Bob Franken: Onward and Downward

To show you how clueless I am: I thought the term "anchor babies" was a harmless way of referring to the very young kids of TV news readers. Now I discover that it's a pejorative way to describe infants born to immigrant parents in the United States who automatically gain U.S. citizenship, a birthright guaranteed by the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

There are some really good, fairly obvious reasons for birthright, having to do with slaves and fairness, but that hasn't dissuaded Donald Trump from pandering to the GOP hater base by turning it into something so sinister and such a danger to the...