All Through History Conservatives Have Opposed Pleasure
Whether Trump realizes it or not, for the anti-choice fanatics, he was never more than a tool— a means to an end. Some like him, some dislike him, some are ambivalent and don’t care one way or the other. But he did what had to be done— appoint 3 dishonest hacks to the Supreme Court— to overturn Roe v Wade. They appreciate that… but the work is only partially done and they’re on the move and would run him right down if he stands in their way.
Right now, he’s asking them to calm down and not frighten the suburban voters with their mania and extremism so that he can win. And then, he’ll do what they want him to do. But for some of them, that isn’t enough. Can anyone trust Donald Trump? His word is absolutely meaningless and every move he makes is self-serving. And, besides, they’re absolutely certain they have God on their side.
Yesterday, Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey reported that tempers are flarin’ over the RNC abortion plank for the party platform. The extremists want to ban abortion outright, nationally and in every possible permutation— and then move on to banning contraception. Trump couldn’t care less one way or the other but worries that their approach could hurt his chances of winning another term— and staying out of prison. So he suggests just leaving it to the states… the way some of the worst presidents in history— James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, John Tyler— wanted to leave slavery to the states. The anti-Choice fanatics expect Trump, wrote Scherer and Dawsey to “abandon the party’s decades-long call to amend the U.S. Constitution to extend personhood protections to the unborn... The escalating behind-the-scenes disagreement over the abortion language has become so tense and acrimonious in recent weeks that some social conservative leaders have issued public warnings of a coming split within Trump’s coalition.”
Trump is certain he has more clout with the evangelical rank and file than the anti-Choice leaders do. But that has never been put to the test. Let’s hope it is.
“If the Trump campaign decides to remove national protections for the unborn in the GOP platform, it would be a miscalculation that would hurt party unity and destroy pro-life enthusiasm between now and the election,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are now just one business day away from the platform committee meeting and no assurances have been made. Instead, every indication is that the campaign will muscle through changes behind closed doors.”
Trump advisers— who selected the platform committee’s delegates— have made clear in private discussions that they want a shorter platform document, with abortion language consistent with Trump’s current position, multiple people said.
Since the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide, Trump waffled on whether he would support a federal abortion ban. But Trump [ducking the issue] now says he wants each state to make its own decision on abortion regulation, while resisting calls for new federal limits that he once supported.
“Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have [sic] more conservative than others,” he said in April. “At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.”
Trump allies have argued that letting states decide their own abortion limitations helps the former president seem more moderate on the issue. Democrats contend that, instead, it weds Trump to the most extreme abortion limits in the country, including some states that have enacted near-total bans on the procedure.
In the face of the activist backlash, Trump’s advisers have barred the press and C-SPAN cameras from next week’s scheduled meetings of the platform committee, a break in tradition that has alarmed some delegates. Members of the Republican National Committee not directly participating in the platform debate will be able to attend the meetings, which start Sunday afternoon at the Baird Center in Milwaukee, with a meeting to offer amendments scheduled for Tuesday.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a platform committee member, wrote a letter Monday to RNC Chairman Michael Whatley dismissing the private discussions as “stalling tactics” by Trump advisers. He called the decision to restrict the press from the platform committee discussions “un-American,” and warned that the platform could be watered down to “a few pages of meaningless, poll-tested talking points.”
“We reach consensus by presenting our ideas and playing by the rules. And I am very concerned about closing down the process,” Perkins said Thursday. “The Republican Party should not be operating as we point out the left so often does— wanting to silence opposition.”
The Trump campaign said the final abortion language has not been determined. Some campaign officials have suggested that the eventual language will appease many antiabortion activists.
“The Platform Committee has yet to convene to discuss what language should be in the final document,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.
Trump signed a letter to antiabortion leaders during his 2016 campaign promising to support the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” federal legislation that would have outlawed abortion nationwide after 20 weeks of gestation with some exceptions. He supported that legislation in his first term, but his policy changed after the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
Antiabortion activists reject the idea that the high court’s reversal changes the need for federal legislation or a constitutional amendment process, as they have expanded their efforts to challenge federal regulatory approval of abortion medication.
They argue that a constitutional amendment on abortion— a feature of the GOP platform since the 1980s— can be seen as a state issue, since any amendment would ultimately need to be ratified by at least 38 of the 50 states. They also say that Trump’s recent statements on abortion fail to address the abortions performed in more liberal states that allow the procedure with relatively few limitations.
Eight antiabortion and social conservative leaders wrote a June 10 letter to Trump demanding that the platform include support for federal legislative limits on abortion, and it contained the following sentence: “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.”
“This is the language that both you and Ronald Reagan ran on and won,” the leaders wrote. Among the signatories were Dannenfelser, Perkins, Faith and Freedom Coalition President Ralph Reed and Penny Nance, the president of Concerned Women for America.
One antiabortion activist involved in the discussion with Trump’s team said there has been little recent communication with antiabortion leaders beyond broad assurances that the platform “will be fine, and it will be pro-life.”
“Our posture was, ‘Let’s fix this behind the scenes,’” this activist said. “Once it became more apparent to us that they didn’t want to work with us and seemed inclined to want to pick a fight with us, we have been more vocal.”
Some RNC members are also concerned that the Trump team will back away from the 2016 platform’s declaration that denounced the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. The previous platform called marriage between one man and one woman “the foundation for a free society” that “has for millennia been entrusted with rearing children and instilling cultural values.”
Trump advisers say privately that they do not want a fight over same-sex marriage and consider it a settled issue not worth re-litigating, according to people familiar with the conversations.
“It would not be a smart move to define it any other way,” one RNC member said of marriage. “I’m a little bit concerned about what might transpire.”
Wisconsin progressive Eric Wilson is taking on a lockstep MAGA puppet in a moderate swing district that includes Eau Claire, La Crosse and Stevens Point. This morning, he told us that “Just like Trump, his lapdog Derrick Van Orden can’t decide how pro-life he wants to be. He equates all abortion to genocide and then flips to support the 15-week ban in order to prevent the state Supreme Court from removing all restrictions on abortion, saying the bill would ‘save the lives of as many unborn children as possible.’ He doesn’t care about women, he only cares about forcing them to carry, regardless of circumstance. If he truly cared about the unborn children we would be providing everyone healthcare, housing, and basic necessities. It’s not about life, it’s about control.”
whatever. fuhrer trump will so decree... if he's paid enough to do so. You know he has absolutely no principles except his own wealth and receipt of worship; but he will decree them as he is paid to.