From Trump’s Evangelical Supporters Just Lost Their Best Excuse by Peter Wehner
“Former President Donald Trump … is a great pro-life champion, perhaps the greatest in history, and that is what most distinguishes him from the abortion extremism of Kamala Harris. On that basis alone,” Trump’s Evangelical Supporters insist, “regardless of his faults and failures, [he] deserves [our] votes.”
But the pro-life justification for supporting Trump has just collapsed. Trump, who described himself as “strongly pro-choice” in the 1990s—including support for so-called partial-birth abortion—has returned to his socially liberal ways. “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” he recently declared on Truth Social.
Philip Klein wrote in National Review, “[O]verturning Roe was only the necessary first step of a much longer battle to protect the lives of the unborn. And on that battle, it increasingly looks like Trump is joining the other side.”
From a pro-life perspective, though, it’s actually worse than that. Trump has done what no Democrat—not Bill or Hillary Clinton, not Mario Cuomo or John Kerry, not Joe Biden or Barack Obama, not any Democrat—could have done. He has, at the national level, made the Republican Party de facto pro-choice. Having stripped the pro-life plank from the GOP platform, having said that Governor Ron DeSantis’s ban on abortion after six weeks is “too harsh” and a “terrible mistake,” and having promised to veto a national abortion ban, Trump has now gone one step further, essentially advocating for greater access to abortion.
So voting for Donald Trump didn’t mean you were voting for fewer abortions. Abortions declined by nearly 30 percent during Barack Obama’s two terms, and by the end of his term, the abortion rate and ratio were below what they were in 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided. But they went up again on Trump’s watch.
Public opposition to abortion is collapsing. Pro-life initiatives are being beaten even in very conservative states. The GOP has jettisoned its pro-life plank after having it in place for nearly a half century. And Trump himself is now saying he’d be great for “reproductive rights”.
This is not a surprise. Betrayal is a core character trait of Trump’s. He’s betrayed his wives, his mistresses, his friends, his business associates, people who have worked for him, and his country. There is no person and no cause he will not double-cross. The pro-life movement is only the latest thing to which he has been unfaithful, and it won’t be the last.
The question to ask yourself is: Who in the pro-life movement will speak out, publicly and forcefully and relentlessly, against Trump’s about-face? Will they tell the full truth, which is that abortions increased during the Trump presidency, that the pro-life movement is weaker than at almost any time in its history, and that, when it comes to making the Republican Party the home of the pro-life cause, Trump is doing unprecedented damage?
Now ask this: How could an evangelical who claims to be passionately pro-life vote for a presidential candidate who now promises that his administration will “be great for women and their reproductive rights”? Especially when that person has cheated on his wives and on his taxes, paid hush money to porn stars, and been found liable of sexual assault?
can those who profess to be followers of Jesus cast a ballot for this candidate, once the excuse of casting a pro-life vote is gone? For a convicted felon and a pathological liar, a man who has peddled racist conspiracy theories, cozied up to the world’s worst dictators, blackmailed an American ally, invited a hostile foreign power to interfere in American elections, defamed POWs and the war dead, mocked people with handicaps, and encouraged political violence?
Can they continue to stand in solidarity with a person who has threatened prosecutors, judges, and the families of judges; who attempted to overthrow an election; who assembled a violent mob and directed it to march on the Capitol; and who encouraged the mob to hang his vice president?
Ben Marsh, pastor at First Alliance Church in Winston-Salem, put it this way:
People who did not grow up in evangelical-political spaces have no idea how disorienting it is to be told for 30 years:
A. You could not vote for a morally bad person,
B. You had to vote for a pro-life candidate,
Only to now be told [we] have to vote for a pro-choice felon.
