Documents show the secret strategy behind Trump's census citizenship question push
NPR Online NewsJUL 2022
Docs: Trump Tried to Use Census Citizenship for Political Gain
Image copyright: Getty Images [via The Hill]
The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
The Trump admin. never violated any laws in seeking to add the citizenship question to the census. Even the SCOTUS ruling said Congress had the constitutional power to ask for such information and only disagreed with the Voting Rights Act piece. The government needs to know who is a citizen because that's who elected officials are tasked with protecting first and foremost.
Democratic narrative
The congressional committee and the Supreme Court have pushed back the Trump admin's brazen actions for good reason. Adding a citizenship question to the census clearly discriminates against minorities and foreign-born residents - groups that Republicans wish to attack because they overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.