During the scores of readings of the entire Constitution (half of those seeking comfort during the Trump presidencies) I’ve constantly marveled at how smart those guys generally were and frequently find something that never had registered in all previous readings and days in court.

Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 states:

“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.”

Hamilton

This provision was one I had noticed by fifth grade[1] but paid little mind until recently.  That little in four widely separated moments.

The first to find out for whom the exception to the rule that only “natural born” citizens were eligible to be President, was intended.  Alexander Hamilton and a few others all deceased for well over a century.

Second time was August 9, 1974, when virtually the first thing out of Gerald Ford’s mouth, after the oath of office, was that he had convinced German-born Henry Kissinger to stay on as Secretary of State (and National Security Advisor) in order to calm a traumatized nation.  I wondered whether that might get some in Congress to begin the amendment process.

Third time was when I thought how much fun it might be to have a President as cute as Canadian-born Governor Jennifer Granholm.  But we got an even cuter President whose Veep put her in the Cabinet.

Granholm & Obama

Most seriously was time four, when I really wanted the German-born Terminator/California Governor on the ballot.  I no longer want to be able to vote for Arnold, despite continuing respect and affection, because that would also mean that a number of recently naturalized citizens might one day hold the office.

The first such in mind is my mayor, Ugandan-born Zohran Mamdani, resident 27 years and a dual citizen since 2018.  Mamdani, not yet, but imminently age eligible, either is ignorant about or contemptuous of many things that a President should understand and embrace.  The fact that Trump is also ignorant and contemptuous of those, and a criminal and scumbag to boot does not excuse Mamdani nor diminish my belief that the framers had slick arrivistes like Mamdani in mind when they wrote the natural born citizen clause.  People who can tell you the price of everything in America but understand the value of nothing.

All that ignorance was on display July 3, when Mamdani, sweetly bookended by a group of other recently naturalized citizens, delivered his semi-quintcentennial speech from City Hall, near the first Capitol of the U.S.A. under the Constitution.

To mark the momentous moment and one when the citizens who recently elected him needed reassurance, he delivered a divisive campaign speech.  A nasty and dark one, invoking class struggle and calling for class warfare.  It reminded me of Trump’s deplorable first inaugural.

Schwarzenegger & Kissinger

Mamdani told us that “division is the oldest trick in politics and cheapest” and then proceeded to use that cheap trick.  He characterized the country that adopted him and his wealthy parents “as one that persecutes those seeking asylum.”  Mamdani’s address for America’s 250 included a swipe at another naturalized citizen, Elon Musk, juxtaposed with American “children [who] go to sleep hungry.”  In the oppressor class Mamdani ragged on the “oligarchs who buy elections” – though not apparently his – the “corporate landlords where negligence is a business model” a “health insurance industry that exploits the sick” and “monopolies in every industry.”  There are partial truths to every one of Mamdani’s assertions, just as there is usually a tenth true in Trump’s “I am your retribution” speeches.  But their divisive purpose is the same and wrong for events and ceremonies calling for unifying messages.

In fairness there were humorous moments, as when Mamdani equated the Syrian migration to America that began in 2011[2] with the 20th Century “Great Migration” of Southern blacks to the north and the 19th and early 20th Century massive migrations of Italians, Jews and the Irish fleeing the potato famine.  That was fun, but the speech was otherwise a bummer and a helpful reminder that Mamdani intends to rule the City by division and class warfare and why I said “Hip” six times and “Hooray” three for the framers and that saintly Clause 5.

[1]   The principal of P.S. 164 in Queens required every student in grades 4, 5, 6 to read the entire Constitution and memorize, for oral presentation, its preamble and key portions of the Declaration of Independence, Patrick Henry’s big one, same for Daniel Webster and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural and Gettysburg addresses.

[2]   The roughly 100,000 Syrians who came to America starting in 2011 were afforded “Temporary Protected Status” by the country he stated “persecutes those seeking asylum” on its 250th birthday.