Donald Trump has done incalculable damage to political and civic culture. But he has also performed, even if inadvertently, a public service. He is a political and moral CAT scan, showing the ethical core of many of his supporters. It has been quite the revelation:
Much of what evangelicals and fundamentalists have claimed to stand for turns out to have been an affectation, an illusion. Donald Trump Jr., in channeling the attitudes of many Trump supporters, said at a Turning Point USA gathering in 2021 that the teachings of Jesus have “gotten us nothing.”
French sociologist and lay theologian Jacques Ellul argued that what we call Christianity is “the opposite of what we are shown by the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.” [A]ccording to Ellul, the Church, with its emphasis on moralism and its teachings in the political sphere, has perverted the Gospel.
This is not a hard call. Trump deserves the disapprobation of evangelical Christians, not their vote. A movement that claims Jesus as its own should be more than a whitewashed tomb.
Has anyone else noticed that the Republican Party is falling apart at the state levels?
On 24 Aug 24, the Colorado State Republican Party voted to remove state party chairman Dave Williams from his leadership position. They also voted to replace the party’s vice-chair and secretary. The vote was 162 votes to remove Williams, with 12 opposed. Only members of the state party’s central committee and their proxies were allowed to cast votes.
The Republican Party of Michigan removed Kristina Karamo as state party chair on 06 Jan 24 after months of infighting and weak fundraising.
On 08 Jan 24, the Republican Party of Florida removed Christian Ziegler as its state party chair after he faced allegations of rape and video voyeurism.
The panic about the poor results in the political polls is spreading. And Trump’s daughter-in-law doesn’t seem to have a clue about ‘what notes to hit’ to stop the in-fighting.
Jingles 3 months ago
sounds like YT algorithymns.
MS72 3 months ago
The fun is finding flaws in the algorithm and exploiting them.
Pickled Pete 3 months ago
stupid is as stupid does – - hoping my southern neighbors vote blue
Linguist 3 months ago
“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
Nothin’, don’t mean nothin’, honey, if it ain’t free,…”
Kris Kristofferson
ComicLover2 Premium Member 3 months ago
Freedom is never absolute if you live in a society. Every society has to have rules and regulations.
lawguy05 3 months ago
Both great strips today, Mike!
mdrigney61 3 months ago
Count on it
SrTechWriter 3 months ago
And as a comment on the times:
From Trump’s Evangelical Supporters Just Lost Their Best Excuse by Peter Wehner
“Former President Donald Trump … is a great pro-life champion, perhaps the greatest in history, and that is what most distinguishes him from the abortion extremism of Kamala Harris. On that basis alone,” Trump’s Evangelical Supporters insist, “regardless of his faults and failures, [he] deserves [our] votes.”
But the pro-life justification for supporting Trump has just collapsed. Trump, who described himself as “strongly pro-choice” in the 1990s—including support for so-called partial-birth abortion—has returned to his socially liberal ways. “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” he recently declared on Truth Social.
Philip Klein wrote in National Review, “[O]verturning Roe was only the necessary first step of a much longer battle to protect the lives of the unborn. And on that battle, it increasingly looks like Trump is joining the other side.”
From a pro-life perspective, though, it’s actually worse than that. Trump has done what no Democrat—not Bill or Hillary Clinton, not Mario Cuomo or John Kerry, not Joe Biden or Barack Obama, not any Democrat—could have done. He has, at the national level, made the Republican Party de facto pro-choice. Having stripped the pro-life plank from the GOP platform, having said that Governor Ron DeSantis’s ban on abortion after six weeks is “too harsh” and a “terrible mistake,” and having promised to veto a national abortion ban, Trump has now gone one step further, essentially advocating for greater access to abortion.
So voting for Donald Trump didn’t mean you were voting for fewer abortions. Abortions declined by nearly 30 percent during Barack Obama’s two terms, and by the end of his term, the abortion rate and ratio were below what they were in 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided. But they went up again on Trump’s watch.
(Continued →)
SrTechWriter 3 months ago
(Continued →)
Public opposition to abortion is collapsing. Pro-life initiatives are being beaten even in very conservative states. The GOP has jettisoned its pro-life plank after having it in place for nearly a half century. And Trump himself is now saying he’d be great for “reproductive rights”.
