Republicans are exploring a shift away from pro-life strategy after election losses

[Brihaha]

SCOTUS rules unanimously to keep mifepristone legal.

Supreme Court retains full access to key abortion medication mifepristone​

In a unanimous ruling, the court sided with the Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone, and reversed a lower court decision that would have made it more difficult to obtain the drug used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions. The ruling was not on the substance of the case, but on a procedural ruling that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the case.

The justices were reviewing a decision from the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that said that the Food and Drug Administration failed to follow proper procedures or thoroughly explain its reasoning when it loosened regulations for obtaining mifepristone in 2016 and 2021.

The FDA, considered one of the world’s most stringent regulators, first approved the medication in 2000. The agency has repeatedly found the medication-abortion protocol that includes mifepristone and a second drug, misoprostol, to be a safe and effective alternative to surgical abortions.

Individual physicians and the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine filed the initial lawsuit in Amarillo, Tex., where the only sitting District Court judge is Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee known for his long-standing opposition to abortion.

Our Supreme Court seems weary of these partisan tactics of filing lawsuits in lower courts that are more favorable to their own causes. Like this one which was filed in Amarillo, Texas. This ruling seems to try and deter this practice of clogging up our courts with frivolous suits without any standing. I am encouraged by the fact this decision was unanimous. The Supreme Court just stood up for the rights of American women. Hip hip hooray!

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump advisers seek to simplify Republican Party platform, memo says​

Trump campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, the authors of the memo, criticized the “textbook-long platforms” the party has published for decades, which they said should be free from “special interest influence.” With the party’s current platform standing at more than 60 pages, the advisers emphasized that it was “incumbent upon” the party “to ensure our policy commitments to the American people are clear, concise, and easily digestible for every voter.”

[Why get bogged down in details of legislation and policy, when you can just say 100% MAGA!]

Steve Deace, a conservative commentator in Iowa [says the platform doesn't matter in the era of Trump.]

“Trump is king. He conquered the party. … He may now do as kings do,” Deace added.

Although it’s not clear yet what this year’s document will say, several pieces of the most current document, last adopted in 2016, run counter to Trump’s present-day political positions.

In 2016, Trump ran on a Republican platform that called for a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and a “human life amendment” to the U.S. Constitution that would give the fetus legal protections.

Trump has said that his position now is to allow states, not the federal government, to decide on any limits on the procedure in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion.

The 2016 document also said Republicans “will not accept any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed by force,” though Trump has indicated that he would pressure Ukraine to give up territory to achieve peace after the 2022 Russian invasion.

The process for crafting the new party platform is being run by lawyer Randy Evans, former U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg under Trump and the executive director of the 2024 platform committee; former Trump budget adviser Russell Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist who is seeking sweeping expansion of presidential power in a second Trump administration; and Ed Martin, a well-known social conservative activist who is president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, whose platform includes opposing feminist goals and championing of traditional, stay-at-home roles for women.

 

[Pommer]

Trump advisers seek to simplify Republican Party platform, memo says​

Trump campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, the authors of the memo, criticized the “textbook-long platforms” the party has published for decades, which they said should be free from “special interest influence.” With the party’s current platform standing at more than 60 pages, the advisers emphasized that it was “incumbent upon” the party “to ensure our policy commitments to the American people are clear, concise, and easily digestible for every voter.”

[Why get bogged down in details of legislation and policy, when you can just say 100% MAGA!]

Steve Deace, a conservative commentator in Iowa [says the platform doesn't matter in the era of Trump.]

“Trump is king. He conquered the party. … He may now do as kings do,” Deace added.

Although it’s not clear yet what this year’s document will say, several pieces of the most current document, last adopted in 2016, run counter to Trump’s present-day political positions.

In 2016, Trump ran on a Republican platform that called for a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and a “human life amendment” to the U.S. Constitution that would give the fetus legal protections.

Trump has said that his position now is to allow states, not the federal government, to decide on any limits on the procedure in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion.

The 2016 document also said Republicans “will not accept any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed by force,” though Trump has indicated that he would pressure Ukraine to give up territory to achieve peace after the 2022 Russian invasion.

The process for crafting the new party platform is being run by lawyer Randy Evans, former U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg under Trump and the executive director of the 2024 platform committee; former Trump budget adviser Russell Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist who is seeking sweeping expansion of presidential power in a second Trump administration; and Ed Martin, a well-known social conservative activist who is president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, whose platform includes opposing feminist goals and championing of traditional, stay-at-home roles for women.

[This could be its own thread?]

The platform is traditionally the “constitution” for how the candidate’s Party plans to run the Nation during the next four years, though this has proven to be a “wish-list” and if things were modified, nixed (or indeed the exact opposite was done), it was all good so long as the favorite son won.

This “development“ of (maybe) running without a platform, parallels the presumptive GOP nominee’s own reluctance to be weighted down with adherence to principles and just “winging-it”.
The MAGA faithful would have no problem with this, since they trust Mister Trump implicitly and whatever he might decide, would be aces with them.

One of the first things I see happening during 47’s reign, is to ax that pesky 22nd Amendment, that would stand in his way, to get everything done.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump advisers seek to simplify Republican Party platform, memo says​

In 2016, Trump ran on a Republican platform that called for a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and a “human life amendment” to the U.S. Constitution that would give the fetus legal protections.

Trump has said that his position now is to allow states, not the federal government, to decide on any limits on the procedure in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion.

Tempers flare as Trump team revises abortion plank for Republican platform​

The former president wants the platform to endorse leaving the issue to the states rather than a federal ban in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s demise.

