There has to be some form of punishment
What was that about Trump’s hatred of women?
Donald J. Trump, pressed Wednesday on his support for a ban on abortion and what it would mean in practice, said that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who have abortions.
Those whores. No punishment for men, of course, who have absolutely nothing to do with it.
He took it back hours later after everyone yelled at him.
Mr. Trump made the comments in a town-hall-style forum with the MSNBC host Chris Matthews that was prerecorded for broadcast Wednesday night. Mr. Matthews pressed Mr. Trump on his support for criminalizing abortion, asking him how he would enforce such a ban.
He tried to dodge the question at first, then he coughed up an answer.
“I am pro-life,” Mr. Trump said after a few attempts. Asked how an abortion ban would be put in place, he said, “You go back to a position like they had where they would perhaps go to illegal places. But you have to ban it.”
Ah that’s a great idea – because that way far more women will die, and that’s punishment, isn’t it.
Finally, Mr. Matthews asked Mr. Trump, “You’re about to be chief executive of the United States. Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no?”
Mr. Trump responded: “The answer is there has to be some form of punishment.”
“Ten days?” Mr. Matthews asked. “Ten years?”
Mr. Trump replied, “I don’t know,” adding, “It’s a very complicated position.”
Nah. Just punish the sluts, because that’s the important thing.
“Not only is this an unhinged position far from where the American people are, but it is sure to endanger women were he to become president,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, which has endorsed Mrs. Clinton. “Everywhere abortion is illegal, the number of abortions don’t go down. But the number of injuries and deaths go up.”
Alluding to Tuesday’s arrest of Mr. Trump’s campaign manager on a charge of battery against a female journalist, Ms. Hogue added, “It’s appalling that in a week where Trump has blamed the victim of violence at the hands of his campaign manager, he would offer to be the leader to inflict more violence on women whether through forcing us back into the back alley or punishing us for making our own health care decisions.”
Look, the guy just doesn’t like women. Is that so terribly wrong?
I was just reading this report in our local media. It confirms that Trump’s one consistent policy position is contempt and control of
cattlewomen. There are no words for the rage this makes me feel.Charles Lavoie redux, 2016: any Trump utterance whatsoever may safely be responded to with, simply, ‘Christ, what an asshole’. It will always fit.
Tweety Matthews is such a fucking prat. I just watched that segment. Here’s how you ask that douchebag about abortion.
“If you want to prevent abortion, the best way is to prevent accidental pregnancy. What’s your position on birth control? Shouldn’t it be freely available?”
“You say you’re ‘pro-life’ and that abortion should be banned. Abortion is legal. Roe v Wade. Settled law. How do you propose to change that?”
“Never mind the Catholic church’s position. The First Amendment prohibits making law based on religion, any religion. Why do you even bring that up? Don’t you know how the Constitution works?”
Tweety should apologize to trees for wasting the oxygen they produce.
AJ, aren’t you being a bit hard on ass holes? They do perform a useful function.
Nitpicky jokes aside. Yup. Absolutely.
For many anti-abortion campaigners, it is an open question as to whether that person knows about the back alley abortion trade, and all that that entails. When Trump said “You go back to a position like they had where they would perhaps go to illegal places…” he made it clear he is aware of that aspect of the abortion debate. Aware of it, and ok with it.
More than OK with it. He is actively promoting that as how it should be. Because it punishes women. He wants to punish women. Horrible maiming at the hands of an unskilled, unclean, hack surgeon is suitable punishment for a woman who dares to control her own life instead of letting Trump control it for her.
As horrible as Trump is in every way, what are we to make of the people who think abortion is murder, but who also think women who get abortions shouldn’t be punished?
Women are too… childlike to be held accountable for their actions?
The abortion-is-murder-but-of-course-woman-shouldn’t-be-punished-for-having-abortions crowd confuses me even more than the regular-old anti-choice bunch. I think they’re afraid to say what they really think. (Or afraid to think what they really think.)
Ben – you’ve hit the nail on the head. I always thought there were two groups that made sense: those that think abortion is murder and something needs to be done to those who do it, and the group that has no problem with abortion because it isn’t murder.
The left especially is very conflicted about this issue. There are many on the left who hold the second position, but there are a lot who feel very uncomfortable, think that abortion is murder, and yet it should not be punished. They’re all over the lot about whether it should be legal or not, and almost always feel there should be exceptions to any bans, which I suppose they would make like the self-defense exception for murder. I’ve seen them work themselves into pretzels trying to make their positions work, and getting more and more tangled the more they talked. Yes, women should have the right to choose, but…. Yes, abortion should be illegal, but…..
The problem is, they don’t want to take a stand because of personal discomfort with abortion and a commitment to individual rights that keep getting them so tangled up. This is the group we need to be working with, because this is the group the anti-choice folks are targeting the most. They keep them in pretzels in the hope that when they straighten out, they will be shouting “it’s a baby!”
Ben, back in the late ’80s I heard an interview with Dan Quayle’s* wife Marilyn, in which she was asked if a woman who gets an abortion should be charged with a crime. She said “No,” and when asked why, responded “Because she submits to the abortionist.” That answer burned itself into my brain; evil “abortionists” seducing women into letting them murder their babies, presumably cackling and rubbing their hands together all the while.
* Bush 41’s Vice President
Didn’t a bunch of TV comedians calling him “Drumpf” end Trump’s campaign?