Back in the early 1980s, the late conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) — a scathing critic of the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., the Moral Majority and televangelist Pat Robertson — warned fellow Republicans that they were opening a Pandora's box by embracing the Religious Right. And more than 40 years later, 2024 GOP presidential nominee is trying to please his far-right white evangelical supporters despite the backlash from voters who are still angry over anti-abortion laws and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The New York Times' Jamelle Bouie, in his September 6 column, stresses that although Christian nationalism is a liability for Trump, he doesn't want to alienate fundamentalist evangelicals who have been supporting him.
"Donald Trump is stuck," Bouie argues. "He is a brutally transactional politician who represents a coalition of ideologues. His instinct is to promise the moon, and he'll say anything to get a vote — or just to get out of a room. He also knows, however, that he has no choice but to dance with the date that brought him. He can't abandon the groups, interested parties and constituencies that put him in the White House to execute their agenda — to exercise their will."
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The liberal columnist continues, "The problem comes when most voters don't want what your partners hope to do with the power they helped you get. Such is the case for abortion."
Bouie stresses that "the movement to outlaw abortion, restrict contraception and severely limit the scope of reproductive health care" is "wildly unpopular" — a fact that Trump is well-aware of.
"This is why he has tried the two-step of celebrating his appointments to the (U.S. Supreme) Court but distancing himself from the consequences, both practical and political, of his anti-abortion accomplishments," Bouie explains. "Even the most gifted rhetoricians would struggle to sell this to the public. That, obviously, is not Trump. Unsurprisingly, he has floundered."
Bouie notes that Students for Life President Kristian Hawkins, a prominent anti-abortion activist, has accused Trump of selling out "pro-lifers" — yet many voters continue to deeply resent the High Court's ruling in Jackson v. Women's Health Organization.
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"So far in this campaign," Bouie observes, "the former president has not had to answer for his corruption in office, his two impeachments or his disastrous handling of most aspects of the pandemic. But he has had to answer for Dobbs, and it is clear that he has no idea how to deal with a problem he can't solve by talking out of both sides of his mouth."
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Jamelle Bouie's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).
