Gaffes show Trump is the left-wing caricature of a conservativeBy Marc A. Thiessen
Published April 6, 2016
In his now infamous interview with Chris Matthews, Trump not only declared that if abortion became illegal women who have abortions should face "some form of punishment," but also asserted that "conservatives, Republicans would say, yes they should be punished."
No, they would not.
This is not something a real pro-life conservative would say; it is something a liberal pretending to be a pro-life conservative would say.
Anyone remotely familiar with the pro-life cause knows that its advocates don't want to punish women. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, explains that the focus of laws restricting abortion "is on protection, not punishment. Women were not punished by the legal system before 1973's Roe v. Wade decision and there is absolutely no drive to punish her now." As Mother Teresa famously put it, "Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers."
Trump does not understand this, because he is deeply unfamiliar with what motivates pro-life Americans. The goal of the pro-life movement is to create a "culture of life" that upholds the dignity of every human person from conception to natural death. The objective is not punishment; it is to protect both mother and child.
Since Trump does not actually understand what pro-life conservatives truly believe, he mindlessly echoes the liberal caricature of pro-life conservatives. He mistakenly thinks this is what these conservatives want to hear. They don't. This is, however, what liberals want to hear. They want a Republican candidate who feeds their false "war on women" narrative. They want to run against the caricature of the pro-life position, because the caricature is ugly. And Trump is giving them precisely what they want.
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