With abortion answer, Trump showed that he never studied for his Conservatism 101 finals

By this time, everyone with a television, a smart phone or a computer has already seen the MSNBC town hall exchange between Chris Matthews and Donald Trump where the abortion question came up. (Even if you lack all three of those modern devices, you may have caught wind of it via the screams of horror emanating from the windows of your neighbors, both Democrat and Republican.) But on the odd chance that you were in a coma for the past sixteen hours and happened to turn to Hot Air before doing anything else this morning, here’s the short but brutal recap. (WaPo)

Before going any further, I’d like to preface this column with something that at least approaches a bit of an apology to my friends in the #NeverTrump camp because yesterday’s events led to a wake-up call of sorts for me on a personal level. As regular readers know by now, I’ve gone out of my way to leave some maneuvering room for the GOP this fall by attempting to maintain Donald Trump’s status as a viable back-up plan if Ted Cruz fails to secure the nomination. (And I’ve been gently taken to task for it by some very prominent writers.) I recognize that I may have even engaged in a bit of willful disregard for some of the more troubling aspects of his campaign rather than simply throwing up my hands and tossing the keys to the Oval Office to Hillary Clinton. But after a night to sleep on and digest last night’s debacle, even I must confess that something in the stew smells like it’s gone past its expiration date here.

Allahpundit seemed to touch on part of what went wrong yesterday when he wrote this:

I think part of that analysis is correct, but it doesn’t fully get to the uneasy feeling that interview brought on. It’s a suspicion that I’ve had nagging at the back of my mind for months, even as I’ve tried my best to keep Trump viable as a general election candidate. Unlike Allahpundit, I don’t see this as Donald Trump making a quick calculation of how to best position himself against Cruz here. The more likely (and disturbing) conclusion is that Donald Trump is someone who really doesn’t know much of anything about the conservative movement beyond what he read in some headlines while contemplating a run for the GOP nomination. He’s like the student who failed to study for the test and is now picking the multiple choice answers which sound the best even if they are extreme catnip designed to catch the unwary in a failing grade.

This isn’t a crazy theory because what we’re seeing is the essence of a populist strategy without any real research behind it. If you want to win over the hearts and minds of conservatives, you identify what they most want but can’t obtain under the current rules and then offer them the moon. In retrospect, we’ve seen this too many times before, and while some of the answers sound great and stir up the masses with great support, they all fall short to one degree or another in terms of practicality. Immigration? Everyone else wants more border patrol and aggressive ICE enforcement. So I’ll give you a wall the size of the moon which won’t cost a dime. Trade deals? The other candidates are free traders who don’t address issues of job outsourcing and trade deficits. I’ll just screw everyone else on the planet and build virtual tariff walls. War on terror? Those other guys talk tough about confronting the enemy, but I’ll give you torture and huge conquering armies laying waste to the Arabian Peninsula.

And when it came to the abortion question, Mr. Trump obviously recognized that everyone on the conservative side of the fence was, to one degree or another, against the procedure. So his first impulse was to start putting pregnant women in jail. Too many authors on the Right have already described how damaging this is to the pro-life movement, but it took several hours of immediate backlash before Trump finally arrived at his third answer which was at least somewhat close to the correct one.

What this tells me is that Donald Trump never studied for the test when he decided to win over conservatives in his quest for the nomination. He just trusted in his instincts, scanned a few topic summaries and went into it like a real estate negotiation, promising the clients a mansion when he knew they’d wind up in a condo. Unfortunately this is akin to trying to win over the affection of a petulant child you’re babysitting who doesn’t want to eat their vegetables. Rather than promising a better selection of healthy options and a treat after the meal, your first move is to simply tell them everyone will have chocolate layer cake for their entire dinner.

It’s difficult to admit it, particularly when so many pieces of the plans Trump has proposed at least sounded like great ideas on paper. And the rest were able to be written off by saying, “at least he got a conversation started” on the issue. All that may be true, but underneath it all, Donald Trump doesn’t understand conservatism. He’s winging it as he goes along and the learning curve has finally left him behind.

