No One On Either Side Liked Trump's Messaging On Abortion Yesterday

The Message Was All About Him, Not About Women's Health

Trump’s little transactional abortion video yesterday— you can watch it at the bottom if you want to sit through the lies and gaslighting— was carefully worked on by his campaign staff, a reversal on his support for an unpopular national 15-week abortion ban that he’s been touting at his MAGA rallies. The staffers didn’t have much to work with so it came out pretty piss-poor. My first reaction to Trump’s campaign message was to marvel at the audaciousness of two incredibly blatant lies: “all legal scholars on both sides” wanted Roe v Wade ended and then the claim that Democrats “support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month.” This is a very sick man and it scares me that our government doesn’t seem able to protect society from him and the dangers he poses… sort of like the doddering Weimar Republic in the early 1930s.

Asked for a reaction, Chuck Schumer, just said “Let’s wait a few weeks and see what his new position will be.” Biden responded quickly as well. “Trump,” he said, “made it clear once again today that he is— more than anyone in America— the person responsible for ending Roe v. Wade. 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… Trump is scrambling. He’s worried that since he’s the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald. They will. America was built on personal freedom and liberty. So, there is nothing more un-American than having our personal freedoms taken away. And that is what Donald Trump has done.” And like most Democrats running for Congress, California top contender Will Rollins campaigns by telling swing voters in Riverside County that “Choice is on the line this election. If we do not flip the House blue, we will face discriminatory bans across our nation. Ken Calvert will ban abortions. I will codify Roe into law. Vote accordingly.” That simple and that clear.

But it wasn’t just Democrats who shrugged off Trump’s announcement that the whole mess should be left to the states so that he could win an election. Marjorie Dannenfelser, the head of the top GOP anti-Choice group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America lashed out immediately: “We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position. Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry. The Dobbs decision clearly allows both states and Congress to act. Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.”

And Pence pounced:

Lindsey Graham finally found a way to disagree with Trump from the right. “I respectfully disagree with President Trump’s statement that abortion is a states’ rights issue… The science is clear— a child at fifteen weeks is well-developed and capable of feeling pain. I will continue to advocate that there should be a national minimum standard limiting abortion at fifteen weeks because the child is capable of feeling pain, with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”

Even Trump’s fulsome praise of IVF causes the GOP some problems. Most say they support it but quite a few far right Republicans in Congress don’t and the GOP (MAGA Mike in the House, McConnell in the Senate) has refused to vote on codifying protection for the procedure, handing the Democrats another baseball bat to beat them over the head with.

Dan Pfeiffer seems to think voters will see right through Trump’s clumsy obfuscation of his anti-Choice positions. Does anyone actually believe anything he says anyway (other than the cultists)? “I wouldn’t take Donald Trump’s word on the weather, let alone on an issue of such consequence as reproductive freedom,” wrote Pfeiffer. “In 2016, Trump tried to avoid the political attacks that defeated Mitt Romney by declaring he was opposed to cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Just like the coverage of today’s announcement, that proclamation was portrayed as triangulating from the more conservative elements of his party. Once Trump got into office, he tried to gut Medicaid and included cuts to Social Security and Medicare in his budget every single year. Donald Trump brags all of the time about the role he played in overturning Roe v. Wade. If he wins the White House, the most likely scenario is that the GOP will also control the House and the Senate. The current Speaker of the House is a far right ideologue with some of the most retrograde views on abortion in the country. We don’t know who will lead the Senate Republicans, but almost certainly that person will advocate for a national stance on abortion. Under that scenario, a national abortion ban will be headed to Trump’s desk and, if you think he won’t sign it, I have some stock in a fledgling social media site to sell you.” 

While Trump said in his less than articulate video that he supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, the logical extension of his position is that he is fine with states passing bans with zero exceptions. If you leave it up to the states and a state passes an extreme ban with little to no exceptions— like the one that recently went into effect in Florida— you are de facto supporting such a ban. His personal views on exceptions are irrelevant.

...Therefore, no matter where you live, no matter who is in the White House or controls Congress, Donald Trump is fine with your state legislature passing the most extreme abortion ban possible.

