Donald Trump is Pro-Choice. Now, What Do We Do About It?

*This is an AI generated transcript, and may contain errors*

Mark Harrington (00:00):

Donald Trump Pro-Choice. Is it time to dump Trump? We’re going to talk about it today on the program because it sure looks like the Trump Vance campaign is throwing the unborn under the bus. So stick around. You’re listening to the Mark Harrington show.

(00:31):

Welcome everybody to the Mark Harrington Show your radio activist here back in the saddle. I took a little break, went to the state of Alaska and friends, if you ever get a chance, you got to go. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been and I haven’t been to a lot of places, friends, but I can tell you this, it’s got to be one of the most fantastic places in the world, let alone in the United States of America. So I’m back in the saddle, refreshed and ready to go, ready to fight the culture wars. That’s what we do here on the Mark Harrington Show. And friends, if you want to pick up the program, you can do that by going to my social media or I am on 24 7 on all the popular podcasting platform. So today we’re going to talk about the big issue, and that is Donald Trump’s position on abortion.

(01:22):

Just recently in the last several weeks, his surrogate, if you want to call him that vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, has been making the swing through the Sunday programs, have been interviewed regularly along with Donald Trump, and he’s been asked about his position on abortion. What would the Trump administration do in regards to the abortion issue? Well, we’re starting to find out several weeks ago I did a program on the caving of the GOP when it came to the pro-life plank in the platform in Chicago and how they’ve changed it and kind of thrown the babies under the bus, as I say. And then really the historic position of the Republican Party, at least as it comes to the platform for the party, has changed under Donald Trump. He is the standard bearer now, and I guess it’s his prerogative to change it, but it did make me happy and it hasn’t made a lot of other pro-lifers happy and since then, it’s only gotten worse friends, and so I’m going to deal with this.

(02:30):

A lot of pro-life. People and others just want to sweep this underneath the rug and move on. Let’s support Donald Trump and not hold him accountable. Well, not me, because we’re truth tellers here and that’s important. We’re just not going to follow blindly the GOP nominee for the presidency of the United States without holding them accountable, without telling the truth about their position. So we’re going to do that today here on the program. And in order to do that, we’ve got a couple audio video clips if you will. First of all, we have JD Vance, who a couple of weeks ago coming out of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee was interviewed on one of the Sunday programs, and I’d like to play that clip. His question is, it’s about the Mone issue that is the abortion pill. If you recall a ways back, Donald Trump was asked about that and he said he wouldn’t block it.

(03:36):

Now, I addressed that. I said that he doesn’t have the authority to block it anyway to begin with. That’s not his position. The FDA can do some things, but as long as abortion’s, legal, MFer, Pistone’s going to be legal. But JD Vance was asked about the abortion pill and this is when it begins to get worse. Friends, so go ahead. We’re going to play. This is JD Vance who’s the sitting senator from Ohio who is the vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party and historically pro-life, he fought against issue one here in Ohio. So he has some credentials when it comes to the abortion issue, but it sure seems like they are throwing the babies under the bus. So go ahead, go ahead and play this clip.

Video (04:27):

Now, what Donald Trump has said is the respects the Supreme Court’s opinion on the miff of Princeton ruling.

(04:32):

Lemme just stop you right there, please. The Supreme Court, you’re a lawyer, so you know this better than I Sure. The Supreme Court, all they did was say that what came to them didn’t have standing so they let it That’s correct. A real question. The substantive question hasn’t made it to the Supreme Court, so my question for you is whether or not a Trump Vance administration would allow Miry Stone to continue to be sent around the country.

(04:56):

Well, president Trump won the nomination of the Republican Party. He said it to you and he said it repeatedly that his goal is not to block Miry stone, it’s to let states make the decision on abortion policy. Now, of course, that does mean Dan, we have to be honest about this, that California might have less restrictive rules than Ohio, which might have less restrictive rules than Alabama. I think what President Trump is really trying to do on the abortion question is really admirable, and I wish the press was a little bit more honest about it. He’s saying we’ve had a 50 year culture war over abortion where unfortunately this issue is just divided the country and he wants to provide some ground for us to come together for states to make these decisions for voters to make these decisions, and for us all to respect one another. That’s all he’s proposed on that

Mark Harrington (05:38):

Issue. Okay, stop there. Okay, so we understand the position of Donald Trump and that is that since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Dobbs decision that he had a part in by putting three justices on the US Supreme Court that were part of the majority position in Dobbs, that the abortion issue politically has gone back to the states. We understand that. We get that. Here’s the problem though, if we just say that and what Vance is saying here, that we have experienced a 50 year culture war, that is true, but the idea that we’re just going to send it back to the states and the culture war over abortion is going to disappear is wrong. It isn’t happening. America is divided on abortion, whether it’s the US Supreme Court’s ruling, whether it’s in Congress, whether it’s in the state legislatures, this is not going to go away just because the states now can make abortion policy.