This is not a surprise. Betrayal is a core character trait of Trump’s. He’s betrayed his wives, his mistresses, his friends, his business associates, people who have worked for him, and his country. There is no person and no cause he will not double-cross. The pro-life movement is only the latest thing to which he has been unfaithful, and it won’t be the last.
The question to ask yourself is: Who in the pro-life movement will speak out, publicly and forcefully and relentlessly, against Trump’s about-face? Will they tell the full truth, which is that abortions increased during the Trump presidency, that the pro-life movement is weaker than at almost any time in its history, and that, when it comes to making the Republican Party the home of the pro-life cause, Trump is doing unprecedented damage?
Now ask this: How could an evangelical who claims to be passionately pro-life vote for a presidential candidate who now promises that his administration will “be great for women and their reproductive rights”? Especially when that person has cheated on his wives and on his taxes, paid hush money to porn stars, and been found liable of sexual assault?
can those who profess to be followers of Jesus cast a ballot for this candidate, once the excuse of casting a pro-life vote is gone? For a convicted felon and a pathological liar, a man who has peddled racist conspiracy theories, cozied up to the world’s worst dictators, blackmailed an American ally, invited a hostile foreign power to interfere in American elections, defamed POWs and the war dead, mocked people with handicaps, and encouraged political violence?(Continued →)
SrTechWriter 3 months ago
(Continued →)
Can they continue to stand in solidarity with a person who has threatened prosecutors, judges, and the families of judges; who attempted to overthrow an election; who assembled a violent mob and directed it to march on the Capitol; and who encouraged the mob to hang his vice president?
Ben Marsh, pastor at First Alliance Church in Winston-Salem, put it this way:
People who did not grow up in evangelical-political spaces have no idea how disorienting it is to be told for 30 years:
A. You could not vote for a morally bad person,
B. You had to vote for a pro-life candidate,
Only to now be told [we] have to vote for a pro-choice felon.
Donald Trump has done incalculable damage to political and civic culture. But he has also performed, even if inadvertently, a public service. He is a political and moral CAT scan, showing the ethical core of many of his supporters. It has been quite the revelation:
Much of what evangelicals and fundamentalists have claimed to stand for turns out to have been an affectation, an illusion. Donald Trump Jr., in channeling the attitudes of many Trump supporters, said at a Turning Point USA gathering in 2021 that the teachings of Jesus have “gotten us nothing.”
French sociologist and lay theologian Jacques Ellul argued that what we call Christianity is “the opposite of what we are shown by the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.” [A]ccording to Ellul, the Church, with its emphasis on moralism and its teachings in the political sphere, has perverted the Gospel.
This is not a hard call. Trump deserves the disapprobation of evangelical Christians, not their vote. A movement that claims Jesus as its own should be more than a whitewashed tomb.
SrTechWriter 3 months ago
BTW, has anyone noticed that the owners of stock in DJ Trump Media & Technology Group Corp are dumping their entire holdings?
SrTechWriter 3 months ago
Another thing:
Has anyone else noticed that the Republican Party is falling apart at the state levels?
On 24 Aug 24, the Colorado State Republican Party voted to remove state party chairman Dave Williams from his leadership position. They also voted to replace the party’s vice-chair and secretary. The vote was 162 votes to remove Williams, with 12 opposed. Only members of the state party’s central committee and their proxies were allowed to cast votes.
The Republican Party of Michigan removed Kristina Karamo as state party chair on 06 Jan 24 after months of infighting and weak fundraising.
On 08 Jan 24, the Republican Party of Florida removed Christian Ziegler as its state party chair after he faced allegations of rape and video voyeurism.
The panic about the poor results in the political polls is spreading. And Trump’s daughter-in-law doesn’t seem to have a clue about ‘what notes to hit’ to stop the in-fighting.