Trump’s a foul-mouthed jerk but ...
Conservatives see ally on abortion, religious liberty
If you’re feeling schizophrenic in this era of Trump, you’re not alone. The voices in your head are freaking out, too.
Little “neurological function” humor there ...
President Trump may be passing his cognitive ability tests with flying colors, but conservatives can’t be faulted for feeling some cognitive dissonance of their own.
On the one hand, social conservatives are making progress with Donald Trump as president. They’re promoting religious liberty, putting conservatives in the courts and pushing personal responsibility — work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients, for example.
On the other, Trump the person is like a bad guy from the book of Genesis. A news story about $130,000 in hush money to a porn star has moved from the pages of The Wall Street Journal to the cover of InTouch Magazine (“Secret Hotel HookUps! How They Hid It From Melania!”).
And it’s just the latest in a litany of well-sourced and easily believable accusations that President Trump is a foul-mouthed jerk who cheats on his wife (wives?) and treats women badly. We’re just one sex scandal away from “pillar of salt” time.
So why aren’t values-voters complaining?
The answer I get most often from voters of faith is, “Why should we?” And they have a point — albeit a surprisingly cynical one.
Take the issue of abortion. Twenty years ago, the idea that pro-lifers could win political debates was far-fetched. Imagine Mitt Romney running for Massachusetts governor or senator a generation ago as openly pro-life — never would have happened.
Today, Massachusetts may still be solidly pro-choice, but most of America has made an astonishing shift to the prolife side. A new Marist poll released this week in advance of Friday’s March for Life in Washington, D.C., finds that the number of people identifying as “pro-life” has been on the rise since 2016.
And the definition of “pro-choice” has been trending to the life side as well: A majority (56 percent) of “pro-choice” Americans oppose legal abortion after 20 weeks, and 60 percent (!) reject the Democratic/ Planned Parenthood position of abortion on demand.
As a result, the overall support for “significant restrictions” on abortion — such as a post-first trimester ban — has reached 76 percent.
President Trump isn’t responsible for this — your local hospital’s ultrasound techs are. Once the miracle of sonograms let women see the miracle of yet-tobe-born life, the always dubious arguments from proabortion activists fell away.
However, Trump is on the right (literally) side of the issue. After years as a prochoice, Northeastern Republican, Trump has convincingly transformed into a pro-life president. Think about that for a moment: Donald Trump — a confirmed p **** -grabbing hedonist and NYC liberal — has more credibility on life issues than Mormon Mitt Romney.
And you wonder why you feel like you forgot to take your meds ...
Kathryn Jean Lopez, a pro-life activist and editorat-large at the notoriously #NeverTrump National Review magazine, says the progress on protecting unborn life in the past 20 years is a reminder that “people have more power than they realize to help build a culture of life.” The National Review Institute is currently promoting adoption — by celebrating both the bravery of parents who choose to adopt and the mothers who find the courage to make the sacrifice of adoption over abortion.
And, as with Trump, Lopez believes pro-lifers can find some unlikely allies.
“People who describe themselves as ‘pro-choice’ mostly want to help women in difficult situations have choices,” Lopez says. “They don’t wake up in the morning thinking about legal abortion. [Helping women] is something we can all work with.” As for Trump? “Where there is good, ‘thank you,’ ” she added. “We need to keep praying and working. That includes for elected officials we may or may not have voted for.”
And given that there’s a porn star talking about “what he’s like ... ‘down there’ ” on the cover of a major magazine this week, Trump’s gonna need all the prayers he can get.