(06:35):

That’s number one to me. What they’re doing here, Trump Vance administration would do is basically wash their hands of the abortion question. They want it to go away, and I got news for you, it isn’t going to go away. To me, they are caving on abortion. Now, what Vance could have done is said Donald Trump and myself, JD Vance are pro-life and we believe the unborn deserve rights of personhood, which are enshrined in our Declaration of Independence where it says We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and among them are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The right to life is in our mission statement as a nation, and the Constitution in the 14th Amendment mentions persons, which we prior to the writing of that amendment, that there was a consensus that included the unborn.

(07:41):

So the idea that there is no federal role in abortion is flat out wrong. I think it’s a way for the Republican party led by Donald Trump and JD Vance to try to say, we don’t want to talk about abortion because we think it is a losing political issue and therefore we’re just going to say, let’s let the states decide. The problem with that position is this. It’s just not up for a vote. We can’t leave murder up to a vote. It’s either right or it’s wrong. Killing unborn babies is either immoral and evil and wicked and needs outlawed or it’s okay and permissible and should be allowed. This is no different in some ways over the debate over slavery a century or two ago, and that is there were those Frederick Douglass being won when he debated Abraham Lincoln in 1856 made the case that slavery should be a state’s rights issue.

(08:45):

Now, who believes that today? Anyone who says that slavery, the issue of slavery should be left up to states would be considered slavery. You can’t put it up for a vote. Friends, it’s either right or wrong, and either the Constitution protects these persons that is IE preborn children or it doesn’t, to put it up for a vote is not the way forward. I understand it’s in the States. I understand where that’s going to be for now and it needs to be worked out that way, but we have to be on one side or the other. And the Republican party has always stood for the personhood, legal protections of the unborn, and it just looks like they don’t even want to talk about that. He doesn’t even make the case for it before he says politically, we got to leave it up to the states. So anyway, this is, again, to me it’s a political pragmatic move by Trump Vance and they believe that they’re on the right side of this politically in that they would lose votes if they took a hard stand on abortion. Go ahead and continue on.

Video (09:52):

I’m not comfortable with anything, Dana, because I’m not passing judgment on what these laws should be. You asked

Mark Harrington (09:59):

Me my own personal, I’m not passing judgment. I’m sorry, I am passing judgment. This is not a judgment free zone. Abortion again, are the unborn human or are they not right, and if they are, they deserve rights of personhood just like born people do. Go ahead, continue on.

Video (10:21):

Well view, I campaigned against an Ohio referendum, but I think that we have to let voters decide and when they speak their mind, you have to be respectful, agree or disagree with whatever voters decide they’re going to make these decisions.

Mark Harrington (10:36):

I mean that’s true for now, but it’s not the final destination. The states are going to decide yes, but eventually even this has to lead to a federal remedy that’s either going to come through a constitutional amendment that protects the unborn at conception. That’s either going to happen or the Supreme Court’s going to reaffirm that. That word person in the 14th amendment includes the unborn. There could be a, Congress could pass a law on the, and the President could sign a law outlaw on abortion. Those are the three options, but leaving it up to the states is not the final resolution for this, and it’s certainly not going to rid ourselves of the culture war. Alright, so that was the first clip. That was a couple of weeks ago right after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and I immediately just came out and said, JD Vance is pro-choice. It’s true if you say it should be left up to the states to decide to a vote, popular vote or through a constitutional amendment. Alright, go ahead and continue on. This is JD Vance on Meet the Depressed. As Mark Levin would famously say, go ahead and play this clip,

Video (11:53):

But can you commit Senator sitting right here with me today that if you and Donald Trump are elected that you will not impose a federal ban on

(12:02):

Abortion? I can absolutely commit

Mark Harrington (12:04):

That. Absolutely. Donald Trump

Video (12:05):

Has been as clear about that as possible. I think it’s important to step back and say,

Mark Harrington (12:09):

By the way, stop there. I’m sorry. Donald Trump has not been clear about that. Donald Trump has just said, we’re going to leave it to the states to decide. That’s it. He has not really articulated his position on abortion. Now he is through a surrogate here. JD Vance. Go ahead and continue on.

