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“if born in the country, is as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen, and by operation of the same principle.”

The trouble that I see with your arguments is that you use “citizen” and “natural born citizen” interchangeably. If they were meant to be interchangeable in the Constitutional requirements for president, then why didn’t they just say “citizen”? Why the “natural born”?

For instance, in the quote you cited, the question was about whether a non-citizen residing in the country has allegiance to the country and is subject to its jurisdiction. As long as that person is here the answer is yes, so their child born here is a citizen. There is no question that someone natural-born to a citizen is a citizen. This is saying that a child born in this country is also a citizen - just as much a citizen as if he/she was a natural-born child of a citizen (which the writer references as a different situation).

So this passage seems to me to be about citizenship, period. Not about the “natural born United States citizen” status required for the presidency.