After Mueller Gambit Fails, Jacob Wohl Goes Full Birther On Kamala Harris

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., reacts during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., reacts during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Washington. The nation's intelligence ... Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., reacts during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Washington. The nation's intelligence chiefs, facing questions from Congress one day before former FBI Director James Comey provides his first public account of the events leading up to his firing, declined to describe conversations with President Donald Trump but said they had not been directed to do anything they considered illegal or felt pressured to do so. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) MORE LESS
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Jacob Wohl, the right-wing troll and Trump acolyte, is apparently done licking his wounds after his embarrassing attempt to smear Special Counsel Robert Mueller failed spectacularly.

In a tactic echoing that of his role model Donald Trump, Wohl is floating a bogus birther theory about newly announced presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).

Harris was born in Oakland, California and is thus granted American citizenship by the birthright clause in the 14th Amendment, no matter her parents’ status. This interpretation of the Constitution has been the law of the land since a Supreme Court decision in the 1890s.

Wohl seems to be suggesting, wrongly, that Harris is not a natural born citizen and thus not eligible to be President.

“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,” Article II of the U.S. Constitution reads.

Wohl appears to be citing the 5-year waiting period required for permanent residents to apply for naturalization in the United States to become full-fledged citizens. Again, would not apply to Harris, since she was born on American soil.

Most mainstream reporters and political commentators have responded to Wohl’s conspiracy theory with derision and anger:

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo appeared to initially take a “both sides” approach to the issue, though he took down the initial tweet and tried to clear it up in subsequent ones.

“And hopefully there will be no games where the issue keeps changing for righty accusers…and…the legit info abt Harris comes out to deal with the allegation ASAP. The longer there is no proof either way, the deeper the effect,” Cuomo wrote initially.

Wohl’s favorite President used this same othering tactic with President Barack Obama, inciting the rabble so much that Obama eventually released his long-form birth certificate.

There is a rich and disturbing history in American politics of accusing politicians of color of being un-American, usually due to their parents’ immigration from another country of origin. In 2012, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and then-Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) were also smeared with birther claims. Both men were born in America and are, of course, citizens.

Notable Replies

  1. “A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.” ― Moliere

  2. The deeply entrenched racism of the American Right and American So-Called-Christians will be a stain they carry forever.

  3. Canada? She lived in Canada? Okay, that’s a problem.

  4. “Wohl is floating a bogus birther theory about newly announced presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris.”

    And right-wingers just revealed – loud and clear – exactly which candidate they fear the most.

    Good to know.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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