Video (12:27):

Donald Trump actually settled the abortion question and how is it different from what Kamala Harris and the Democrats have said? Donald Trump wants to end this cultural war over this particular topic. If

Mark Harrington (12:36):

Kamala not happening, California

Video (12:38):

Wants to have a different abortion policy from Ohio, then Ohio has to respect California and California has to respect Ohio. Donald Trump.

Mark Harrington (12:45):

It does not have to be that way. We are not going to respect states that say you can kill a baby up to the very moment of birth. We’re not, and we shouldn’t go ahead and continue.

Video (12:57):

Donald Trump’s view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities

Mark Harrington (13:03):

To decide on murder

Video (13:05):

Because we don’t want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue. The federal government ought to be focused,

Mark Harrington (13:12):

I got news for you. You’re going to have a nonstop federal conflict on abortion if you continue to try to brush it off and say there’s no cultural war. Now, I mean that was tried with slavery with the state’s rights issue, right? They left it to the states to decide, well, I got news for you friends. What did we do? We ended up fighting a civil war over this. That’s a federal issue and it needs to be resolved federally. Go ahead.

Video (13:39):

The federal government ought to be focused on getting food prices down and getting housing prices down issues, of course, where Kamala Harris has been a total disaster.

Mark Harrington (13:46):

Okay, stop there. Like inflation is on the par or equal to the murder wholesale slaughter of about 2,600 children a day, almost a million children a year. Like if inflation rises to the, actually in his view is a higher priority than defending 2,600 children a day, almost a million a year. I’m sorry. They aren’t equivalent. They’re not. And JD Vance and Donald Trump can be right on everything else, but that will not make up for them being wrong on child killing. It just won’t. This is a litmus test for us or for any American on who we should be putting in public office. If they’re wrong on abortion, that’s not, they cannot make up for it with the other issues. They’re not. Inflation is important as it is, is not like murdering babies. Go ahead and continue on.

Video (14:53):

We want the federal government to focus on these big economic and immigration questions. Let the states figure out their own abortion policy. Let

(14:59):

Me just follow up with you a little bit on that point because I’ve been talking to Republicans including Senator Lindsey Graham just last week who’ve made it very clear that if Donald Trump is elected, if you are elected, they will continue to press this point. Senator Graham said to me, I’m going to keep saying that there should be a federal ban. If such a piece of legislation landed on Donald Trump’s desk, would he veto it?

(15:23):

Well, I think he’d be very clear he would not support it. I mean he said that, but would he veto it? Yeah, I mean, if you’re not supporting it as the president of the United States, you fundamentally have to

(15:30):

Veto it. So veto a federal abortion ban.

(15:33):

He said that explicitly that he would

Mark Harrington (15:35):

Stop there. This is crazy friends. Donald Trump’s going to veto anti-abortion legislation that comes to his desk. Donald Trump’s for a choice if that’s the case, and if it’s uncertain about what he would do, then why did JD Vance take the bait? Why did he have to go there? Why did he have to say, oh, he absolutely is. Or yes, he would veto why he doesn’t need to answer it that way. He could say, Donald Trump is pro-life, here’s why. But he’s leaving it up to states to decide, continue that position rather than going to the extent of saying he’s going to veto anti-abortion legislation that would ban abortion even at 15 weeks. Seriously. Is this the front runner in the Republican party? Hard to believe. Hard to believe. Now, pragmatically speaking, is there ever going to be an abortion ban at conception that’ll come to the President’s desk in the next four years?

