CNN’s Harry Enten Roasts Trump For Picking Unpopular Birthright Citizenship Fight: ‘I Don’t Know What the Heck He’s Doing’

CNN data guru Harry Enten categorized President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants as a losing political battle Saturday.

Enten commented that not only is the idea historically unpopular among a strong majority of Americans, but it will almost certainly die in the courts.

Because of those two points, Enten questioned why Trump would expend precious political capital on a losing fight.

Trump signed a day-one executive order banning citizenship to those born in the US whose parents have no legal status in the country – drawing immediate threats of legal challenges. Thursday, a judge in Washington called it “blatantly unconstitutional” and halted it.

On CNN Newsroom, anchor Jessica Dean brought Enten in to discuss public sentiment on the issue.

“You know, there are a lot of things that Donald Trump has done in his first week in office that Americans do support,” Enten said. “This ain’t one of them.” He continued:

I don’t know what the heck he’s doing, because not only did that judge spank him like he was a young child back in the 1960s, but the American public ain’t with him either. I mean, look at this. Support ending birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants illegally here. Look, you can see I’ve traced it over time since 2011, 2015, 2025. There ain’t no number higher than 35%. It’s 35% now. 53% oppose. 2015, it was 31% supporting – 35% in 2011. The number has just stayed very, very, very consistent, whereby only about a third of the public support the idea of ending birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants illegally here. It’s simply put, Jessica Dean, ain’t popular and it doesn’t appear to be legal, either. So a double whammy for the incumbent president.

Enten told Dean that support for ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegals is not particularly popular among Trump’s base and is less popular with independents than Democrats. He concluded:

So, what Donald Trump is doing with this move is he’s dividing Republicans, uniting Democrats and independents against him politically. It seems like a very bad move. And obviously, legally, the judge and most legal scholars agree. Again, it’s just a bad move all the way around. And despite it being an executive order, I don’t think it’s going to get very far.

Watch above via CNN.