Even Trump knows the GOP has gone too far on abortion
Remember the Donald Trump who took credit for destroying Roe vs. Wade?
The guy who has many times declared himself the “person proudly responsible for the ending” of national abortion protections?
Well, meet the new Trump, the guy who wants it both ways: antiabortion warrior but also “whatever you want is fine by me.”
You’ve heard by now that Trump put out a fourminute video Monday (heavily edited and filled with weird jump cuts) desperately dodging the issue of a federal abortion ban, despite the fact that at least four times in past months he has indicated support for a national 15-week prohibition.
Instead, he is now saying that abortion should be a state issue, and “whatever they decide must be the law of the land.”
Like, all of the sudden, he’s Mr. Reasonable, when — as Reproductive Freedom
for All President and Chief Executive Mini Timmaraju pointed out — he’s clearly “trying to neutralize” what has become a political liability.
Support of drastic abortion restrictions has all too obviously become a big, fat stinker in this election — despite loud glee from ultraMAGA extremists who think repressing women is great. A recent KFF poll found that 67% of women consider abortion to be the most important issue in the election, as do 21% of independent voters.
The authors behind that poll found that while most people have already made up their mind on the issue and the candidates, abortion “may move small numbers” of voters in key demographics. Those voters are crucial.
Mike Madrid, a founder of the Lincoln Project and author of the upcoming book “The Latino Century,” said those small margins — especially in swing states — could cost Trump the election.
“He needs to stop the bleeding,” Madrid said.
Trump’s advisors realize they have “overplayed their
hand” and are worried about “the extremist label,” he said. Because since 2016, the party that’s perceived as more extreme has lost.
So Trump is wiggling around, trying to find a sweet spot that will take the focus off reproductive rights, where he is undeniably extreme.
Even Trump seemed to acknowledge that this gambit was a weak-sauce attempt to get votes.
“You must follow your heart on this issue,” he said. “But remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and in fact, to save our country.”
But “the damage is done,” Madrid said. “It’s like saying, ‘I’ll require all cars to have seat belts’ after we’ve removed the brakes.”
And indeed the brakes are gone.
According to the Guttmacher Insitute, which tracks reproductive health policy, 20 states have abortion bans that could kick into effect before a woman realizes she’s pregnant; 14 basically ban abortion altogether.
Those bans have created a reproductive healthcare desert in the South, where a woman who wants an abortion must travel hours or days outside the region — which of course makes it nearly impossible for poor women. About 1 in 5 women now has to travel to receive abortion care.
But states aren’t satisfied with that. Some Texas counties have laws that seek to punish women for traveling for an abortion. Other states, including Idaho, Alabama and Oklahoma, are trying to do the same.
Women have been criminally charged for miscarriages, and last week, a leaked video showed Texas Republicans pondering the death penalty for women who have abortions. So now, we are talking forced births — sometimes with no exceptions for rape or incest.
Trump may want us to believe he’s had a come-tosanity moment on reproductive rights, but all you have to do is watch the video to see him go off the reasonable rail. Halfway through, he starts talking about how we currently execute babies. (Executing babies is illegal and does not happen, for those who need clarification.)
“It must be remembered that the Democrats are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month,” Trump said. “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.”
I realize the grammar in that is terrible, but that’s literally from his official “Statement on Life.” And, as Timmaraju said, it’s clearly aimed at letting his people know he’s still with them.
“That was not even a dog whistle. That was a big neon sign to the extremist nut jobs,” she said. “I don’t know how you can continue to separate the insanity from these other statements.”
And though Trump spent the first part of his Monday speech extolling how much he loves in vitro fertilization and strongly supports “couples who are trying to have a precious baby,” it’s the same legal issue. (Author’s note: Except you, LGBTQ+ folks. Not sure he supports your rights.)
Eventually, no abortion means no IVF. Because once that embryo is created, it’s a precious baby under the “conception is life” argument. No matter how much some Republicans are contorting themselves over IVF, the fact is, an embryo in the womb is no different than an embryo in a freezer. You can’t say one is life and the other is like a couch in storage.
Then, of course, there are the states that are amenable to banning contraception, which some consider a form of abortion. So the future of state’s rights is no contraception, no abortion, and no travel to get one.
That is definitely more reasonable.
Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., said Trump’s “mush” of a statement is unlikely to take the focus off abortion, making it a “misfire.”
Leaving it to states may sound good to unsure conservative or independent voters in places like California — at first — but a little bit of critical thinking will likely send them right back to their quagmire of doubt.
“He didn’t solve the problem for himself, he just postponed it,” Mitchell told me. And not even for that long. Within hours of Trump’s announcement, the Biden campaign was fundraising off it.
“Let’s be clear: Trump is betting that we will stop caring. That we’ll get distracted. Discouraged,” Biden HQ texted early Monday afternoon.
Mitchell points out that voters often think that having the right position on an issue is what makes a candidate strong. But in his experience, what really works is keeping the voters focused on strong issues.
For Trump, that may be immigration. He’s been pounding on the “hordes” at the border for multiple election cycles and is upping the ante on that, especially in swing states.
But for now, abortion is one of the strongest issues in the election, and the takeaway from Trump’s new position is that it’s a dodge, not a change. That can best be seen in the response from his supporters.
The Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America group swore it was “deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position” but also “will work tirelessly to defeat President Biden and extreme congressional Democrats.”
That’s a limp condemnation, one that makes me think even Republicans know he is lying.
Finally, something we can all agree on.