There is no question that Donald Trump is driving the agenda for a substantial number of the Republican Party’s presidential aspirants. The 2016 field’s reaction to a Trump campaign positioning statement on immigration, which introduced the notion that birthright citizenship afforded to the children of immigrants in accordance with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was an unacceptable inducement to break American immigration laws, confirmed this phenomenon. Suddenly, the conservative position on immigration became the repeal of birthright citizenship, a process that even former Supreme Court litigator Ted Cruz acknowledged could only be achieved through the amendment process. In other words, it’s a fantasy. You couldn’t get two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and 38 state legislators to ratify an amendment affirming the deliciousness of vanilla ice cream. But while the GOP is indulging in a daydream that will never be realized, they’re alienating those swing voters they need to win the White House – namely, the Hispanic, Indian, and Asian Americans who wonder why the GOP is now expressing antipathy toward legal as well as illegal immigrants. But not every 2016 hopeful has taken the bait. Some, like Marco Rubio and, to a lesser extent, Jeb Bush, have declined to follow Donald Trump and his restive quarter of the GOP primary electorate over a cliff.
Something changed within the last 24 hours for these two typically establishmentarian Republican presidential candidates. Bush, once a soft-spoken and conflict-averse candidate, has grown more aggressive. Declining to follow in the footsteps of the rest of the GOP field, many of which are trying to inherit Trump’s voters when he fades from the race, Bush is attacking Trump in stark terms. “Mr. Trump doesn’t have a proven conservative record,” Bush recently averred. “He was a Democrat longer in the last decade than he was a Republican.” Informing voters that they have been misled and are making a grave mistake is rarely the way to win hearts, but Bush may presume that Trump’s supporters will never warm to his candidacy and that he has little to lose.
Bush has, however, also allowed himself to be pushed to the right on immigration by Trump’s ascendency. He demonstrated as much when he defended the use of the term “anchor babies.”
“Do you have a better term? You give me a better term and I’ll use it,” Bush told reporters in a response the Washington Post characterized as churlish. “What I said is that it’s commonly referred to that. I didn’t use it as my own language. You want to get to the policy for a second? I think that people born in this country ought to be American citizens.” Bush’s cleanup effort hasn’t helped his cause. His comments immediately became the singular focus of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which has aggressively sought to frame Bush’s remarks as heartless and inappropriate.
Regardless of the accuracy of that term, it is one that many Hispanics find offensive. For some of Trump’s supporters, that is no doubt its most attractive quality. The celebrity candidate’s backers bristle at what they regard to be, with justification, a culture that eschews clarity merely to preserve the fragile feelings of the easily offended. There’s validity to that position, but there is also virtue in knowing what fights to pick and what hills simply aren’t worth dying over. By contrast, Marco Rubio has prudently declined to fall on this indefensible terrain.
“When I talk about 13 million people in this country illegally, I talk about 13 million human beings,” Rubio told CNBC’s John Harwood.
“Ultimately, they’re people,” Rubio added when pressed over whether the term “anchor babies” was appropriate. “They’re not just statistics. They’re human beings with stories.” Rubio is not ceding the fight over illegal immigration – he affirmed the need of a sovereign country to enforce its immigration laws and secure its borders. Rubio’s critics, many of whom mistake tough talk for tough policy, will see his prudence and presume capitulation.
“I’m not in favor of repealing the 14th Amendment,” Rubio said on Tuesday. “But I am open to exploring ways of not allowing people who are coming here deliberately for that purpose to acquire citizenship.” Many Republican voters will characterize this as a dodge. To an extent, it is. But the needle that Rubio has to thread in order to maintain his appeal to the conservative base while avoiding the trap that sprung on Mitt Romney will be tricky. Thus far, Rubio has deftly walked that line.
Fortunately for the GOP, it is becoming an easier line to walk.
On Wednesday, city police took into custody two Boston brothers. Scott Leader, 38, and Steven Leader, 30, were both held without bail on charges of assault, indecent exposure, and threatening to commit a crime. Their alleged misdeed? The two brothers were arrested after they were accused of beating and urinating on a homeless man of Hispanic descent. Their 58-year-old victim escaped with a broken nose as well as serious bruises and lacerations. “Donald Trumps as right,” Scott Leader told his arresting officer, according to court records. “All these illegals need to be deported.”
Every Republican candidate should be prepared to answer the political press’s unfair questions, and being linked to racist and violent supporters is something that any candidate should fear. It’s surely a double standard, but every competent Republican candidate should be prepared to navigate that pitfall. Trump was not.
“It would be a shame… I will say that people who are following me are very passionate,” Trump told the Boston Globe when asked about this attack. “They love this country, and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.”
Wrong answer. A callous and cruel answer at that. Every Republican who expended effort to comport to the standard of discourse Trump has set will soon come to regret it. When that time comes, and it will be soon, it seems as though Rubio will have few regrets.
