Jay Weber Show transcript 4-9-24 6:10am
For weeks, President Trump has been saying that he’s going to come up with a compromise on abortion that’s going to make everyone happy. Settle this reasonably-
And we knew that was impossible, of course, given the two diametrically opposed sets of beliefs on each side-
And given the amount of ‘absolutism’ and zealotry on both sides. Most Americans might be of the belief that there can-and should-be reasonable restrictions put around abortion...but there are also a significant of absolutists on each side: either ‘all abortions need to be okay and legal right up to the moment of birth-or beyond-into infanticide if that’s what the mother wants....
Or- all abortions need to be banned-even in the case of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
We are never going to settle this issue easily or amicably in this country. It simply isn’t going to happen in our lifetimes.
So, Trump, after appointing three of the pro-life judges to the supreme court that helped overturn roe v wade-which was a terrible decision and not at all constitutional-
Is now trying to find a way forward-both for his campaign and for the GOP- that doesn’t have abortion being a ‘flash point’ or a major distraction for either -the country- or- under the GOP tent.
People on the right need to understand what president trump is doing, here, and i think the leaders of the pro-life groups do, which is why some of them were critical of him for his new position yesterday, but also made a point of continuing to support him over Biden in fall.
I don’t think you will see the pro-life and/or Christian communities ‘falling away’ from trump or the GOP this fall because of Trump’s ‘position statement’ yesterday.
Most of them understand what he’s trying to do: downplay this as an emotional flashpoint for voters on both sides of the aisle.
What did Donald Trump do yesterday?
What has he decided is going to be his position on abortion this fall?
In a sentence: try to sound reasonable.
That’s what trump and his team tried to do yesterday, as way of ‘disarming’ and neutralizing this issue.
If you missed it, yesterday, trump and his campaign put out a short video and truth social message...in which trump said the decision on abortion should remain in the states. After all, that’s what legal scholars on both sides argued when they talked about ‘why’ roe-v-wade was such a terrible, unconstitutional decision: because there is no federal right to an abortion outlined in the constitution.
There is no ‘god given right’ in the constitution to an abortion...or mothers being able to kill their children-
And since the founders who wrote the constitution also made it clear: anything not outlined in this document is a matter of the states-not federal government-
For those reasons- trump said these abortion laws should be left to the states.
Trump also took a strong stance in favor of invitro fertilization, which i was happy to see, because this is another issue that we shouldn’t allow the democrats to distract us with in fall. There’s no genuine controversy related to invitro fertilization, really. 80 to 90 percent of the country is probably fine with it.
Trump said this:
The lefty media members completely ignored trump’s strong take on IVF, and instead spent the rest of the day trying to make his take on ‘abortion being left up to the states’ into something more controversial...when really? he couldn’t have sounded more reasonable.
And understand that I’m separating myself here: as a pro-lifer, i hear the ‘capitulation’ that the strong pro-lifers hear and see in trump’s position here.
But as a political analysist, I’m saying trump is doing a smart thing here in trying to downplay the issue as a controversial one in fall...and sound reasonable to Americans on both sides.... the vast majority of whom...are quote...’reasonable’ on the issue.
Folks-if 65 percent of the country thinks abortion should be legal-but limited. If only 15 percent of the country thinks that ‘all abortions and infanticide need to be legal’....and another 15 percent on the other end think that ‘all abortions need to be banned’...
Well then, trump is speaking to the 60 or 65 percent in the middle who are willing to look at, quote. Reasonable...limits on abortions. Like a to 15-week ban.... etc.
Trump is trying to diffuse the issue with ‘those’ Americans, and make his position -and the GOP ’s position in fall- sound reasonable enough that it’s not a flash-point for most voters.
Get it?
I understand that hardcore pro-lifers and pro-abortionists and their activist groups aren’t going to like it-
But this is the political strategy trump is employing.
Why?
When trump was so strongly pro-life during his first two runs why is he going squishy now?
Because he’s banking on those pro-life activists and Christian groups to be smart enough to understand what he’s doing.
This is a classic case of: we can’t govern if we don’t win. We can’t pass more abortion bans or limits-if we don’t win elections and grab control.
And so- lets be smart about it and how we message it to voters.
That’s what’s going on here.
And look-maybe-if and when Donald Trump gets into office again, next year, and if the GOP has the numbers in congress-
Maybe Lindsey Graham and the supporters of a national ban on abortion will convince trump to sign it if it gets to his desk.
But until we get to that point-what good is there is getting sucked into the ‘lose -lose’ debate that abortion has been-for both sides- forever.
The way you move divisive laws like things on God, guns, and abortion-is you win power first. Prove you are good leaders of ‘the people’. And then you move your agenda on those issues with less hoopla and attention-and with far more success.
Okay. It’s messy. I get it.
Okay. There are still far more abortions being conducted than pro-lifers want to see. I get it.
But I also remember how-over the last five decades-many of these exact same pro-life groups and pro-life advocates were insisting that roe v wade needed to be overturned because abortion wasn’t under federal control. It wasn’t a constitutional right. Decisions needed to be made in the states.
It was the single biggest reason or excuse that pro-lifers argued that roe needed to be overturned- aside from the morality-based reasons. Killing was morally wrong-
But if nothing else, roe needed to be overturned because the decision was- legally and constitutionally wrong.
Okay-
It’s been overturned. And for some of these pro-life groups. Immediately. Immediately. Upon the overturning of roe-they insisted- okay, now we got to have a federal law banning abortion.
But wait-for fifty years you argued that it wasn’t a federal question. So, is it? Or isn’t it?
If the answer is: we were just saying that so the court would overturn roe...
Well then, that was ‘political strategy’.
At least be smart enough to identify Donald Trump’s political strategy here: you downplay and ‘defang’ the issue for fall by sounding reasonable on it while pointing out who the zealots really are the democrats who support even the most extreme positions on abortion.
This is what trump is doing. It’s a smart strategy, so long as the absolutists and zealots on our side of the aisle understand what he’s doing-and don’t fly into rages over his new posture on this.
Folks-this issue is literally-the only issue- that Biden and the democrats poll better on-than trump and republicans.
We own ‘the economy’, ‘immigration’, foreign affairs’, who’s better on crime- by 20 percentage points over the democrats...
Abortion is the only issue in which the democrat position polls better-and it’s because they misrepresent their position. Roe never allowed for ‘no holds barred’ abortions right up to the point of birth.
And so, The way to ‘beat the Dems’ on this issue is to ‘be realistic’, ‘sound reasonable’ and keep pointing out that they, the Democrats are the extremists on this matter.
photo credit: Donald Trump Truth Social