The ads will write themselves with clips of Trump bragging about getting rid of Roe and saying women who have abortions have to be punished. He doesn't get to walk away from his mess.
I was joking in the comments under another article this morning that I was looking forward to the NYT taking the results from last night and saying that they're bad news for Biden, then pow! In comes JVL from the top rope!
I think we should also use the clip when he said in 2016 or so that women should be punished. The Dems must not let Trump get away with his squishy ambivalence that lets people think he’s with them (whether or not he really is.)
Remember that Trump is never really with anybody on anything. He is only for what is best for him. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he suddenly did an about face and says abortion is ok now that Ohio voters approved Ballot Initiative 1.
Came here to say the same thing, Meg. There is endless video of him taking credit for delivering the Supreme Court that voted down Roe. I don’t get JVL on this.
JVL isn’t wrong on this because he’s not talking about purely rational actors. Of course abortion rights advocates will remain with Biden - but the squishes who really really really want to vote Republican but don’t want to feel like they’re co-signing abortion bans will be most drawn to Trump since he very obviously does not care about abortion personally to the point where he has undoubtedly paid for a non-zero number of them. This is the one issue on which Trump legitimately gets to have his cake and eat it and he owes that to the irrationality of his own supporters.
Also if I’m making a purely dispassionate assessment of Trump’s priorities for a second term, an abortion ban is very far down the list, well past all that horrifying personal vengeance stuff, weaponization of DoJ and DHS, getting himself fit for a military uniform, awarding himself the title of supreme maximum leader for life, banning the Democratic Party, and making it legal for him to marry his own daughter. He is just not personally animated by this stuff, it’s all about him and his own gratification.
Other than for his antipathy for foreigners (except as wives), I think Omar, the tent-maker, could handle the order for some African-coup-generals uniforms that would fit the bill (and girth).
It would be interesting to compare either list, this one or yours, to the steps Hitler took in 1933. (He was already sleeping with a relative (his niece) until she killed herself in 1931.)
I think that JVL’s blind spot on this is that the abortion issue might get the most press, liberal and independent women have many issues with Trump that are generally not shared with men. There are many layers here and he can’t BS his way out of all of them.
I think you and JVL are seriously underestimating the visceral effect the overturning of Roe had on all women who aren’t deep into being told what to think by deeply-conservative men, even squishy centrist women. It’s equivalent to a death threat. Most women take that personally. I know a lot of men who are pro-choice but it can’t be as personal as it is for women who have to put up with an achey, bloody mess one week out of every four and then be told they could die if they get pregnant and things go wrong while the procedure that can save their life I’d denied them. Plus the baby thing, too.
It’s actually funny to see how a Bulwark stalwart could take such good news for Democrats and turn it into a tale of woe. That it is interpreted as being especially bad for Biden makes it even funnier. But no hard feelings. I came here to be exposed to points of view unfamiliar to my usual experience and, by George, I’m never disappointed. Sometimes you’re even right. I sure hope the heck you’re not right about this.
I can obviously only speak for myself but I would never make that assertion, I'm a staunch supporter of abortion rights and substantially to the left of the Bulwark's entire editorial staff on the issue - I only interpreted JVL's analysis as being apropos in the narrow case of within the Republican Party.
For that matter, I don't read any of this as being a tale of woe - rather a cynical analysis of how Trump stands to be the one to whom maximal benefit accrues within the Republican Party on the topic.
I'm genuinely on your side, here, I do not disagree with anything that you said, only the insinuations about my politics.
The ads will write themselves with clips of Trump bragging about getting rid of Roe and saying women who have abortions have to be punished. He doesn't get to walk away from his mess.
I was joking in the comments under another article this morning that I was looking forward to the NYT taking the results from last night and saying that they're bad news for Biden, then pow! In comes JVL from the top rope!
I think we should also use the clip when he said in 2016 or so that women should be punished. The Dems must not let Trump get away with his squishy ambivalence that lets people think he’s with them (whether or not he really is.)
Remember that Trump is never really with anybody on anything. He is only for what is best for him. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he suddenly did an about face and says abortion is ok now that Ohio voters approved Ballot Initiative 1.
Came here to say the same thing, Meg. There is endless video of him taking credit for delivering the Supreme Court that voted down Roe. I don’t get JVL on this.
JVL isn’t wrong on this because he’s not talking about purely rational actors. Of course abortion rights advocates will remain with Biden - but the squishes who really really really want to vote Republican but don’t want to feel like they’re co-signing abortion bans will be most drawn to Trump since he very obviously does not care about abortion personally to the point where he has undoubtedly paid for a non-zero number of them. This is the one issue on which Trump legitimately gets to have his cake and eat it and he owes that to the irrationality of his own supporters.
Also if I’m making a purely dispassionate assessment of Trump’s priorities for a second term, an abortion ban is very far down the list, well past all that horrifying personal vengeance stuff, weaponization of DoJ and DHS, getting himself fit for a military uniform, awarding himself the title of supreme maximum leader for life, banning the Democratic Party, and making it legal for him to marry his own daughter. He is just not personally animated by this stuff, it’s all about him and his own gratification.
Other than for his antipathy for foreigners (except as wives), I think Omar, the tent-maker, could handle the order for some African-coup-generals uniforms that would fit the bill (and girth).
Oh, God, this list of priorites is brilliantly said! Here is something more straighforward: https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/10/10/country-after-second-trump-term/. Sorry it's WaPo so paywalled, but I'm sure there are lots out there.
It would be interesting to compare either list, this one or yours, to the steps Hitler took in 1933. (He was already sleeping with a relative (his niece) until she killed herself in 1931.)
I think that JVL’s blind spot on this is that the abortion issue might get the most press, liberal and independent women have many issues with Trump that are generally not shared with men. There are many layers here and he can’t BS his way out of all of them.
True. As JVL says he could appeal to low information voters who want to believe Trump on his purported ambivalence.
I think you and JVL are seriously underestimating the visceral effect the overturning of Roe had on all women who aren’t deep into being told what to think by deeply-conservative men, even squishy centrist women. It’s equivalent to a death threat. Most women take that personally. I know a lot of men who are pro-choice but it can’t be as personal as it is for women who have to put up with an achey, bloody mess one week out of every four and then be told they could die if they get pregnant and things go wrong while the procedure that can save their life I’d denied them. Plus the baby thing, too.
It’s actually funny to see how a Bulwark stalwart could take such good news for Democrats and turn it into a tale of woe. That it is interpreted as being especially bad for Biden makes it even funnier. But no hard feelings. I came here to be exposed to points of view unfamiliar to my usual experience and, by George, I’m never disappointed. Sometimes you’re even right. I sure hope the heck you’re not right about this.
Welcome to JVL's Triad, a place for believers in the Power of Positive Pessimism, as in "I am positive it will be worse tomorrow).
Did I, or JVL for that matter, ever say that?
I can obviously only speak for myself but I would never make that assertion, I'm a staunch supporter of abortion rights and substantially to the left of the Bulwark's entire editorial staff on the issue - I only interpreted JVL's analysis as being apropos in the narrow case of within the Republican Party.
For that matter, I don't read any of this as being a tale of woe - rather a cynical analysis of how Trump stands to be the one to whom maximal benefit accrues within the Republican Party on the topic.
I'm genuinely on your side, here, I do not disagree with anything that you said, only the insinuations about my politics.
Dems Win; Biden Hardest Hit