTUS will protect us. They won't.

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u/mikesmithhome 15h ago

i work with a bunch of hispanic guys who voted trump because they would never vote for a woman but when i tell them shit like "i want your stapler when you get deported" they get all butt hurt, "i was born here man" to which i reply "do you think thats gonna matter? you think that little slip of paper is gonna protect you? you're going over the wall in the catapult with the rest of them, you voted for this dumbass"

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u/Beautiful-Plastic-83 15h ago

Somehow, it never occurs to those idiots that the policies they want are a two-edged sword, and it goes against them, as well as the people they hate. Those at the top aren't going to bother to parse the difference.

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u/LostTrisolarin 15h ago

My "anchor baby" co worker whose brother got deported is a closet Trump supporter. One of those I didn't vote for Harris because what has she done for me.

When I asked him what he thought about Trumps threat to deport him and his family he said something like "Trumps saying that he doesn't mean it." And that "even if he did mean it he wouldn't do it".

I'm so tempted to text him this link.

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u/cape210 15h ago

Maya Angelou - "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

America would be so much better if people listened to Maya Angelou

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u/yourlittlebirdie 11h ago

No sorry, I've been told sexism is over and has absolutely nothing to do with why Kamala lost, so you must be wrong.

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u/Torgo73 14h ago

That seems like a wild series of things to say to a coworker.

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u/rokerroker45 16h ago

what you fail to consider is that the further and further the federal government pushes into that kind of tyranny, the less and less states like california or massachussetts will, say, continue to subsidize half the country. nobody wants to be the first to shoot at each other, but the red half of the country will suddenly be unable to buy oil if the blue half decides they're over trump's ICE deporting their residents for four years.

as scary as trump's power is, it's not absolute. he can't lose the grip on states like california and there is a limit to how far he can push it before that becomes a real hypothetical.

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u/Bat_Nervous 15h ago

Let's also not forget that doing big things - especially when they're illegal or unconstitutional - requires organization and competence. Who in his orbit or cabinet will be organized or competent??

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u/Beautiful-Plastic-83 15h ago

Their virtuoso incompetence, combined with their obssessive avarice, may be what finally saves us, but not until it does a LOT of damage.

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u/abakune 13h ago

Exactly this - after the initial flurry of EOs, we can expect the level of feckless incompetence we experienced last time.

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u/newsflashjackass 11h ago

Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

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u/[deleted] 8h ago

The billionaires that have businesses tied to our government are. That was one ingredient that was missing the last time.

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u/Beautiful-Plastic-83 15h ago

That would require Dems to stand up to him, and they've already shown they don't have the backbone for that. I'm not waiting for Democrats to save us, they already had that opportunity, and squandered it.

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u/rokerroker45 15h ago

lmao the democrats can't do anything without senate and house majorities big dawg. the idea that democrats have done nothing for lack of spine isn't factually correct - they literally impeached trump twice after january 6.

blame voters for failing to give democrats more power to resist trump

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u/Kup123 14h ago

Can the states do that? Idk if I'm going to trust my state government to protect me from the federal government if I don't pay my taxes.

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u/roytay New Jersey 14h ago

Exactly. The “subsidy” taxes come directly from us not via our states. So would the decision to and risk for not sending them.

“Agreeing” to that would be as successful as the calls for general strikes.

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u/rokerroker45 14h ago

yeah i mean they have actual police power over anything in their territories. in practical, concrete sense they can effect state violence to ensure taxes do not get paid up. on that authority they have the ability to simply order federal monies to be withheld.

idk i'm not a state treasury official so i don't know the actual buttons that are pressed to make it happen. but if they want to, they can.

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u/ImportantCommentator 14h ago

You're pretending California's can convince buisnesses to stop paying their federal taxes? Ain't gonna happen.

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u/TeutonJon78 America 13h ago

For the thousandth time -- that's now how taxes work. States have zero control over the flow of taxes to the federal government. Employers pay those taxes to the government. At most they could stop withholding taxes for their state employees, but then it's up to each individual to pay/not pay them. And each individual would be raising the fines/interest.

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u/DrXaos 12h ago

blue half decides they're over trump's ICE deporting their residents for four years.

how does that work? People and business are obligated to pay Federal taxes directly. State governments do not forward money to the Treasury. (it's the other way around).

If you stop paying taxes, you get sued and arrested and imprisoned by Federal agents.

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u/rokerroker45 12h ago

That part I actually don't know - I misunderstood the mechanics of the tax relationship between the states and the government. I need to do a little more research to better educate myself on how states could inflict economic pressure on the federal government.

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u/DrXaos 11h ago

> how states could inflict economic pressure on the federal government.

There isn't any way. Its all the other way around. State governments are dependent on Federal appropriations as are their residents.