(16:38):

Not likely. Even the Democrats who want to expand abortion up to the very moment of birth and enshrine that in federal law are unlikely to get that through Congress. So it’s unlikely the president’s going to see any anti-abortion legislation or abortion legislation come to the desk in the Oval Office. The last time that happened was George W. Bush, I think in 2004 with the partial birth abortion ban. So here’s the thing. Basically we have a choice between the lesser of two evils. We’ve heard about that before. The problem is the lesser of two evil is getting more evil. As we continue on here, we basically have two flavors of pro-choice. That’s what we’re facing. We have pro-abortion extremists, which is Kamala Harris, and we have pro-abortion light, which is Donald Trump. I mean, that’s just where we are friends. I know it doesn’t, you may not like what I’m saying, but I think it’s the truth politically.

(17:39):

These people have made the calculation that they will not lose enough pro-life votes by taking this position, a pro-choice position in my view. And they will not lose enough of those because they’re going to gain them somewhere else. I think they’re wrong. I think if they think they’re going to pick up the women vote here by being more pro-choice or more moderate on abortion or whatever it is, I think that’s a calculation that’s not correct. I think pro-lifers are going to stay home. There’s going to be some of ’em that’s going to stay home who cannot in principle vote for someone who is saying these things. So I think that’s a political miscalculation in my view. It might not be, but they may get away with it. I don’t know. And this shows you the power of the bully pulpit.

(18:38):

Scripture says that the law teaches that it’s a Tudor that leads us to Christ. We know when something’s put into law that people tend to believe that it’s immoral to do it right. And so in Roe v Wade for an example, when that was passed in 1973, a lot of people reason to the conclusion that if the federal government says abortion’s, okay, then it must be moral. And some people just, that’s kind of how it works. The reverse is true as well. If you pass law saying abortion’s illegal, people are going to reason to the conclusion at least some of them that we shouldn’t be doing this. And so it is with the bully pulpit. When you have people that have platforms like Donald Trump and JD Vance who are constantly in front of the American people talking about abortion and they are watering down their position.

(19:29):

There are Americans including in the Republican party and conservatives who say, you know what? I’m okay with it too. If Donald Trump’s okay with it, if the leader of the Republican party’s okay with it, then I am too. And I think there’s where we are in trouble. We’re not just possibly losing an election because of this. So-called move to the pro-choice position. We’re teaching hundreds of thousands of Americans that one of the two main parties is now ostensibly pro-choice. And I think that’s very problematic. Now that said, let’s say Donald Trump wins the White House. JD Vance is his vice president. Will Donald Trump sign executive orders restricting abortion? Probably, who knows, he did the first time. Maybe he will this time. Will he put up nominees consistent with strict constructionism like he did before that led to the overturning of Roe versus Wade? More than likely he will.

(20:36):

Will he use the bully pulpit? Maybe not. So if you compare the two Harris and Trump, and I’ll get into Harris in future show, there really is a stark difference. So you have abortion up to birth and you have one that says, leave it up to the states. And Donald Trump at least has said that he’s against the late term abortion. So he’s better than Harris, but only marginally. And we can only hope that he would do the right thing when he gets into office by signing executive orders. And if there was the passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which the Democrats want to put through Congress, he would veto that as well. So this is the way it is, Finn. So this is what we’re faced with here in 2024. If Donald Trump gets elected, who knows what positions he’d take? I would suspect he’d be better than Harris.

(21:34):

But his rhetoric right now through his surrogate isn’t very encouraging to people like myself who really want to go out and stump for this guy, but they’re out there. There are people out there I know because I’m talking to him who want to dump Trump, and I don’t think that’s the right position to take. But hey, I understand it. Let your conscience be your guide here. I’d make the case that we still got to vote for him and I will. But there are a lot of people that aren’t going to, and I respect that. I hope they aren’t vocal because I don’t know if that would help us win the election. But listen, there’s a lot of room here for us to begin to say, listen, I cannot support somebody who is throwing the babies under the duck, under the bus. Two final points on this, and that’s this.

(22:26):

Donald Trump is going to be a lame duck president if he wins the White House. That means he’s got four years, that’s it. In two years we’ve got the midterm election. In two years there will be a new standard bearer. At least there’ll be candidates who are going to put up their name for president of the United States. That might be JD Vance, might be Ron DeSantis. There is still opportunity to reclaim the Republican party when it comes to abortion. There is still opportunity to restore the pro-life plank. There is still opportunity for us to pull us back from the brink when it comes to abortion, which by the way is we continue to open the door to wholesale slot of unborn babies, leads to the judgment of God. God is not going to bless a nation that sheds innocent blood and not going to give us an economy that’s thriving and all these things not going to protect us from our enemies.

