I wasn’t voting Trump before, but now I have a reason not to
Tonight on CNN — and streaming live on Twitter — is the first presidential debate of 2016. Yikes.
Listen: I’ve been on the anti-Trump train since day one. Can’t say I haven’t been consistent on my point that he is a jokester, fraud, demagogue, threat to America, and a thousand other things.
“Trump, for all his charms, is a charlatan at heart, and I kind of mean that as a compliment,” I wrote back in July of 2015. “He wheels, he deals, he’s loud, he’s obnoxious, he’d probably make the ultimate used car salesman. Honestly, he reminds me most of the guy from the old Crazy Eddie commercials. But instead of his prices, it’s his opinions that are insane. I mean, the guy still thinks Obama was born in Peru or something.”
Nothing has changed, except the real Crazy Eddie is dead and Trump no longer believes Obama was born in Peru or something. I do not like Donald Trump. But for most of this campaign, it’s been just that: A feeling. Sure, I scoff at his Great Wall of America idea and scowl when he talks about banning people from America based on religion, but I don’t worry too much about it. After all, he would be president, not emperor, and these ideas would never come to fruition.
I also have spent a few nights wondering what the world would look like with Trump’s too-small hands on the nuclear button. (And his hands are small. In the 15th percentile, according to a Washington Post piece. So it’s a big, beautiful, huge scientific fact the man has tiny hands.)
But let’s say Trump somehow avoids using nuclear weapons, and let’s say all the fears about his perceived idiocy end up just being that: Fears.
There is still one item on his agenda that would prevent me from voting for him, and that’s his current stance on abortion. I say current because it seems that up until 2012, he was pro-choice. But now? He’s not, to the point that it’s becoming clear that if he won the presidency, abortion would probably become illegal in America (assuming he gets to pick a Supreme Court judge or two), and that’s a position I cannot support no matter what. No matter what. Seriously: If Trump were pro-Jedi, pro-daily fantasy sports, my favorite uncle, and only gave out Reese’s products on Halloween and yet was against a woman’s right to choose, it would be a dealbreaker for me. Luckily, I can’t stand the rest of the stuff that comes out of his mouth (or his mouth, for that matter) so the deal already was sealed.
But for those on the fence, this move to the far right on abortion could backfire.
And believe me, he’s gone far to the right, hiring Marjorie Dannenfelser to lead his “Pro-Life Coalition.” To give you as idea as to where she stands, she thinks a woman who gets raped and ends up pregnant should not be allowed to have an abortion.
Basically, according to a Vox.com article, Trump would almost certainly put pro-life judges on the Supreme Court and from there the writing would be on the wall.
Now understand: I do not think abortion is a good choice. But it’s also not my choice. Taking a woman’s body from her is Dark Ages stuff. It’s theocracy stuff. It’s antiAmerican stuff.
I am not “for” abortion, but I am for a woman’s right to her own body. You want to talk late-term abortions, all that, I get it, I agree, it’s worth discussing.
But an outright ban, from conception forward? I can’t support that.
And it’s more than just a woman’s right to choose. We’re also talking women whose health would be compromised. We’re talking about babies with fatal genetic diseases being brought to term. (And I haven’t even brought up the oh-so-obvious, said a million times a million different ways: If men got pregnant, there’d be commercials for abortion centers, complete with light beer, high-fives, and next-day tee times.)
I realize this is a hot-button issue, and I realize religion comes into it, and I realize I’ll probably get letters (actual, postage-applied letters) on this one. But it’s how I feel. I wonder if this topic comes up tonight. If it does, and if Trump is honest — haha — this could be the pivot point for the dozen or so people who are still on fence.
Man, I CANNOT WAIT for this election to be over.