The first idea forms the centerpiece of Donald Trump's campaign for president, for which he has been lavishly criticized. Say what you will, it has the benefit of total conformance with the law. The second proposal comes from Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. It's not only unrealistic; it's completely outside what the law permits. That you've heard of the former and not the latter has a lot to say about the way the press is covering Trump.
It's a good thing today's reporters weren't around during Teddy Roosevelt's time. What would they have made of Roosevelt's view that any immigrant who comes here should be required to learn English within five years or leave the country?
I'm not a Trump water carrier. I come from the establishment wing of the Republican Party. I'm as surprised as anyone with the idea of a reality TV star with no government experience sitting at the top of the polls. I thought Trump would have faded by now. I was wrong.
As Trump remains firmly in control, the media have taken upon themselves the job of doing what Trump's opponents have failed to do — knock him out of the race.
Of course, Trump has only himself to blame for a lot of the ire directed at him, but some of it is so over the top as to be laughable. The Washington Post last week headlined an opinion piece, "Donald Trump's rally carries echoes of Hitler's rise to power." What happened is that a protester got roughed up. Apparently that was enough to arouse comparisons to the 20th century's most ruthless dictator.
You may have noticed Trump enjoys raining insults on people he doesn't like. Marco Rubio is a "clown." Karl Rove, a "loser." John Kasich, "pathetic." This is within the bounds of what historically has passed for normal campaign rhetoric. If you want to criticize Trump for name-calling, blame him for being unimaginative. Trump's invective is tame compared to the poison darts used by John Adams to describe Thomas Jefferson: "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."
Whew! Good thing they didn't have Twitter back in the election of 1800.
Most people think Trump crossed a line when he appeared to mock the physical disability of a New York Times reporter. For that, he was rightly condemned. But why wasn't the outrage machine turned up as loud for President Obama in 2009 when he made fun of the Special Olympics on NBC's "Tonight Show''? This is the double standard at work.
When Trump claimed to have seen thousands of New Jersey Muslims on TV cheering the devastation of 9/11, the media accused him of making things up. Hillary Clinton falsely claimed to have come under sniper attack in Bosnia. Trump may have vastly overestimated the number of Muslims or confused New Jersey with the West Bank. What's Clinton's excuse?
Disagree with Trump if you like, but keep in mind that the press reacts to different people in different ways.
In 1950, responding to a music critic who panned his daughter Margaret's singing performance, a livid President Harry Truman wrote the pundit a note: "Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!"
For Truman, such forcefulness was taken as a sign of his bluntness. If Trump ever threatened violence against a reporter, do you think the press would say the same about him?
Eric Fehrnstrom is a Republican political analyst and media strategist, and was a senior adviser to Governor Mitt Romney.