They won’t accept anything but a national abortion ban
Trump has no room to move on this one. None of them do:
A major anti-abortion group blasted former President Donald Trump on the issue Thursday, saying his contention that abortion restrictions should be left up to individual states, not the federal government, is a “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate.”
The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group was responding to a statement by Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung for a Washington Post story about division among the 2024 GOP presidential field on abortion-related issues. The group has said it would not support any White House candidate who did not at a minimum support a 15-week federal abortion ban.
“The Supreme Court made clear in its decision that it was returning the issue to the people to decide through their elected representatives in the states and in Congress,” the group’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said in a news release. “Holding to the position that it is exclusively up to the states is an abdication of responsibility by anyone elected to federal office.”
You see he has been frantic about the issue ruining his chances:
SINCE LATE LAST year, Donald Trump has been holding private meetings with religious-right figures in an effort to remind them about his anti-abortion record and ensure their support. But instead of thanking Trump for his role in repealing Roe v. Wade, the leaders are pressing for hardcore commitments that go far beyond what he is comfortable with — and what he thinks voters will allow him to get away with.
According to two participants and another source close to Trump, the ex-president has warned leaders in off-the-record conversations that Republicans risk “losing big” — in Trump’s words — unless they follow his lead. He has warned the leaders to shift their own messaging, telling them to emphasize “exceptions” to abortion bans, including in cases of rape, incest, or a threat to the life of the mother. In these frank talks, Trump has stressed this is his 2024 plan, saying it’s necessary to prevent Democrats from painting him as an “extremist.”
Privately, Trump is conceding those big losses have already begun. Trump has for several weeks vented to confidants that the GOP is “getting killed on abortion” or on “the abortion issue,” according to three people who’ve heard him use this phrasing on different occasions.
During his meetings, when pressed on what specifically he’d support in a second term, Trump has instead focused on his record as the “most pro-life” president in U.S. history. Among the anti-abortion leaders, religious conservatives, and politically active pastors gathered, Trump’s retroactive focus has left some unsatisfied, including anti-abortion advocates who previously endorsed him. Indeed, during one of these conference calls held around early March, one of the participants gently told Trump that his 2024 policy commitments were vague, requesting clarity and specifics. Trump responded by boasting about his past accomplishments, according to two of the sources.
One recent participant wondered to Rolling Stone: Is Trump “going to try to make us swallow getting next to nothing in return for our support?”
Next to nothing? You’d think they’d be happy with the reversal of Roe vs. Wade but they want it all — a full, national ban. They believe abortion is murder and that women are expendable. We know this. But these evangelical leaders also love Trump for all kinds of reasons, not just that he put three hardcore anti-abortion Justice on the Supreme Court. (They may even realize that he actually had little to do with it.) They are Trumpers for the same reason the non-evangelicals are Trumpers — it’s a cult and many of these people are subject to the kind of thinking that leads to joining one. I think they’ll stick with him even though they know he’s lying.
He got the message: