The Patriot Post® · In Brief: The Don for and Against Life
Frankly, it’s never surprising to see a politician blame anyone and everyone but himself for failures both real and perceived. Perhaps no one mastered this better than Donald Trump, who until recently wouldn’t admit that he’s a politician. Over the weekend, when he blamed supposedly overzealous pro-lifers for squelching the expected red wave, conservatives like political analyst Michael Brendan Dougherty were left once again scratching their heads.
So Donald Trump decided to blame pro-lifers for the disappointing midterm results, in order to deflect blame that was falling on him, whether for his choice of candidates (Dr. Oz or Doug Mastriano) or his choice of issues to focus on: the stolen rigged election and how unfair it all was for him. This turn of events is funny because Donald Trump is going to be remembered in history as the most pro-life president.
It was a strange destiny for him. Back in the 1990s when he was thinking of running for president on the Reform Party ticket, Donald Trump had said he was “very pro-choice” and explained that his background of being raised in New York explained why he was against any federal restriction on abortion.
In the final presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump was asked whether he wanted to see Roe v. Wade overturned.
“Well, if we put another two or perhaps three justices on, that’s really what’s going to be — that will happen,” Trump said. “And that’ll happen automatically, in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court. I will say this: It will go back to the states, and the states will then make a determination.”
Promises made, promises kept.
Trump certainly campaigned on other things like immigration and trade, but Dougherty says “on the life issue, and the judiciary generally, Trump was transformative.” With his demonstrably stellar record and indeed legacy as president, why the sudden shift back in the other direction?
It is political malpractice in his current campaign for the White House to sound so unhappy with the forces he unleashed in the party, and so indifferent to his own signature accomplishment. Sometimes Providence does strange things, and it certainly did something unexpected with Donald Trump. It might be his salvation — politically and otherwise — to embrace it.
But that would mean swallowing his pride and allowing the possibility that further litigation of the 2020 election isn’t the winning issue he thinks it is.