Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced Monday morning that he does not support any federal limits on abortion, saying that the issue should be left to the states. To this statement, the Biden campaign has responded by portraying Trump's desire to moderate on the issue as dishonest, borrowing old comments and taking the former president out of context.
The reality is that a Trump who moderates his stance on abortion is a Trump that Joe Biden fears challenging in November.
Trump's statement was set to sadden pro-life organizations throughout the nation. After all, discussions over the former president's potential support of a 15-week national limit offered pro-lifers some semblance of progress. Now, leaving the issue to the states seems like a betrayal to the organizations that celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, especially those that have been eyeing an outright national ban.
"Donald Trump made it clear once again today that he is—more than anyone in America—the person responsible for ending Roe v. Wade," President Biden said in response to the announcement. "Let there be no illusion. If Donald Trump is elected and the MAGA Republicans in Congress put a national abortion ban on the Resolute Desk, Trump will sign it into law."
The issue is that despite what Biden suggests, Trump's stated position is quite moderate. As such, pro-lifers, not pro-choicers, are the biggest losers today.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America's president Marjorie Dannenfelser responded to Trump's statement by reiterating the need for national protections, arguing that "back to the states" discourse "cedes the national debate to the Democrats."
In a press call following the statement, Biden's campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez joined Kaitlyn Kash, a Texan mother who had her "health imperiled by an extreme MAGA abortion ban." The event focused on painting Trump as a national-ban-endorsing radical, despite the fact that his statements in the last six months display the opposite. The truth is that ever since calling Florida governor Ron DeSantis's six-week ban "a terrible mistake," the former president has distanced himself from the pro-life movement. Now, that distance is greater than ever, leaving Biden in a bad spot.
During the call, Kash held Trump responsible for her difficulty receiving a "dilation and curettage" procedure following changes in Texan law. To back her claim, Kash talked about Trump's 2016 controversial claim that "there should be some form of punishment" for abortion.
Aside from dredging up an old statement, Kash conveniently neglected the fact that the Republican candidate's campaign had then clarified that in case of a federal or state change in abortion law "the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman."
The Biden campaign's fixation on these old comments reveals a belief that it is essential to paint Trump as a staunch pro-lifer for the incumbent to succeed in November. In other words, it is relying on labeling Trump's moderation a disguise. The problem it faces is that Trump's history as an ardent social conservative is a short one, plus the negative response from pro-life organizations to Trump's latest announcement only confirms that the statements should be taken seriously.
If Trump continues to position himself on the middle of this issue, he will find himself in a great place heading to the 2024 presidential election. With a less-than-ideal record on immigration, crime, and the economy, Democrats have been banking on abortion to attract independents and mobilize their base. The game is changing now.
If Democrats don't attempt to move to the middle, allowing Trump to be seen as the one who is willing to moderate, they will lose. Screaming "liar" is a bad strategy. For all of his troubles, one issue that Trump does not have is appearing disingenuous. His desire to move the Republican Party away from political fights on abortion is a real one. Denying can work to some extent, but when social conservative factions express their disgruntlement and Trump doubles down, it's bad news for Biden's strategy.
Juan P. Villasmil is an Intercollegiate Studies Institute editorial fellow at The Spectator World.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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