(23:24):

It just isn’t going to happen. We’ve got to resolve the abortion question. We’ve got to resolve the murder of unborn babies. It’s just leaving it up to the states, hoping the culture war goes away is a fool’s errand. Anybody that believes that doesn’t understand scripture. So we could reclaim the party in two years, but I’m looking beyond November because right now Donald Trump’s position seems to be pretty, they pretty much made up their minds on the issue of abortion. I will just say this and then we will move on to our next topic. And there is no political solution for abortion currently in this country. We are beginning to see, as you know, state legislatures mostly through the constitutional amendment process. People are voting and we are seeing that people want abortion. We just do. We’re over for seven on constitutional amendments and we’re going to have another nine of those probably on the ballot here in November.

(24:29):

We could lose every one friend we could. So things are changing quickly and we need to get back to the business of changing hearts and minds. That’s what we do here at Created Equal Win or Lose. Politically, our mission stays the same, your should as well. And that is to change hearts and minds, to share the truth about abortion, articulate it properly, make the case and let the chips fall where they may. So we’ll know some more out in the next several years as these constitutional amendments get worked out in the States and when we see who’s going to be in the White House in the future. But things are not heading in a good direction politically. And our front runner for the Republican Party, the nominee for the party that is Donald Trump and his vice presidential nominee is not helping us in that case. And Friends, as a pro-life advocate, I’m going to continue to tell the truth. You should too. I understand that I still want Donald Trump to win the White House over Kamala Harris. No question about it. But we cannot remain silent as one of the major political parties abandons the unborn.

(25:44):

Well friends, JD Van has said this is a state’s rights issue and it is for the most part that doesn’t relieve the federal government from having a place. But right now there are nine states that are facing pro-abortion constitutional amendments this election cycle and on November 5th. And so we’re very involved in these friends. I’ve been talking about this for months. The two states that we’re most involved in are Florida and Missouri. And I have on the screen here, all the other states that are looking at this time around. And I would exhort you if you want to get involved, you can contact these coalitions that are trying to defeat these constitutional amendments. You can go to Door-to-Door if you can actually travel there or you happen to live in those states, you can also be involved in phone banking and you can donate. So friends, here’s the list.

(26:47):

We’re very much involved in Missouri and in Florida. We’ve been advising them. They’ve been using our grassroots volunteer portal in these states. We’ve been talking about messaging. We’ve been providing information about Strategy Group, which is the group that has created a lot of the most effective advertising regarding the abortion amendments. And so we’re very active in these states. And in that I’m going to be part of an event down in Orlando on October 7th through 11 Operations Save America, which is headed by my good friend and colleague, Jason Storms will be holding basically a week long event in Orlando to go door to door, do some phone banking, doing some public outreach, and I will be part of that. I’ll be speaking, I’m not sure which night I’ll be speaking at that event. So friends, put it on your calendar. If you live in Florida, you want to come to Orlando October 7th through 11.

(27:52):

That’s October 7th through 11. Yours truly will be there. I’ll also have a team of activists here from Created Equal, some volunteers also who are coming in from out of state to be part of the events there. And we’ll be leading outreach in Orlando with our good friends there at Operation Save America. So friends, this is the battle for this year, and that is these constitutional amendments. As important as the presidential election is, and it is important, who gets in the White House, these constitutional amendments are actually more important because they are going to be etched in stone pretty much for time and eternity. I mean, it’s very difficult to repeal constitutional amendments at the state level or the federal level. And once they get in there, they’re hard to change. So we’re doing everything we can. I hope you are as well. And you can be part of these events here in Florida and Missouri or any one of these states by just contacting one of these state coalitions. And if you want more information regarding the battle here this November, you can go to created equal.org and contact us using the contact page there or go to mark harrington.org. That’s mark harrington.org as we lead the battle here on the front lines of the culture war over abortion. We’ll see you next time. God bless you. God bless America. And remember America. God bless God.

Outro (29:21):

You’ve been listening to Mark Harrington, your radio activist. For more information on how to make a difference for the cause of life, liberty and justice, go to created equal.org.org. To follow mark, go to Mark Harrington show.com. Be sure to tune in next time for your marching orders in the Culture War.