Conor O’Callaghan, the Democrat taking on anti-Choice fanatic Dave Schweikert this cycle sees it much the same way Pfeiffer does: “When Republicans say they aren’t for a federal abortion ban, you simply cannot believe them. They have introduced and tried to pass the ‘Life at Conception Act’ multiple times, which would be tantamount to a nationwide abortion ban AND would restrict access to IVF in much the same way the Alabama court ruling did. MAGA extremist and Freedom Caucus founder David Schweikert has co-sponsored this bill multiple times; this is exactly why we must defeat him in AZ-01 this November.” Want to help? Here.

Pfeiffer also want to remind his readers that Señor T “has suggested women be criminally prosecuted for seeking an abortion. He personally bears responsibility for the Supreme Court’s removal of rights and freedoms, resulting in bans being enforced in 20 states… The ban in Florida is Trump’s position, not the verbal applesauce in that video.”

Biden, he pointed out, has a very different approach, restoring and codifying national protection for Choice. This was what he said in his latest State of the Union: “Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America. They found out though when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024. If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you, I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again!” 

Jerrad Christian is the Ohio Democrat taking on one of the sponsors of hard-core reactionary Life At Conception bill, Troy Balderson, who never came across a bill taking away people’s rights that he didn’t get behind. This morning Christian, was still pissed off about Trump’s video. He told us “Trump's stance on abortion has been inconsistent and manipulative, only set to serve his political agenda. We all know he claimed that women who have abortions should be punished, revealing a harsh stance aimed at appeasing the smallest fraction of his base. He is a fake a pro-life champion, using exaggerated and false claims, such as accusing the left of supporting abortions up to the ninth month or after. That is an abhorrent misrepresentation of the views on abortion held by all rational people. There seems to be no end to the lies these people will tell to steal the power from the people. Trump's words are an assertion that he supports every nationwide ban on abortion. We can all assess he would sign any Republican ban put on his desk and align himself with extreme positions to secure political support. His flip-flopping on this issue is a reflection of a lack of commitment to the principles he espouses, because he has none. He is using the topic of abortion as a political tool rather than approaching it with the seriousness and respect it deserves.” Want to help replace Balderson with Jerrad Christian? Here.

I’m sure team Blue was delighted to see Trump’s tap dancing routine. The Biden campaign has been using Trump’s pronouncements on social media and in TV and digital ads, certain that when swing voters are exposed to his bullshit, they’ll react the way all non-MAGAts do. NBC reported that things are very different than when Democrats were complaining that the networks gave Trump’s unfiltered pronouncements too much airtime. Now they want “more Trump in the media, not less... American Bridge 21st Century, Democrats’ flagship opposition research super PAC— believes the best ammunition against Trump could be the candidate himself, raw and unfiltered. It’s encouraging all voters to tune in to livestreams of Trump’s rallies in their entirety. ‘We want any and everybody to watch a Trump rally,’ said Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for the group. ‘When you think about 2016, the conventional wisdom was, Don’t give him airtime, don’t platform him, don’t give him breath. But this is 2024 and we want everyone to see the threat he poses.’”

Natasha Korecki and Alex Seitz-Wald wrote that “Party operatives surmise that the chaos of the Trump White House years has faded in the minds of many Americans and was replaced by hazier nostalgic views of his presidency. Poll after poll has shown Trump leading Biden head to head and even overtaking him on favorability, something that never happened in the run-up to their 2020 matchup. And those supporters appear largely unfazed by the slew of criminal charges Trump is facing. ‘I’ve always disagreed with the people who said not to platform Trump. He’s been the likely GOP nominee for two years now. The American people should hear from him directly,’ said longtime Democratic strategist Lis Smith, who is now working for the Democratic National Committee. ‘I suspect the more they do, the more they will be reminded of the utter chaos of his four years in office, and the less likely they will be to vote for him.’ That thinking is prevalent across the party... Trump’s rhetoric has grown only more extreme while, they claim, his mental faculties have declined, and they want all Americans to see that unfiltered. That reasoning comes after Republicans for years have cast Biden as a doddering, fragile old man.”

Diane Young is a Democratic opponent in the suburbs north of Detroit taking on MAGA backbencher John James, a hardcore anti-Choice politician. His strident opposition is a strong, winning issue for her. “In one breadth,” she said, “Trump talks about the law of the land, and in the next he says it is up to the states. Abortion rights are human rights and women's reproductive freedom should not be determined by what state they live in. Trump and MAGA extremists like John James are damaging women's health and taking away fundamental rights.” If you want to help her replace James… here.