Michael Brown has been putting out all sorts of muddled messaging about Donald Trump of late, criticizing his less-than-right-wing stance on abortion while setting himself up to justify voting for Trump anyway because he would be the lesser of two evils. Brown’s July 12 column was a return to the former, criticizing Trump for a Republican platform that de-emphasized abortion:
The new Trump platform: What’s a pro-life voter to do?
There is a new challenge for pro-life voters as we approach the 2024 elections. On the one hand, in my opinion, it is impossible for a truly pro-life voter to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate given the radical, pro-abortion stance of that party. That holds true as well for the positions of President Biden and Vice President Harris, which continue to lurch farther to the left. But now that the RNC has embraced the watered down platform crafted by the Trump team, do we simply acquiesce and vote Republican? Do we refuse to cast our vote and insist on righteous standards? Or is there another way?
For those not familiar with the ongoing debate, since 1984, the GOP has contained language supporting an “amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.” Its pro-life plank has been extensive and strong.
In contrast, not one of the 20 promises listed in the new party platform mentions abortion, while the paragraph discussing abortion in the new platform simply says, “We proudly stand for families and life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process, and that the states are therefore free to pass laws protecting those rights. After 51 years because of us, that power has been given to the state and to a vote of the people. We will oppose late term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF.”
[…]During the presidential debate, Trump emphasized clearly that in his mind, abortion was a state issue, not a federal issue, because of which he would not sign into law a federal abortion ban if elected. He also emphasized that this was something the people got to vote on state by state, and that, in his mind, was the right venue for passing laws regarding abortion.
As for his own position, he continued to emphasize his opposition to late-term abortion as well as restating that he believed in the three exceptions of rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Is this simply pragmatism on the former president’s part, knowing how volatile the issue of abortion has become in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe? Is Trump simply hedging his bets, stressing what the vast majority of Americans believe – namely, that late-term abortion is wrong – while also recognizing that pro-abortion voters apparently pushed the 2022 midterms in the direction of the Democrats?
Only Trump and his closest advisers know. (And of course, God knows.) We can only speculate.
But what we do know is that, for the first time in 40 years, the pro-life language of the GOP platform has been greatly softened, meaning that it can hardly be viewed as “the party of life.” To the contrary, it is the party which is less open to abortion.
But rather than offering any serious challenge to Trump for changing the party platform, Brown punted:
My counsel would be that we do not take this new platform lying down but do our best to work for a change until the last minute possible. If, in the end, we cannot bring about change, then we still work with the GOP for the moment while making it clear behind the scenes that the next GOP candidate will have to embrace our pro-life position. Otherwise, he or she will not make it through the primaries.
That’s a battle we cannot fight now, since Trump is clearly the GOP standard bearer. But it’s a battle we must fight in the future.
That being said, there’s a silver lining to all this. As I wrote in “Turn the Tide,” we must work relentlessly on changing hearts as well as changing laws, and now that Trump has made clear that he is not a pro-life champion, we cannot make the mistake of looking to him to do what only the church can do.
So, we vote our conscience one day in November, but we spend 365 days a year being salt and light.
With that mentality, and with God’s help, we can become much more of a pro-life nation.
In short: Brown will not challenge Trump on abortion because Trump is his guy. Remember, he wrote two books encouraging his fellow evangelicals to vote for Trump despite his longstanding amorality. And if (whining aside) he’s giving Trump a pass for moderating on abortion, he certainly won’t challenge Trump on anything else, and nothing will keep him from voting for the guy. For all of his complaints, that’s been Brown’s plan all along.