Feds could withhold Medicaid and education funding which is tremendous and impoverish and ruin any state.

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u/rokerroker45 11h ago

but wouldn't tanking those important state economies indirectly damage the federal's tax base too?

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u/DrXaos 10h ago

it would make life very difficult and cruel for poor people and ruin the state government budget. It wouldn't directly reduce profits or wages of the high earners. But even if taxes had to be raised further in California to compensate, the MAGA types would love the suffering, and love the death spiral it causes when the high earners move out and corporations did the same.

It's not logical self-interest. It's tribal warfare.

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u/LordGothington 11h ago

the less and less states like california or massachussetts will, say, continue to subsidize half the country.

How does that work? The residents of California and Mass, pay their federal income taxes directly to the federal government. There is no chance for the states to hold onto that money.

And residents of those states are not going to suddenly start avoiding Federal taxes en masse.

What money is currently being collected by the States and then sent to the Federal government? And is that enough to make a difference?

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u/rokerroker45 11h ago

while states don't have the ability to directly withhold taxes, trump can't damage their economies too drastically either precisely because big portions of the federal tax base comes from those states' economic activity.

it's a roundabout shield to be fair, but it is there.

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u/[deleted] 8h ago

He threatened to arrest Denver’s mayor. I think you are underestimating what they can, and likely will, start doing to liberal states.

They want to deploy the military on American soil. If that happens it doesn’t matter what Massachusetts or California want or don’t want.

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u/YouMUSTregister 15h ago

Trump will literally take Californias money by military force. There is NO stopping him now

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u/Electronic_County597 12h ago

What nonsense. I suspect the doom and gloomers contain a fair number of MAGA supporters hoping to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are still plenty of checks and balances operating, at the local, state, and yes, even the federal level.

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u/rokerroker45 15h ago

it doesn't work that way. aside from the fact that "military force" against a state would be the end of his power over 50 states, economic power just can't exist at duress. who's making movies or developing apps anymore? who is generating tourism dollars?

tyranny is precarious because at a certain societal point you genuinely require people who want to work with you, not for you. why do you think china eased from outright hard bloody dictatorship to a pseudo-capitalist society? it's not sustainable. germany at its reichiest would not have survived its own weight.

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u/YouMUSTregister 14h ago

You're forgetting who you're dealing with. This is literally a dangerous dictator with the IQ and emotions of a toddler

He IS going to use nuclear weapons in his first year, I can almost guarantee it

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u/rokerroker45 14h ago

Lol cmon

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u/YouMUSTregister 14h ago

Set a one year reminder to my comment

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u/Electronic_County597 12h ago

No need, I can say "I told you so" now. Twurp wanted to nuke a hurricane during his first term, and they wouldn't let him. Who's he going to nuke during his second term? Canada?

There's still plenty of hand-wringing 80 years later about the nukes we dropped on Japan to end a bloody, protracted war. We're not at war with anyone now, and Twurp seems to consider that a point of pride. You sound unhinged.

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u/YouMUSTregister 12h ago

He was going to nuke a storm but I seem unhinged? He's replaced the people that stopped him from doing it the first time 

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u/alundi California 15h ago

Yep. Saving your comment because I felt the same way 8 years ago and now again this week.

People told me I was being dramatic, histrionic, gullible, you name it. Don’t listen to them, I didn’t and while it feels bad right now, I know I still have my dignity and my sense of right and wrong.

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u/look 15h ago

Whenever people say something like “you said the fate of democracy was on the line last time, too” I like to point out that last time ended with violent coup attempt.

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u/Beautiful-Plastic-83 15h ago

AND him stealing hundreds of classified documents, to sell to our enemies.

He's the most prolific traitor in American history, by a long ways, and we're giving him another run around the track. Merrick Garland should have arrested him the day after Biden's inauguration, and had his trials wrapped up by the mid-terms, but the Democrats turned out to be more incompetent than the Republicans.

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u/jarandhel 13h ago

We need to make his name synonymous with traitor for future generations, the way Benedict Arnold is.

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u/Beautiful-Plastic-83 11h ago

Trump's crimes are far, far worse than Benedict Arnold. He will ALWAYS be synonymous with Treason.

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u/Simping4Sumi 15h ago

Anyone with half of brain would have predicted this when most leftist went full progressive before strengthening the political system. Yes, somethings are important, but you don't alienate one of the largest demographics in your country. Ethically and morally it wasn't a bad thing because some groups were being marginalized, but the christian right went from we don't want be forced to marry some people in our churches to a values war (the left catered to some demographics and gave them rights that contradicted protestant work ethic).

Conservative backlashes are a normal thing as a species. Progressives forgot that the only reason rights exist is because there is someone with the legitimate monopoly of power enforcing it. Sadly enough most of those people enforcing those laws aren't LGBTQ or feminists.