DONALD TRUMP IS VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN

Remember when Trump was happy to be the guy who publicly took credit for destroying Roe vs. Wade? When he declared himself the “person proudly responsible for the ending” of national abortion protections?

We now see final proof - if such was necessary - that abortion rights will be the issue that crucifies Trump and the MAGAts in November. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 67% of women consider abortion to be the most important issue in the election, as do 21% of independent voters. While most people have made up their minds on the issue and the candidates, abortion “may move small numbers” of voters in key demographics. Those voters are crucial.

Which takes us directly to yesterday, where the new Trump - the guy who wants it both ways: anti-abortion warrior but also, whatever you want is fine by me - was presented to the voting public in a four-minute video that was heavily edited and full of weird jump cuts, in which he desperately dodged the issue of a federal abortion ban in an attempt to appear “moderate” and turn the “Party Line” away from the fact that four times in past months, he has stated his support for a national 15-week prohibition. Now - after what few actual “professionals” remain on his campaign read the polls - he says abortion should be a state issue, and “whatever they decide must be the law of the land.”

Interestingly, that video is proof of something else important. His advisors know they can no longer have Trump publicly propose any major point. His meandering, mentally-deficient performances at his hatealongs, where he repeatedly returns to his lifelong grievances over the fact the people he really knows are important will forever leave him with his nose pressed against the glass, the supplicant who will never be granted access to Social Acceptability, is no longer a public situation where he can be trusted to comport himself in a manner that would have him taken seriously if the larger audience was exposed to it. Thus, they are forced to cut together the bits and pieces where he seems semi-coherent.

But even when being recorded, he is incapable of presenting himself as other than the ignorant moron he is. Despite his goal of convincing viewers to believe he’s become “reasonable” on reproductive rights, halfway through, he starts talking about how we currently execute babies.“It must be remembered that the Democrats are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month. The concept of having an abortion in the later months and even execution after birth. And that’s exactly what it is. The baby is born, the baby is executed after birth is unacceptable.” That is a direct quote from his official “Statement on Life.”

As Reproductive Freedom for All President and Chief Executive Mini Timmaraju pointed out, he’s clearly “trying to neutralize” what has become a political liability. “That was not even a dog whistle. That was a big neon sign to the extremist nut jobs,” she said. “I don’t know how you can continue to separate the insanity from these other statements.” Republican support of drastic abortion restrictions has too obviously become the big, fat stinker in this election, despite loud glee from ultra-MAGA extremists who think repressing women is great.

Trump’s experienced advisors realize they have “overplayed their hand” and are now worried about being saddled with the label “extremist.” Because since 2016, the party that is perceived as more extreme has lost. Every. Single. Time. In every single election where there was actual competition.

While Trump wiggles, attempting to find a “sweet spot” where he can take the focus off reproductive rights, where he is rightly seen by opponents and supporters alike as undeniably extreme, he also acknowledged this move was a weak attempt to get votes. “You must follow your heart on this issue. But remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and in fact, to save our country.”

According to the Guttmacher Insitute, which tracks reproductive health policy, 20 states have abortion bans that could kick into effect before a woman realizes she’s pregnant; 14 of those basically ban abortion altogether. This morning, the Arizona Supreme Court put that state in play when it ruled that the Dobbs decision means Arizona is now to be ruled by an 1864 law that bans all abortion.

Arizona abortion rights advocates say they already have sufficient signatures to get an abortion ballot initiative on the ballot for November. These groups have a lot of experience knowing the number of excess signatures required to be certain you’re going to get on the ballot. So it’s a safe assumption that this ballot initiative will be on the ballot.

The Arizona ballot initiative would join similar ballot propositions this fall in Nevada, Montana, Florida, North and South Dakota, Missouri, and Arkansas. That Florida and the Dakotas, as well as Missouri and Arkansas, could become “battleground states” makes the MAGA attempt to install an insurrectionist and his supporters, all dedicated to the overthrow of the Constitution and the democratic constitutional republic it created, far more difficult. That 67% majority of American women in favor of returning to Roe v Wade is not limited to Blue States. Additionally, ballot initiatives to protect choice will be on the ballot in New York and Maryland, which could drive voter participation to insure such things as the defeat of the “Biden” Republican House members.

The extremist abortion bans have created a reproductive healthcare desert in the South; a woman who wants an abortion must travel hours or days outside the region, making access to care nearly impossible for poor women. Nationwide, around 1 in 5 women are now forced to travel to receive abortion care. Some Texas counties have laws that seek to punish women for traveling for an abortion. Other states - including Idaho, Alabama and Oklahoma - are trying to do the same. Women have been criminally charged for miscarriages. Last week, a leaked video showed Texas Republicans pondering the death penalty for women who have abortions. We are now talking about forced birth, with no exceptions for rape or incest. “The Handmaid’s Tale” is no longer fictional.

Trump spent the first part of his recorded speech claiming how much he loves IVF and strongly supports “couples who are trying to have a precious baby,” but no abortion means no in vitro fertilization. Because once that embryo is created, it’s a precious baby under the “conception is life” argument. No matter how some Republicans contort themselves over IVF, the undeniable fact is, an embryo in the womb is no different than an embryo in a freezer. You can’t say one is life and the other is a box in storage.

Of course, there are also the states which are open to banning contraception, which some anti-abortion extremists consider a form of abortion. The future of the “states’ rights” Trump is so anxious to support is: no contraception, no abortion and no travel to get one.

Yes, that definitely is more reasonable than supporting a national 15-week abortion ban.

This reality is unlikely to take the focus off abortion, making the effort Trump’s advisors went to yesterday a “misfire.” Trump didn’t solve the problem for himself, he just postponed it.

Within hours of Trump’s announcement, the Biden campaign was fundraising off it. “Let’s be clear: Trump is betting that we will stop caring. That we’ll get distracted. Discouraged,” Biden HQ texted early Monday afternoon.

That Trump’s new abortion position is a dodge, not a change, can be seen in his supporters’ responses. The Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America group swore it was “deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position” but also “will work tirelessly to defeat President Biden and extreme congressional Democrats.” That “condemnation” shows even Republicans know he is lying.

Finally, something we can all agree on.

Donald Trump is Victor Frankenstein, and Abortion is his “monster,” the monster that will tear down the whole edifice of the MAGA Potemkin Village he has created.

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