The Fox Business Republican Debate of 1/14/2016

I have just returned from Nevada, more about that in another post. While there I watched the Republican debate with a relative who is a Republican. We both enjoyed it and discussed it. I think the result will be that Donald Trump picks up even more votes, Ted Cruz goes down in the polls and Marco Rubio goes up in the polls. As for Bush, nothing can help him, people just don't trust the Bushes.

The most impactful moment of the election, in terms of gaining or losing votes, was when Ted Cruz basically insulted all of New York. He tried to say that everyone in New York was pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and greedy. Wow. I may not love New York; but, I have Republican friends from New York who are very conservative Tea Party members. There is now no way that Cruz can win the primary in New York and he may very well see his New York funds drying up. In fact if the big banks in New York continue to contribute to his campaign those banks will lose their support in New York and it will come out.

Other than Ted Cruz insulting a whole state, the rest pretty much followed the same pattern. They would try to attack Trumps ideas and then present basically the exact same plan regarding immigration, Muslims and Iran. Trump for his part came off well. He was calmer and more controlled in his speech and presentation and still managed to appear unrehearsed. Whatever you think of him, the man is not stupid. One issue that came up was what he would do with his company if elected President and he said he would turn it over to his kids to run and ignore it. I have watched interviews with his kids and he means it and they would do a great job. Ivanka Trump is a brilliant businesswoman, her brothers are sharp as tacks and they all work together well while being incredibly supportive of their father. I actually think he would enjoy having them run the company as it will tell him what he can expect from them when he passes on.

The most interesting issue of the night was regarding Ted Cruz's right to run for the office of President or even be a Vice President. There is a clause in the Constitution that says, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States." This is very important as it is found in Article 2 of the Constitution. It is also why Arnold Schwarzenegger cannot be President. The reason behind this clause was to prevent the country from being run for people under foreign influence in fear that they might not look out for America first. If you are born in the United States you are by definition a natural born citizen, a birth right citizen. Everyone else is a naturalized citizen. Naturalized means you switched your citizenship and renounced any foreign citizenship you had before becoming a citizen of the United States. Ted Cruz never did that, he did not renounce his Canadian citizenship until about two years ago. He is a citizen; but, he is not a natural born citizen and is therefore not eligible to be either President or Vice President. There is one area where someone could be born in another country and still be considered a natural born citizen and that is if they were born at a U.S. Military base to American citizens or to a member of a consulate. Consulates are considered U.S. territory. United States territories (Guam, Puerto Rico...) would also follow the same rules.

I find it all funny as for the last 8 years the Republicans have claimed that Obama may not be a natural citizen because his father was Kenyan, even though his mother was a United States citizen and he was Obama was born in the United States. At a minimum, after having the Republicans bring this up time and time again about Obama, it is impossible not to at least address the issue with Cruz.