Never did Trumpers not need to go Squishy on Roe v. Wade

The absolute bewilderment of the mainstream media and Democrats about the likely overturn of Roe v. Wade doesn’t surprise me.

What amazes me is how some of the leading lights of conservatism want to pump the brakes. Shouldn’t we celebrate? Bring what? I wonder. Then I remember: trumpet.

I expect the left and sympathetic media to flip the frame Roe is the impending end of Western civilization, but I was baffled by some Never Trump conservatives expressing opposition to the pro-life movement’s biggest victory.

This is the moral issues of the conservative movement over the past fifty years, during which time most of these people have been staunch conservatives. At the Republican “big tent” level there was a kneeling test, that’s it.

But this decision (if it becomes official next month), could not have happened without Trump, who has nominated three of the nine justices to the Supreme Court. This is where things get weird being a Never Trumper who still identifies as a conservative.

The first example out of the gate is New York Times columnist Bret Stephens. To be fair, Stephens says he’s always been a “pro-choice conservative”, but he has previously said he “wouldn’t be entirely apologetic if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade“Because” abortion rights would be guaranteed more, not less, if they were achieved through normal legislative processes or ideally with a constitutional amendment. ”

But once it really became clear that the court was on the verge of overturning RoeStephens immediately published a column saying that though Roe “As an ill-advised decision,” reversing it “would be a radical, not conservative choice,”.

His gist was that conservatism, as a philosophy, opposes abrupt change. If you call a fifty– the struggle of the year to return to the pre-1973 status quo, where the state legislatures had a “sudden” voice, I suppose that was this. But that’s also how our system is arbitrated; if Roe overturned, it will be because conservatives have gone through the proper channels in our democracy.

Having previously written that we should “repeal the Second Amendment,” Stephens’ break away from conservative fundamentalism is not surprising.

I was more surprised by the next example, Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, who served in the 1990s as a pro-life Republican congressman from Florida. This week, Scarborough used his Twitter feed to advertise columns important for flipping Roe. He also took to the air to express his disappointment at the possibility of an ending Roe.

“This is not about abortion. This is about a woman’s freedom,” Scarborough said on MSNBC this week. “This is about American freedom. It’s about autonomy over their lives. Take control of their lives. Freedom with what they do with their lives. It is the self-determination of women’s reproductive freedom. You talk about poles …”

In another segment, Scarborough said 70% of Americans support abortion as a “constitutional right”, adding “Americans would rightly conclude that their voices and votes no longer matter.”

Reached for comment, Scarborough, a lawyer by training, told me he was concerned that overturning this popular precedent would compromise the court’s legitimacy. He also notes: “Embracing increasingly radical positions makes my previous view that social problems should largely be resolved by the states, not nine unelected federal judges. selected, cannot be handled.”

“When I used to keep this [anti-Roe] , Scarborough continued, “I have considered Republican governors such as Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, and George Voinovich as examples of more rational than progressive Republicans. Those days are long gone.”

He’s not wrong. Furthermore, we have a conservative legal community that, as Scarborough told me, “now celebrates the likes of John Eastman and Ginni Thomas.”

In my mind, the question of whether Roe Whether or not abortion is constitutional (and whether abortion is morally correct) are separate (and more relevant) questions from whether Republican-controlled states would handle the next step in the same way. competent and benevolent or not. But Scarborough’s concerns about the Republican Party and some red states are not crazy.

Indeed, even some “Never Trump” conservatives support the flipping Roe concerns about how states will handle the next step. “Return Roe for the states, which I think is exactly the same decision as a constitutional matter, is going to put this on the wave of the dumbest culture war legislation I’ve ever seen in my life,” said David French. about Documentary. Of course, when it comes to abortion, as the French point out, Democrats are doing the same thing, in reverse, in the blue states.

To be sure, yes hierarchy of Never Trump conservatives.

People like The Washington Post’s MSNBC’s Jennifer Rubin or Nicole Wallace has long since abandoned any pretense of being conservative or Republican. Others have reached the opposite conclusion when it comes to this issue. Consider Peggy Noonan’s The Wall Street Journal “The End of” passage Roe v. Wade It Will Be Good For America. ”

Then there are some who no longer raise issues on moral or ethical grounds, but instead focus on political grounds.

Former RNC President Michael Steele (now MSNBC’s political analyst) fits this latter category. While I disagree that this former seminary alum has “completely canceled” (as one conservative put it), in a recent MSNBC segment, Steele seemed to focus his comments on the reaction. political response — and into extreme theories, such as a 10-year-old girl being raped by her father and living under a ban on abortion — regardless of whether abortion is good or the 1973 decision is valid. donate or not.

In a phone call on Friday, Steele confirmed that he still believes in a culture of life and agreed that Roe was decided wrong fifty years ago. “I have always been and still am adamant about living my life as a Catholic, as someone who when I was in seminary had the opportunity to minister in this space with some of the people I know. So this for me is very personal,” he said. “Also, as an adopted child,” Steele continued, “I understand more than many people what it means to make choices — especially when your mother chooses life, which is what Easter is all about. transmit the law and the gospels teach.”

But Steele’s position is nuanced. He notes that abortion rates have dropped, and argues that science and technology have changed the narrative around the issue. He believes the cause of life has not been enough to support women who might be abandoned if abortion is no longer an option. And he worries that the upside down Roe will now put women’s lives in the hands of state legislatures that are “putting bounties in her womb.”

Along those lines, ending at BulwarkJonathan V. Last (formerly of Weekly Standard), wrote, “For the first time since the days of Jim Crow, it will matter what state you live in.”

This certainly brings us to Donald Trump and the Trump-era Republican Party. In recent years, many decent conservatives, who cannot abide by Trump’s immoral policies and vulgar language, have made common cause with Democrats (and other agencies). media adjacent to the Democratic Party). Theoretically, many people oppose choosing a pro-New York politician because worldview of their lives, not despite it.

It is a crisis of Never-Trumpism.

However, during this tribal period, it was nearly impossible to maintain a order ideology. There are tremendous pressures on members of both sides to adhere to their entire set of policy preferences. Failure to do so requires you to continually reassert your independence.

By embracing Trump, pro-life supporters helped elect a man who would nominate three Supreme Court justices, helping Roe to (possibly) be overturned. It is understandable why some people who prioritize life issues end up making peace with Trump.

“On social issues, the GOP and the Democrats are still miles apart, even if Trump acts like Hugh Hefner,” French told me. But by embracing Trump, supporters also allow their lofty cause to be tainted with all the Trumpian filth, which allows their political opponents to legitimately confuse Trump is authoritarian with the right to life, and thus sending some former allies to the hills.

What we are seeing now is the possibly inevitable next step in the realignment of the GOP — under which Trump’s conservatives will never be effectively absorbed into the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, a generation of young Americans will probably discuss life issues with MAGA and QAnon and The Big Lie. This is both tragic and ironic.