From Jamelle Bouie:
The Man Who Snuffed Out Abortion Rights Is Here to Tell You He Is a Moderate
April 9, 2024
By Jamelle Bouie
Opinion Columnist
Donald Trump does not speak from conviction. He does not speak from belief or at least no belief other than self-obsession. He certainly does not speak from anything we might recognize as reason; when he’s holding forth from a podium, even the most careful students of Trump the rhetorician will struggle to find the light of complex thought.
You should think of Trump instead as a purely instrumental speaker. It does not matter, to the former president, if a statement is true or false. It does not matter if one statement contradicts another, either in the same speech or the same paragraph or within the same sentence. What matters, to Trump, is whether the words serve the purpose at hand. Trump will say anything if it’s what he feels an audience wants to hear or if it moves him one step closer to a personal or political goal.
Trump’s fundamental disinterest in the truth value of his words is the only context that matters for his comments on abortion Monday morning. In a direct-to-camera statement on Truth Social, the former president told his audience that he does not support a national ban on abortion. “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint,” Trump said. “The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state.”
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Compared with the mounting push from anti-abortion activists to ban the procedure nationwide, however, Trump’s stance is designed to look almost moderate. And if you were born yesterday, you could even say that Trump was beginning his pivot to the center, to blur the difference on abortion between himself and other Republicans. If Trump can persuade skeptical voters that he’s not a Mike Pence or a Ron DeSantis, then he’s one step closer to a second term.
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But there’s no reason to take Trump’s rhetoric at face value. Trump is aware, like virtually everyone who follows American politics, that Republicans are dangerously vulnerable on abortion rights. The Biden campaign has already begun airing ads that blame abortion bans directly on Trump. He knows that he needs to neutralize this issue as much as possible, without alienating his anti-abortion followers. When it looked, for example, as though support for a 15-week ban would do the trick, Trump floated support for a 15-week ban.
It does not require any particular powers of political analysis to see that Monday’s statement is a ploy — and an obvious one at that. What does Trump say immediately before giving his states’ rights position on abortion? He praises himself for ending Roe: “Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights, especially since I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of something that all legal scholars, both sides, wanted and, in fact, demanded be ended: Roe v. Wade.” This claim, that all sides wanted an end to Roe, is a total fabrication, but it serves to give Trump cover as he tries to be all things to all people.
Later in the video, as if to emphasize his responsibility for the end of Roe, Trump applauds the Dobbs majority, by name no less: “I want to thank the six justices — Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch — incredible people, for having the courage to allow this long-term, hard-fought battle to finally end.”
Nothing but truth. We’re supposed to believe that the man who appointed the three Justices who overturned Roe has suddenly ‘moderated’ his stance?
G-T-F-O-H
Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) posted at 0:20 PM on Thu, Apr 18, 2024:
Barnard has suspended three students, including Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, for participating in the “Gaza solidarity encampment” at Columbia.
Columbia is preparing to start suspending students as well. https://t.co/L3q9KLZlZr
(https://x.com/sfmcguire79/status/1781009976300827088?t=82SJUqI63HSVMBcwvjSC4Q&s=03)
Bad Faith ✝️🐴🇺🇲🌻🇺🇦 (@Jeffdc5) posted at 6:21 AM on Thu, Apr 18, 2024:
Imagine explaining to your parents and family you lost the career everyone sacrificed and pushed for years for you to get over a war nobody at google has the power to stop.
(https://x.com/Jeffdc5/status/1780919693886328931?t=Hxkmwt9Vz22iY1gGRn2jtw&s=03)
David Darmofal (@david_darmofal) posted at 6:58 AM on Tue, Apr 16, 2024:
The thing is, I actually like @JoeBiden. A lot. This 2024 election isn’t about settling for someone. He’s been a great President. The best President of my lifetime. If he’s not exciting enough for you, go to an amusement park or something. That’s not what politics is about.
(https://x.com/david_darmofal/status/1780204226888556815?t=B4CThj528kQ-KWtR4YTmxA&s=03)
Qondi (@QondiNtini) posted at 9:42 PM on Mon, Apr 15, 2024:
Some think America can survive another four years of Trump
The planet cannot survive another four years of Trump
Environmental Protection is not on Trump’s agenda
We know this because he decimated the EPA from 2017 – 2020 https://t.co/X9xvzg7mMK
(https://x.com/QondiNtini/status/1780064101437251927?t=iDdUfIuU5l-SjMW-86qY8Q&s=03)
Bougie Black Girl (@BougieBlackGurl) posted at 0:15 AM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Unlike other countries and cultures, there were NO federal legally recognized/endorsed caste laws that divided Black Americans. You were either Black with one drop or not. That’s why it is important that people stop trying to be the arbiters of Blackness.
(https://x.com/BougieBlackGurl/status/1780465207162126726?t=Mrv_RpR0ARK4jmf0Ofqs5Q&s=03)
Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) posted at 11:15 AM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Raptors’ Jontay Porter has received a lifetime ban from the NBA for violating league’s gaming rules. https://t.co/QHDiGHnPYG
(https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/1780631209930068358?s=03)
chris evans (@notcapnamerica) posted at 2:22 PM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Louisiana Republicans have passed a House bill that authorizes the police to arrest ANYONE that can’t immediately produce documentation proving they are U.S. citizens and take them in for fingerprinting
Thought you were safe because your family came here “the right way”?
