On Tuesday night I checked in with Sean Hannity to talk about Donald Trump's continuing dominance in the Republican polls. Last month's arguments - sure, he's in the lead, but he's hit his "ceiling" of support, and he has high negatives, etc - are insufficient with every passing week. The high negatives are coming down and, for a guy with supposedly no breadth of appeal, he looks remarkably competitive:
Steyn noted that a recent Fox News poll revealed that not only do 25 percent of people support Trump as their first choice, but 10 percent support him as their second choice.
He added that the poll shows Trump trailing Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup 47-42 percent, which is significantly closer than just a few weeks ago.
It is. Back then it was Hillary 51, Trump 34. What do you figure the post-Labor Day poll will show? Hillary 45, Trump 44? The GOP establishment and the anal end of the consultant-industrial complex can forget about Trump imploding any time soon. When he launched, I confess I thought he'd be a bit of a nine-day wonder. Then I thought, okay, he's in it through Iowa and New Hampshire, so his presence will drive out weaker candidates and change the shape of the race. But right now you'd have to be awfully cocksure about his "self-destructive" "blowhard" "buffoonery" to rule out the possibility of him winning the nomination. If it's Trump vs Establishment Man (Jeb or Kasich or whoever they settle on), are you so sure he can't pull it off?
Sean and I also talked about the base's weariness with the GOP's excuses:
It's a two-party system, which is unusual in the modern Western world. And one of those parties is ineffective, has been ineffective for the entire 21st century, at providing a coherent opposition to the other party. And Trump is saying, we're tired of being told reasons why you can't do things. His immigration plan, people keep coming up with this thing, Sean 'Oh, no, it would require constitutional amendments, it's pie in the sky, it can't be done, nothing can be done, nothing ever can be done.'
But we also found time to assess Hillary's declining fortunes:
I don't think she'll be the candidate either, Sean. I think that is the way to bet... The idea that somehow Trump is a non-serious candidate, but the serious, substantial candidate is Hillary Clinton, who as chief foreign affairs official of the United States kept the confidential business of the United States on a server in some guy's apartment - in his bathroom in the apartment. And if that's what serious people do, the sooner they hand this country over to the buffoons the better.
You can see my full interview on Fox News here.
~Talking about birthright citizenship with Sean, I mentioned the case of Deena Gilbey. I wrote about her in my book The [Un]documented Mark Steyn:
Her husband Paul was a trader with EuroBrokers on the 84th floor of the World Trade Center and that Tuesday morning he stayed behind to help evacuate people. He was a hero on a day when America sorely needed them, having been thoroughly let down by those to whom the defence of the nation was officially entrusted. Mr. Gilbey was a British subject on a long-term work visa that allowed his dependents to live in America but not to work. The Gilbeys bought a house in Chatham Township and had two children, born in New Jersey and thus U.S. citizens. All perfectly legal and valid.
But then came September 11th. And a few days afterwards Mrs. Gilbey received a form letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service informing her that, upon her husband's death, his visa had also expired and with it her right to remain in the country. She was now, they informed her, an illegal alien and liable to be "arrested and deported."
Think about that. On the morning of Wednesday, September 12th, some INS departmental head calls the staff into his office and says, "Wow, that was a wild ride yesterday. But the priority of the United States Government right now is to find out how many legally resident foreigners have been widowed and see how quickly we can traumatize them further."
That's from The [Un]documented Mark Steyn. After I and others wrote about Mrs Gilbey's case, Tony Blair intervened personally with President Bush. The point is, as I said to Sean, that US immigration has no qualms about deporting "anchor babies" who are the children of legal immigrants if it happens to suit their perverse priorities. All this talk about amending the Constitution and that could take ONE HUNDRED YEARS (said in scary Doctor Evil voice) is ridiculous. US judges dispose of minor children every day of the week: it's called "family court". The other day, in a custody dispute between a US mother and a German father resident in Monte Carlo, a New York judge ordered the kids - both US citizens - to be dispatched to live with dad in Monaco. When two illegal immigrants are deported back to Guatemala, their six-year-old kid does not have the right to decide he wants to remain in Cedar Rapids. The judge will order that he accompany mom and pop.
And, actually, a case of US-born offspring of persons in the country illegally has never been tested before the Supreme Court. Furthermore, whatever the Constitution says, Trump is right on the merits: Not a single European nation has US-style unconditional birthright citizenship, and no Asian or African nation has it at all.
Australia: at least one parent has to be an Australian citizen or legal resident;
France: at least one parent has to be born in France;
Ireland: at least one parent has to be an Irish or UK citizen, or a permanent resident;
New Zealand: at least one parent has to be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.
Get the picture? There's no point to American exceptionalism if it just means exceptionally suicidal.
~If you're wondering about the new book of mine that Sean mentioned, it's called "A Disgrace To The Profession" and it's about what real scientists think of the poster child of the climate-change movement - Michael E Mann's "hockey stick" graph. Personally autographed copies are available right now at the SteynOnline bookstore, and I'm signing them as fast as I can. But you can also order it from Amazon in print and Kindle.
Today, Wednesday, I'll be talking about "A Disgrace To The Profession" with Joyce Kaufman on the radio in Florida and Milt Rosenberg in Chicago. Thursday I'll be back on the wireless with Michael Graham in Atlanta, Howie Carr in Boston and Hugh Hewitt coast to coast. Hope you can join me somewhere along the dial.
