A friend of mine is having problems with her ex.
Charismatic, rich and famous, and also can’t commit.
Back in 1999, when he was first infatuated with my friend — let’s call her “Choice” — he went on “Meet the Press” and told the nation over and over that Choice was the one for him.
Then, when he started thinking about public office again in 2011, he split up with Choice and started dating Pro-Life.
It happens. And breakups can be ugly. But this guy went to an extreme.
By 2016, Donald Trump (you guessed the guy was Trump, right?) was suggesting women should be punished for exercising their right to choose. After the House passed a national ban on abortion in 2017, he not only applauded the bill but also spent a good chunk of 2018 trying to get the Senate to follow suit. In fact he was the first sitting president to address the March for Life convention, saying “send it to my desk for signing.” It was a handful of votes short.
Hard to believe. I don’t know what Choice ever saw in the guy, because he’s all over the place.
“American women are not stupid,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said recently about this presidential election, noting that 14 states have essentially banned abortion since Roe vs. Wade was overturned by Trump-appointed justices. “We are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across the country.”
In 2022, he crowed about what his Supreme Court had done. Now it’s 2024, and he’s struggling to meet younger women at the polls, so he’s back to making empty promises to impress Choice — with his campaign claiming he would veto any national ban. This from the guy who almost managed to push one through.
Total user.
He had his wingman, Sen. JD Vance, go on “Meet the Press” on Sunday to clarify the former president’s history with Choice — something that had to be done only because he has been in and out of the relationship for 25 years.
“It’s important to step back and say, ‘What has Donald Trump actually said on the abortion question?’ ” Vance said.
OK, let’s do it.
In 1999, on “Meet the Press” when Trump was considering a run for the White House, then-host Tim Russert asked him whether he would ban abortions, and he said he would not.
In fact, Trump repeatedly said he was pro-choice. Even “very pro-choice.”
But to win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, he couldn’t be. So, he dumped Choice and said those who seek an abortion should have “some form of punishment.” One Trump term later, and that is the reality facing 2 in 5 women in this country. That’s why I keep wondering why Choice would trust him again.
Or anyone like him. Because it must be said: The chaos that has ensued since Roe was overturned is not only Trump’s fault.
Republicans targeted that decision for 50 years, and for the most part, with the same amount of critical thinking and thoughtfulness demonstrated by Trump. One member of Congress, Todd Akin, infamously said pregnancies caused by rape need not be excluded from abortion bans, because “if it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” That was in 2012. A decade later, to receive an abortion, a 10-year-old rape victim in Indiana was reportedly forced to travel to Ohio.
Vance, who will never be in a position to make that choice himself, wasn’t happy about it.
“Look, I think two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said regarding exceptions for rape or incest. He also used the word “inconveniences” when characterizing the decision. As if carrying a pregnancy to term would be a mere “inconvenience” to a fifth-grader.
Vance also said: “No Republican with any reasonable power is saying that we should have a complete national abortion ban,” despite the fact that for 40 years a federal abortion ban has been part of the Republican Party’s platform.
It was removed just last month, at the request of Trump. He is trying to get back together with my friend Choice so he can get back in the White House.
But Choice needs more than talk. Choice needs a partner who is willing to commit.
LZ Granderson is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
