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GOP
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As you have probably seen or read or heard, Melania Trump is hawking a memoir right now. Although it's not yet out, her publisher has been leaking bits and pieces of it in order to get people interested. The stuff last week, in which the former First Lady talked about how proud she was of her nude modeling, was pretty salacious. But, in the end, we really don't care. Do U?
The newest bit that has been released is of considerably more interest to us. As it turns out, Mrs. Trump is something of a hardliner on abortion. And we don't mean anti-choice. We mean that she is to the left of most Democrats on the issue. Here's what she (or, let's be honest, her ghostwriter) wrote:
It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government.
Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman's fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.
Restricting a woman's right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.
Trump previously said that she prefers to keep political disagreements between her and her husband private. Apparently, that policy has gone out the window.
Once this news broke, there were scores of pieces trying to figure out what the Trumps are playing at, and what kind of 3-D chess they are playing. The general conclusion of these pieces is that the Trumps are playing some version of good cop, bad cop, and that if they have very different views on abortion access, it will assuage moderate voters.
For our part, we do not believe this for one minute. First, Melania has no influence over policy, and if a national abortion ban were to come to her husband's desk, she would not be able to stop him from signing it. Second, let us say it again: The Trumps do not play 3-D chess. Not ever. Melania goes by her gut just as much as Donald does. Third, and finally, Melania has shown near-total disinterest in this campaign. She's not suddenly going to participate in a scheme like this.
We see two plausible explanations. The first is that, for whatever reason, Melania is trying to rake in as much cash as she can, while she can. "Shocking" revelations will help move product when the book comes out next week. Truth be told, with Barron away at college, and Donald's finances up in the air (don't forget, a court in New York ordered him to fork over half a billion dollars), Melania might be trying to give herself a safety net when and if there's a divorce.
The other possibility is that Melania is angry with her husband, and is trying to undermine his presidential bid. We know little about the dynamics of their relationship, other than what we see in their (rare) joint appearances. But this does not seem out of the realm of possibility, given what we know of them.
Of course, the real question is whether or not this will help the Democrats. It certainly could, particularly if a commercial with Melania sharing her views on abortion (there are several clips already) ends up in heavy rotation, perhaps with a tagline along the lines of: "Even Donald Trump's wife knows his views on abortion are extreme." This sounds like a job for the Lincoln Project. That said, ad rates for non-campaign groups (PACs, etc.) are now between 10 and 25 times as much as they are for campaigns, because of limited inventory. So, the Harris campaign might need to take care of this one themselves. (Z)