Donald Trump is trying to figure out how to deal with the abortion issue in the general election. Time after time, Democrats have won the issue in elections by framing Republicans as total prohibitionists. Trump, on the other hand, is trying to chart a middle ground and relegate the issue to the states.
Hardline religious conservatives, such as Mike Pence, have decried Trump’s “abandonment” of the issue. Rather, Trump is attempting to appeal to a greater share of the electorate by placing reasonable restrictions and modest allowances on the issue. Fox News says:
Pence charged on Monday that former President Trump’s decision not to support a federal ban on abortion is a “retreat on the Right to Life” and “a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans.”
The former vice president’s statement came a couple hours after Trump took credit for the decision two years ago by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized abortion nationwide.
The conservative movement scored a huge victory when it repealed Roe v Wade, but it had no plan for after the fact. Like the dog who caught the car, conservatives have been left exposed while Democrats have mobilized their voter base to kill babies until the moment of birth. The Hill reports:
Trump clapped back at Graham and other conservatives’ criticism, writing on social media that the South Carolina Republican was “doing a great disservice to the Republican Party, and to our Country.”
“Terminating Roe v. Wade was, according to all Legal Scholars, a Great Event, but sometimes with Great Events come difficulties,” Trump wrote. “Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency.”
With the economy and world affairs crumbling under Biden’s watch, Democrats are expected to push the abortion issue hard. Trump is notoriously weak with single women, and will have to chart a difficult course to unify his base and appeal to moderates.
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