OOPS! https://t.co/yicEafRSTK
(https://x.com/notcapnamerica/status/1780678318989148580?t=Nzr3jYO8guWDSXyd48EbOA&s=03)
Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) posted at 11:24 AM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
You’ve got to see this. The man who wrote the 1864 Arizona law banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest, was a kidnapper and a rapist. He wrote the law to force his victims to bear his children.
Anyone defending this law, is defending that! https://t.co/oHPYjGkqbM
(https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1780633473096745214?t=DMjnBMbhx1zwQMZCdUA9MA&s=03)
Jannifer Gao 🌶 (@Jani__Gee) posted at 9:42 PM on Tue, Apr 16, 2024:
I was at this event talking for Black Maternal Health Week and this amazing law professor and author from Georgetown started talking about how raping Black women became a pillar of the American economy because it was a “free” way to expand your wealth during slavery and…
(https://x.com/Jani__Gee/status/1780426499805384706?t=oCZJcN1U2w8ZbHoy68A-_Q&s=03)
Jannifer Gao 🌶 (@Jani__Gee) posted at 9:43 PM on Tue, Apr 16, 2024:
… how a lot of documents about how it affected the descendants of the rape victims are being erased and how 8-year olds were jumping off of roofs to commit suicide rather than be the living proof of their families pain and…
(https://x.com/Jani__Gee/status/1780426785894613184?t=e5wNJGiMnJg879EYlkJmYQ&s=03)
Jannifer Gao 🌶 (@Jani__Gee) posted at 9:44 PM on Tue, Apr 16, 2024:
… how much strength it took to raise and love and instill pride in a baby that was the product of your rape and how much strength it took to feel pride and self love being a product of such evilness and violence and pain…
(https://x.com/Jani__Gee/status/1780426965498859833?t=Ha496Zl6zu6QZmhv1R_Trg&s=03)
Jannifer Gao 🌶 (@Jani__Gee) posted at 9:49 PM on Tue, Apr 16, 2024:
… and I thought of the topics on this app over the last few days and got so frustrated bc we just aren’t far enough removed from the terror we have had to face to be tearing each other down and stripping each other of identity when we only recently obtained the luxury of choice
(https://x.com/Jani__Gee/status/1780428272502776164?t=BDmFUzKupxWu2-t5A6Vt6g&s=03)
Bougie Black Girl (@BougieBlackGurl) posted at 11:57 AM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Some want to erase Black American identity & history. It’s diabolical. I remember when a BA tried to label a SA singer using the USA definition of Blackness. He was rightfully corrected by her countrymen. It’s nasty work for a guest to go into someone’s house & redecorate.
(https://x.com/BougieBlackGurl/status/1780641762278535334?t=RT26gU2BZGhTz5TxF0EL4w&s=03)
Candidly Tiff (@tify330) posted at 7:41 AM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Larry is running as a populist with no solutions other than to complain about Democrats and Republicans. He has no energy and doesn’t even want this job.
Have several seats no longer Governor Larry Hogan.
(https://x.com/tify330/status/1780577328549990791?t=xXW-50CCB3DWTXZAJgtBKg&s=03)
Candidly Tiff (@tify330) posted at 8:32 AM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Being a Black woman in an elected executive position is a thankless job. People will never be satisfied or blame you for not solving every issue. They will never give you the benefit of the doubt and will run your name through the mud over the pettiest things. It’s a shame.
(https://x.com/tify330/status/1780590094337872037?t=miHbPY2KfKXvvc12KRqigQ&s=03)
Acyn (@Acyn) posted at 2:05 PM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Biden: Thanks to my bipartisan infrastructure law, we’ve announced 51 thousand new infrastructure projects all across America so far. My predecessor promised infrastructure week after week after week for four years and never built a damn thing. Nothing https://t.co/JJwaHUcwoC
(https://x.com/Acyn/status/1780673984289501601?t=UtEKv5M-RlwGgvspAQSHVA&s=03)
Miranda (@DoomScroling) posted at 1:20 PM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Pregnancy centers are NOT medical centers. They are religiously back organizations that are NOT bound by laws like HIPAA.
These pregnancy centers are being taxpayer funded as they provide lies, threats, & coercion.
People need actual medical care, not misinformation mills.
H/T @drjenlincoln
https://t.co/MWs1wQLr5B
(https://x.com/DoomScroling/status/1780662706887971243?t=99joKXHln29CvS79sqPTNw&s=03)
Great piece on unions, the byproduct of Biden ‘s Bills and Tennessee
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLPhjtfT/
This is called fumbling your own bag.
THOMAS (@TommyInPA) posted at 10:20 AM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Anti-Israel Google worker protesters refusing to leave Google NYC offices for several hours on Tuesday were arrested and put on administrative leave.
https://t.co/vm86fOaL4U
(https://x.com/TommyInPA/status/1780617291778162830?t=DUZUKT2EyoO1hRPxKWTAig&s=03)
She is so on point
colorfullstory (@colorfullstory) posted at 11:29 AM on Wed, Apr 17, 2024:
Are we still out here not seeing how elections have consequences and not voting has real ramifications? https://t.co/7JQ1zD0OEP
(https://x.com/colorfullstory/status/1780634719782134153?t=_-GBbW35iSeZVWDRO_76KA&s=03)
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