Apr.09

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Trump Announces His "Position" on Abortion

Even Donald Trump is subject to certain realities of politics, and one of those is that you cannot be a neutral observer on the issue of abortion. And so, he promised to issue a statement on the subject; that is what he did yesterday.

Trump revealed his so-called position on abortion access in a video posted to his failing—but somehow still worth more than the GDP of 40+ countries—boutique social media site. If you want to watch the video, this link will take you to a copy that does not drive traffic to Truth Social (Monday close: $37.17/share). That said, we doubt that many readers will actually want to watch him talk for 4+ minutes (and struggle to get through the names of all six conservative justices, particularly Samuel Alito), so here's a transcript of the key portion:

Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights, especially since I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of something that all legal scholars both sides wanted and in fact demanded be ended. Roe v Wade. They wanted it ended.

It must be remembered that the Democrats are the radical ones are in this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month. The concept of having an abortion in the later months, and even execution after birth.

And that's exactly what it is. The baby is born. The baby is executed after birth is unacceptable, and almost everyone agrees with that.

My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it. From a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land, in this case, the law of the state.

Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative than others. And that's what they will be at the end of the day. This is all about the will of the people. You must follow your heart or in many cases, your religion or your faith. Do what's right for your family and do what's right for yourself. Do what's right for your children. Do what's right for our country, and vote. So important to vote.

At the end of the day, it's all about will of the people. That's where we are right now. And that's what we want, the will of the people. I want to thank the six justices Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch. Incredible people for having the courage to allow this long term, hard fought battle to finally end this 50 year battle over Roe v. Wade, took it out of the federal hands and brought it into the hearts, minds and vote of the people in each state. It was really something.

Now it's up to the states to do the right thing. Like Ronald Reagan, I am strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. You must follow your heart of this issue, but remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and in fact, to save our country, which is currently, and very sadly, a nation in decline.

Trump is utilizing several well-worn strategies from his bag of tricks here. To wit:

1. The Unreasonable Ones: Trump's priority is always to let you know how wicked his enemies, in this case the Democrats, are. And so, he presents the blue team as a bunch of extremists, willing even to execute babies after they are born. As 100% of readers of this site know, that is a 100% baldfaced lie. Which is, of course, par for the course for him.
   
   
2. The Reasonable Ones: The counterpart to the above is for Trump to portray himself and his side as the sane and sensible ones (though note that if he only has time to slur his enemies or laud his allies, he will always choose the slurs). Anyhow, the very beginning of the video (not transcribed here) asserts that Republicans are, in effect, the party that saved IVF. That's an interesting rendering of the facts, to say the least. Later he talks about how the overturn of Roe was something that ALL legal scholars, regardless of political stripe "wanted" and "demanded." That's an even more interesting rendering of the facts. And then he presents himself and the six conservative justices as heroes and patriots who did great things for the country.
   
   
3. Control, but... No Control: No politician, save Trump, would be allowed to get away with this, but as with so many issues, he takes all of the credit while simultaneously making clear he has no power over or responsibility for the matter, going forward. And so, he effectively claims sole credit for getting rid of Roe, but then turns around and says that now (once the issue just so happens to have turned into a hot potato), it's out of his hands and up to the states. It's interesting how his power rapidly goes from "enormous" to "zero," like the Headless Horseman after crossing the bridge, or Samson after his hair is cut.
   
   
4. Both Sides of the Street: Operating under the assumption that empty platitudes will enable him to please everyone, Trump puts forward mutually contradictory positions. For example, abortion is entirely up to the states... except that there better be exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Or "You must follow your heart of this issue, but remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and in fact." So, which it is? Is Trump telling his followers to do what they want... or to do what's most politic?

There's one last strategy that he was planning on, and was able to deploy, but it had to wait a few hours. We'll get to it in a moment.

In short, Trump thinks he can thread the needle here by appealing to states' rights and washing his hands of the whole matter. He is very, very wrong about that. First, there is almost nobody who is happy with the current state of affairs; pro-choice folks want the federal government to step in and protect abortion access everywhere, while anti-choice folks want the federal government to step in and limit abortion access everywhere. We might add that, as a purely tactical matter, both sides are right about this. That is to say, there is much about the issue of abortion, like mifepristone via mail, that can really only be regulated by the feds. A state-by-state approach is going to create a big mess, and already has.

There is also a second problem for him. Even if everyone accepts that this is a states' rights issue, Trump's (new) home state is going to be voting on the matter in November. In other words, consistent with his alleged "position" on abortion, as unveiled yesterday, he himself needs to make a decision as to whether or not Florida's 6-week ban should be allowed to stand. If he votes "yes," he angers a huge number of voters he needs. If he votes "no," he angers a huge number of voters he needs. And there's no way he's going to be able to get away with not answering questions about which box he plans to check on his ballot.

Predictably, then, Trump's policy statement satisfied virtually nobody. Democrats said, quite reasonably, that he isn't really moderate on abortion access, and that if the opportunity presents itself, he will use his power to impose further restrictions. For example, the White House issued a statement that read, in part, "Let there be no illusion. If Donald Trump is elected and the MAGA Republicans in Congress put a national abortion ban on the Resolute Desk, Trump will sign it into law."

For their part, Republicans said, also quite reasonably, that he's waffling and is failing to firmly commit to the goals of the anti-choice movement. The loudest critics on the right were Mike Pence and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). And that brings us to the fifth strategy, which is "create a distraction." After Graham said that Trump's message was a "great disservice to the Republican Party, and to our country," Trump lashed out at the Senator:

Senator Lindsey Graham is doing a great disservice to the Republican Party, and to our Country. At first he wanted no Abortions under any circumstances, then he was up to 6 weeks, where you're allowed Abortion, now he's up to 15 weeks, where you're allowed Abortion, but what he doesn't understand, or perhaps he does, is the Radical Left Democrats, who are destroying our Country, will never approve anything that he or the Republicans want. They love this Issue, and they want to keep it going for as long as Republicans will allow them to do so. Terminating Roe v. Wade was, according to all Legal Scholars, a Great Event, but sometimes with Great Events come difficulties. Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency...

In that Graham and Trump are accusing each other of being chameleons whose "position" on key issues changes depending on which way the political winds blow, they are both correct.

There is also a small chance that Trump has thought all this out carefully and concluded that the evangelicals and anti-abortion voters are cornered. They can't accept a Biden presidency, no matter what, because he will push for a law legalizing abortion nationally. So despite the short-term pain, in the end they will have to vote for Trump. Trump knows this, and by being wishy-washy, he may pick up some moderate Republicans who can live with a 15-week ban.

In the end, we all know what Trump's real position is; he doesn't care about abortion rights one way or the other, but if he regains the Oval Office, he will crack down as best he can, to keep his base happy (and donating). What he's gambling on with this phony "moderate" approach is that would-be Trump voters who favor abortion access don't realize what's going on, while would-be Trump voters who are hardcore anti-choice types catch on to the wink-wink, nudge-nudge subtext here. For our part, we don't think it's going to work the way Trump hopes it will. (Z)