President Trump pokes a hornet's nest with comment on abortion and midterm results


Just yesterday President Donald Trump posted the following on Truth Social:

“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms. I was 233-20! It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or the Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters. Also, the people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the U.S. Supreme Court, & just plain disappeared, not to be seen again. Plus, Mitch stupid $’s!”

Trump is right about Mitch.

We know that Mitch McConnell didn't financially support many MAGA candidates adequately. He withdrew money at key junctures. He badmouthed MAGA candidates prior to the elections, which is the equivalent of calling for their defeat. 

This was quite simply a calculated move. A big MAGA win would be a verdict against the establishment. This would mean McConnell would have to go. However, the underwhelming performance of the GOP was described by both the liberal media and even some conservative media as a verdict against Trump. It have Mitch a reason to claim that the establishment had won hence he deserved the leadership.

He knew that the GOP not having a majority in the Senate enabled him to hold on to his leadership position. So he played his cards astutely to ensure MAGA candidates failed.

A while back he reportedly told Joe Biden that he wanted to blunt President Trump's influence in the party. Although he was referring to Ukraine, it reflects his mindset.

McConnell recently said his number one priority was arming Ukraine, hence he celebrated the passage of the $1.7 Trillion omnibus bill which grants $45 billion to Ukraine 

Following Zelenskyy's recent visit to the US, Congress passed a provision to give Ukraine the assets that were seized from sanctioned Russian oligarchs. According to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the happened due to a secret phone call between Zelenskyy and McConnell.

When Mitch wants can get things done, the problem is issues related to citizens is not a high priority on his list.

Now about Trump’s claims about the pro-lifers.

The knee-jerk reaction is that Trump was attacking his pro-life base.

Some conservative pundits and outlets are already claiming that. 

https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1609695918416068608

Before we react to Trump’s statement let's look at his actions as President.

One of President Trump's biggest achievements was the appointment of three pro-life justices in the Supreme Court.

These three overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, which was even according to far-left judicial experts a poorly argued law devoid of basis in the US Constitution. The decision allows individual states to determine their position on abortion.

Trump himself release the following statement after that decision.

“Today’s decision, which is the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation, along with other decisions that have been announced recently, were only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court. It was my great honor to do so!”

These are not the word of an individual who is against profilers.

There are two components to the abortion issue that Trump was referring to, first was the actual position of pro-lifers and the second is how the media covered it.

According to exit polls, 27 percent said abortion was the number one issue during the midterms ranking just behind inflation. In most years abortion doesn’t even make the top five.

Let’s look at a media covered the issue

GOP Senate Candidate in Pennsylvania, Dr. Oz said, "I don't want the federal government involved with that at all.  I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that's always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves."

What Oz was saying is that law-making must occur by consulting all parties involved. It was a sensible statement to make and one that everyone would agree with.

However facts do not matter anymore, it is how the media covers facts that matter.

The mainstream media claimed that Oz thinks the decision to have an abortion must be among a woman, her doctor, and local politicians.

This spin was amplified to such an extent and made to seem like the position of the GOP. There were many other pro-life messages that were twisted. The media extrapolated it to suggest that the GOP’s next target would be to restrict contraception.

We know that most people are casual or headline consumers of the news. They believe headlines and vote based on that.

The spin on Oz’s statement made it appear that local GOP politicians would be involved whenever a woman visited her gynecologist and even mentioned the word ‘abortion’.

Nothing works better than fear.

Perhaps women feared legal action or even imprisonment. Perhaps men feared this too for their wife, daughters, sisters, etc. Perhaps they voted Democrat to be on the safer side.

The pro-life message was never going to be a problem in the Red states.

However in swing states, perhaps Democrats managed to scare enough people which made the difference between defeat and victory.

The GOP certainly failed in countering the media narrative and delivering a  coherent message on abortion.

They failed to expose the Democrat position which isn’t pro-choice but pro-abortion. They failed to reveal that most blue states have unrestricted abortions on demand until the point of birth. Under California law, minors can receive abortion services without knowledge and consent from the minor’s parent or legal guardian.

This is an extreme position, that most voters would never support but the GOP failed to make voters aware of this.

This is what Trump was pointing out.

Now let’s look at the position itself

Conservative Pundit Matt Walsh claimed the following in a Twitter thread

“Opposing abortions "with exceptions" is a morally incoherent position. Either the child in the womb is a human being and abortion is murder, or not. If not, there is no reason to oppose abortion at all. But if so, it is insane to support murdering a child under any circumstance.

Abortion is the literal murder of a baby, but I'm okay with it sometimes." This position simply makes no sense. It's indefensible, half-baked”

This means no abortions under any circumstances irrespective of the gestation period.

Far-left Democrats want abortions for all, including minors with no restrictions while the pro-lifers want no abortions at all.

Both positions are unreasonable.

Let's look at Florida which is a pro-life state.

Abortion in Florida is currently legal until the 15th week of gestation, this seems like a fair law. It addresses the situation of a child being born due to rape or incest.

However, there must be exceptions if the mother's life is at risk or if it is discovered later the child would be born with a severe disability. 

The restrictions should only be for abortions of healthy fetuses after the specified period of 15 weeks.

This is what Trump was referring to and is certainly the right position.

Abortion should be rare but safe and legal in these rare situations.

Also appears on American Thinker

 

 

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