WASHINGTON – Birtherism’s back. But it’s tired. At least at the U.S. Capitol.
Ahead of Monday’s Iowa Republican caucus, former President Donald Trump has pulled out his old xenophobic playbook and is questioning the citizenship of former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) – Trump’s own former ambassador to the United Nations.
On Monday, Trump reposted a piece from the fringe-right, conspiracy-peddling Gateway Pundit falsely questioning Haley’s citizenship status.
But even Trump supporters on Capitol Hill are dismissing the lie.
“Nope,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) – Trump’s 2016 primary opponent who endorsed the former president last January – told AlterNet when asked about the Haley flap. “I haven’t even heard. What’s the issue? Was she born here?”
“Born on U.S. soil ...” AlterNet replied.
“That’s all that matters,” Graham said.
“... but Trump says her parents weren’t citizens …”
“There's plenty of people who would like to change the birthright citizenship concept legislatively, but it's the law of land until you change it,” said Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump himself has vowed to abolish “birthright citizenship,” but the 14th Amendment clearly states “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” are citizens.
In 1972, Haley was born in Bamberg, S.C., which no one disputes. Even if the question makes some Republicans uncomfortable, including staffers for former GOP presidential aspirants like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
“About these rumors that Nikki Haley is not a U.S. citizen,” AlterNet asked.
“Matt!” Scott’s aide exclaimed.
“The former president’s saying it. Do you have any worries about that?” AlterNet pressed.
“None,” Scott said while making his way to the Senate floor to cast a vote.
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While Scott has tried to stay out of the presidential fray since bowing out of the contest in November, his fellow South Carolinian Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) remains the only sitting member of Congress to endorse Haley so far in the 2024 contest.
Norman dismisses the birtherism barbs.
“In politics, it’s a blood sport, and everything's on the table,” Norman told AlterNet. “She handles that like she does all of it – in a great way. She’s strong.”
Trump famously – and critics say, racistly – questioned former President Barack Obama’s citizenship during Obama's two terms in office, because his father was Kenyan. Obama was born on U.S. soil – in Honolulu in 1961.
Trump relented and admitted Obama’s citizenship as he ramped up his own 2016 campaign, but his time off the birtherism bottle was short-lived.
With Obama term limited out, Trump then pivoted and unloaded birtherism conspiracies – along with JFK assassination conspiracies – on his Canadian-born fellow Republican, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whose father was born in Cuba and was a Canadian citizen at the time. Cruz’s mother was born in the United States.
While birtherism is dirty politics, Norman says the accusations – baseless though they are – aren’t necessarily out of bounds.
“Everything's fair game,” Norman said. “But if you attack my children, my wife, that’s not fair game.”
Other politicians aren’t so stoic.
“It’s a despicable tactic,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) – born to U.S. citizens on Pakistani soil, as his dad was a Foreign Service officer – told AlterNet.
Other Republicans are asking if Trump needs a civics lesson.
“If you’re born in the United States – news flash – you're an American citizen, and you can run for president,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told AlterNet through a dismissive laugh. “It doesn’t depend on whether your parents were born in India or not.”
Still, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee isn’t surprised by Trump’s latest lie.
“It's designed to fire up the base and get people animated,” Romney said. “It's kind of par for the course.”
Other Republicans have found themselves defending Haley, even as they oppose her presidential bid.
“I have doubts about her candidacy, but not her citizenship,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) – who Trump dismissed as “such a negative force” in the 2016 primary – told AlterNet.
Former Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says there’s no question about Haley’s citizenship – “You go by the 14th Amendment … She is a citizen,” he told AlterNet.
Grassley also questioned Trump’s tactic, which he says hasn’t worked with Iowa voters in recent elections – and he wasn’t Ted Cruz.
“It didn’t register with Obama when they were accusing him,” Grassley told AlterNet.