I think you parse this in an excellent fashion. How many of us are put in a situation where an inflammatory subject is broached and we are harangued into an immediate answer which has so many connotations that invariably, no matter what your answer, it will be wrong, or perceived as wrong, and determinations on your character, your views on women, or men, and on business, are colored by many people, which are invariably incorrect, but difficult to change.

This of course is a trap, set by people who know what they are doing, and for predefined reasons.

However, as most people do, with a reflection period of about 24 hours, reveal facts that cannot be disputed, and they are simply...facts.

1. On the outset, all sexual activity, is the responsibility of the man and woman.

2. Contraception is the responsibility of BOTH the man and the woman.

3. Failure of either person CAN cause, death of the fetus, disease, injury, physical and psychological damage to one or both partners. Financial hardship.

Most importantly to others, is that when one or both partners are not responsible, the result changes the responsibility from the two partners, to the public.

For it is at this point, that parents first become involved, or spouses, in the cases of infidelity, police if a matter of rape, social services in the case of minors, and the state, in cases of abortion, or adoptive services. Hospitals for birth or abortion, really the list is endless.

Then comes those with opinions that affect these two people. There are those who like to place blame, either on the man or the woman.

Often IMO these people who are pro-life, are as extreme as the pro-abortion people, in that they intend to impose their beliefs onto other people, well meaning or not, and invariably do so to the point that they actually take responsibility for their words or actions.

What I mean, is the pro-lifers are adamant to the point of actually taking the unwanted child and raising it themselves.

The pro-abortion advocates do so, to the point of taking the woman to the clinic, sit with her during the procedure, stay with her thru recovery, help her psychologically deal with the death of the life inside her, and all the struggles so many women deal with from that point on in their lives. I know so many women who celebrate woefully the birthday (or death day) of that aborted child.

In all of this, MOST of us do NOT want to make a decision on something that is not our business, really. It stems from irresponsibility of the original partners. We have been taught, well, many of us have, that life begins at conception. That the victim here is really the unborn child.

Reality is that this pregnancy is INCONVIENIENT, expensive, life altering, precious, infuriating, and socially exposing. Lives change as the result of an unexpected pregnancy. Some change for the better, some for the worse, but they all change.

This issue becomes a pawn in politics, because it is incendiary. Depending on how your affected by it, you draw lines in the sand, and fight to the death for your opinion.

Rarely tho, does the unborn child have a voice. We have literally lost generations to abortion, and as a result our numbers have grown substantially smaller. I doubt that the most staunch pro-abortion advocate could stand before God, and successfully defend his/her position, as all life is sacred to him. So, many simply deny the existence, or deity of God.

IMO, the issue is not about Abortion. For a man to argue this issue, is nonsense. Far too often, we are removed from the beginning from saving a life if the mother wants an abortion. If the mother wants to keep the child, his participation in the childs upbringing is determined by courts and families, and often child protective services, and child support courts.

Politicans will use this issue to disparage, in this instance Political candidates. Rudimentary knowledge of state and federal law knows that one person rarely makes a law, but rather it is a large group of people making this decision, but they will condemn a single person for not being sharp on an issue, as if it implies that they cannot become versed, or have experts available to help to form a rational and cohesive platform.

Even given that, others with differing viewpoints and a platform to expound, will dither away at the object of their disdain.

Regardless of the reason, the public, in a very public forum will have to determine individually those people who align with their beliefs, and determine if, or how that will affect their vote. That is the American way.

I would say, that at this point, each person has to muddle through what is sensationalism, and what is truth, what is hype, and what is spin, and most importantly why.

For many, they don’t have the time, and live by the MSM reporting, which by the way has its own agenda, discussions with friends and family, and if they can stay connected, and don’t just give up in exasperation, will go to the polls and vote.

In the end, Pundits and the Media, and the other candidates either want you to agree with them, and vote with them, or stay away. The tough minded, will vote.

To those, is my applause. Vote with your head, but vote.

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