2. The best way to understand birtherism is through framework of @jelani9's idea of "contingent citizenship." For racists like Trump there are two classes of citizens: whites (whose Americanness is assumed as natural) & non-whites (who are provisional Americans).
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3. Contingent citizenship means all non-whites -- no matter their status or how many centuries their families have been in America -- are on probation. And all whites are deputized to be racial sheriffs, with the right to ask for papers & deport for acting up.
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4. Trump's birtherism can be seen not just in comment on Obama & Harris but also questioning bias of Judge Curiel b/c of Mexican heritage & telling Squad members to "go back" to where they came from.
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5. The attack on the squad shows the underlying logic. Ayanna Pressley's family likely has roots in USA that are centuries older than Trump family. But she's black & he's white, so he has right to treat her as an alien. Only whites have the right to be nativists.
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6. More thoughts here on how white supremacy underwrites birtherism.https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/birtherism-trump-racist-kamala/ …
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You can go to DC and see it. Seems pretty real to me.
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John McCain was born in the Panama canal, but nobody ever raised an eyebrow about whether he was a Real American during that election I wonder why
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Ted Cruz was born in Canada, same thing.
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