Mr. Trump Disappoints on Abortion, But This Isn’t About Mr. Trump
General Michael Flynn supports Donald Trump. He has always made that clear, and Trump supports him.
Flynn, however, also had this to say last year in what has become a consistent theme for him:
“We are not at the 11th hour of the loss of America. We’re at like the last few seconds. We stand on the edge. We stand on the precipice, and some parts of America are in the abyss.”
Flynn goes on to say that true, lasting change will not happen exclusively at the federal level, even though that would help. He says the revival of America will only happen long-term if the local level–you and I–fight for it.
The key take here: We cannot depend on President Trump for everything.
Having Roe v Wade overturned largely because of three Supreme Court justices he appointed was a signature victory for Trump even though it occurred in 2022, nearly two years after he “lost” his bid for a second term.
Having Sound of Freedom explode up the charts and experience such staying power and influence is largely in part because of Trump’s ongoing war against child trafficking. Another victory.
40 Days for Life, which has been operating since 2007, reported that it was working in 555 cities around the world in the spring of 2021, over a year before the overturning of Roe v Wade. As of this month, the organization has seen a 126-city increase to 681. Yet another victory. Here is more on their front:
The group, which describes itself as “the world’s largest grassroots movement to end abortion,” says that [it] has saved over 23,525 unborn lives since then—and 1,733 of those babies have been saved since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe….
And now, post-Dobbs, the organization is finding that it is easier to recruit volunteers, according to Carney: “We’ve proven ourselves to be law-abiding, to be peaceful, to be loving and compassionate.”
“When you look at the history of the pro-life movement, we now have more women who speak out against abortion, who had an abortion,” he explained. “We have a record number of abortion doctors who have quit doing abortions or have had a conversion … we are at the peak—and it is still going up—of Planned Parenthood workers who have gotten out of the abortion industry.”
Carney speculated that the pro-life movement is currently at “an all-time high,” noting how hard it was for pro-life activists to get their message out before Democrats unabashedly embraced unlimited abortion.
“It was hard in the ’90s and early 2000s with Clinton basically giving good people permission to be pro-choice by saying, ‘I want it safe, legal, and rare.’ That was hard,” he said with a laugh. “It’s easy now. They’re now saying men can have abortions. Apologetics-wise, is it is easier to win a mind and a heart for life in 2023 than in the history of our country.”
I remember once upon a time when the catch phrase was that Trump was doing all the winning. Well, all of that above seems like a whole lot of winning on the pro-life front to me, which makes his recent comments all the more disappointing–especially since he clearly understands the long game of psychological and informational warfare.
Here are some of those comments, from NBC News:
Trump declined to endorse a standard number of weeks after which abortion would be illegal, with some exceptions, and he similarly refused to say whether he feels the issue would best be settled at the state or federal levels.
“We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it,” Trump said. “And both sides are going to come together and both sides–both sides, and this is a big statement–both sides will come together. And for the first time in 52 years, you’ll have an issue that we can put behind us.”
In response, Welker asked whether such an agreement would take place at the federal level.
“It could be state, or it could be federal,” Trump said. “I don’t, frankly, care.”
Cold words from a man who has had the heart and the support to fight so courageously for children against the worst of the world’s evils in the child trafficking war. He cares, frankly, about those children so much that it makes it almost comically contradictory for him to say the things he said this week.
I don’t know if Trump is speaking candidly, waxing politically, or planting another one of his classic incendiary explosives to ignite some conversation into the American consciousness (as we have seen him do before). His flip-flop from being the “most pro-life president in history” to whatever this past week on NBC was certainly has elements of all three.
One thing is for sure: Trump is at his worst when he is being a politician. The problem is that in certain situations, maybe he also at his best. He is a deal maker. It is an art to him. He is the man who has guaranteed peace between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours of his next administration. He brought peace to the Middle East in a way the world has never seen. He entered the United States into exactly zero new wars in his first term in office. He shook hands with North Korea and China in ways his predecessors did not and would not. He is a hand-shaker and a tough businessman who wants to show that people on supposed opposite sides of any aisle can come together and realize that they actually agree more than they’d thought.
All of that creates a personality that is both a blessing and a bane. And it can sometimes be nerve-racking for Americans who want to support him without hesitation.
But there is another aspect of Trump that comes into play here, very much indirectly, and it is an aspect that he himself inspired MAGA supporters to believe in–
He is a fighter.
It is we who have been inspired to fight the status quo by a man who came onto the scene in 2015 and began lambasting every single one of the enemies we never thought we could challenge. He was the voice of the voiceless, the cry of Americans yearning for the day when our voice could be heard. He taught us that it was our duty and our right to fight the status quo.
Donald Trump created a monster named MAGA that may very well have him in the 80- or 90-million vote range next year. And fortunately for America, he taught and inspired us well.
It becomes an irony when the fight every now and then must be against Trump himself.
Pro-lifers must resistance the temptation to just go along with Trump on this because he has done so much else good in the world, particularly with children. We don’t have to abandon him, we don’t have to cut ties, but we most certainly can challenge him when we believe he is wrong.
This abortion issue isn’t about Mr. Trump. It is about us as pro-life Americans. If we want abortion to end once and for all, and I mean really want it to end, we will break from Trump here philosophically and double down on our prayers, our fasts, our votes, our patience and trust in God. There was a time not that long ago where we never would have thought Roe v Wade could ever be struck down. It is absolutely a victory on the battlefield to see Sound of Freedom outdueling summer blockbusters and forcing Netflix and Amazon Prime to reveal their disgusting underbelly when they choose not to carry the film on their streaming services. The generation being inspired by 40 Days to Life and other groups will beget another generation and another generation after that, and in another fifty years who knows what cultural transformations we can achieve. Trump will be long gone then, but the spirit of America First and One Nation (Truly) Under God can live on in the young people of today who know and want something better. We largely have Trump to thank for that. But it doesn’t make him right here.
We must ride the momentum of every victory. Never was there a time to compromise on this issue, and certainly now is not one either. Indeed, it is exactly because of the refusal to compromise all these decades that we have been experiencing these recent victories in the first place.
As it is being said by General Flynn, the man sounding the warning bell about fifth generation warfare and this current war of narratives, it doesn’t matter who the next president is if we the American people don’t get involved at home, at the grassroots level of government. He’s right. And when applied to whatever it is Trump vomited this past week on NBC, even American pro-lifers aren’t obligated to care. The point is that Donald Trump gave all of us hope and the weapon of truth eight years ago, and even if that inspiration and truth must be used to resist the things even he sometimes might say, resist we must. Dare I say that even Mr. Trump would be happy to know that some of us are not going to kowtow to any status quo without a fight ever again, even if it means we must disagree with Mr. Trump himself.
May everyone named directly or referenced indirectly ask forgiveness and do penance for their sins against America and God. I fight this information war in the spirit of justice and love for the innocent, but I have been reminded of the need for mercy and prayers for our enemies. I am a sinner in need of redemption as well after all, for my sins are many. In the words of Jesus Christ himself, Lord forgive us all, for we know not what we do.