The escalating behind-the-scenes disagreement over the abortion language has become so tense and acrimonious in recent weeks that some social conservative leaders have issued public warnings of a coming split within Trump’s coalition.

Trump advisers, in turn, have been angered by the public pressure from antiabortion activists, according to people familiar with the campaign’s internal discussions. At the same time, Trump allies are not overly worried about the platform skirmish, because evangelicals strongly opposed to abortion have remained among his most fervent supporters regardless of his evolving positions on the issue.

[Sorry, religious conservatives. You helped create this monster, and you lent your own authority to it. Now your flock follows his lead.]

In the face of the activist backlash, Trump’s advisers have barred the press and C-SPAN cameras from next week’s scheduled meetings of the platform committee, a break in tradition that has alarmed some delegates.

[Antiabortion activists] argue that a constitutional amendment on abortion — a feature of the GOP platform since the 1980s — can be seen as a state issue, since any amendment would ultimately need to be ratified by at least 38 of the 50 states. They also say that Trump’s recent statements on abortion fail to address the abortions performed in more liberal states that allow the procedure with relatively few limitations.

“[The antiabortion plank] is the language that both you and Ronald Reagan ran on and won,” the leaders wrote.

Some RNC members are also concerned that the Trump team will back away from the 2016 platform’s declaration that denounced the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. Trump advisers say privately that they do not want a fight over same-sex marriage and consider it a settled issue not worth re-litigating,

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a platform committee member, ... called the decision to restrict the press from the platform committee discussions “un-American,” and warned that the platform could be watered down to “a few pages of meaningless, poll-tested talking points.”

[Trump doesn't need 60 pages to say MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!]

 

[essentialsaltes]

Tempers flare as Trump team revises abortion plank for Republican platform​

The former president wants the platform to endorse leaving the issue to the states rather than a federal ban in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s demise.
The escalating behind-the-scenes disagreement over the abortion language has become so tense and acrimonious in recent weeks that some social conservative leaders have issued public warnings of a coming split within Trump’s coalition.

Fears grow among conservatives over change to abortion plank in GOP platform​

Prominent anti-abortion, evangelical and social conservative groups are pressuring the Republican National Committee not to moderate its stance on abortion, ahead of a meeting to draft a new GOP platform next week.

New efforts from groups including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life, and a coalition led by the Family Research Council are aimed at ensuring Republicans don’t make former President Trump’s leave-abortion-to-the states approach the official position of the party.

[Sorry, the party platform is generally a reflection of the presidential candidate's views.]

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said the anti-abortion movement has sought assurances ... but hasn’t heard anything.

“Every indication is that the campaign will muscle through changes behind closed doors,” Dannenfelser said in a statement. “If the Trump campaign decides to remove national protections for the unborn in the GOP platform, it would be a miscalculation that would hurt party unity and destroy pro-life enthusiasm between now and the election.”

... the campaign is also making sure the platform committee is comprised of members loyal to the campaign who are not necessarily anti-abortion hardliners.

 

[NxNW]

Trump Presses G.O.P. for Platform Draft That Softens Stance on Abortion​

Donald J. Trump told officials on Monday that he supports a draft of a new Republican Party platform, one that reflects the presumptive nominee’s new position on abortion rights and slims down policy specifics across all areas of government. The abortion section has been softened. There is no longer a reference to “traditional marriage” as between “one man and one woman.” And there is no longer an emphasis on reducing the national debt, only a brief line about “slashing wasteful government spending.”

The rest of the document reflects Mr. Trump’s priorities as outlined on his campaign website: a hard-line immigration policy, including mass deportations; a protectionist trade policy with new tariffs on most imports; and sections on using federal power to remove allegedly left-wing ideas from academia, the military and wherever else they may be found in the U.S. government.

Mr. Trump and his top aides have alienated some activists by shutting them out of the development of the platform. The former president was especially focused on softening the language on abortion — the issue he views as his biggest vulnerability in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The document makes no mention of a federal abortion ban, which Mr. Trump has said he opposes. Instead, the new platform stresses that Republicans oppose “late term abortion” and emphasizes that the party supports “access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”

 

[essentialsaltes]

New Trump-backed platform approved by Republican convention committee, source says​

The new Trump-aligned Republican Party platform, which softened the GOP’s language on abortion, was overwhelmingly passed by the convention’s platform committee Monday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

CNN is working to obtain a copy of the platform proposal.

 

[Pommer]

New Trump-backed platform approved by Republican convention committee, source says​

The new Trump-aligned Republican Party platform, which softened the GOP’s language on abortion, was overwhelmingly passed by the convention’s platform committee Monday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

CNN is working to obtain a copy of the platform proposal.

A GOP platform that’s “moderate” on abortion?
Mercy me, has that asteroid been sighted!?

 

[essentialsaltes]

A GOP platform that’s “moderate” on abortion?
Mercy me, has that asteroid been sighted!?

Posted link in new thread.

The word only appears once, in relation to being against "late term" abortions.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Where exactly is this political purge taking place? Within the troops? Pentagon employees?

 

[Pommer]

View attachment 351269

Where exactly is this political purge taking place? Within the troops? Pentagon employees?

Didn’t Truman initiate this whole “woke” thing by integrating the military?

 

[RocksInMyHead]

View attachment 351269

Where exactly is this political purge taking place? Within the troops? Pentagon employees?

This probably belongs in your other thread.

 

[NxNW]

View attachment 351269

Relax; it only applies to Democrats who are both woke and Leftwing.

My question is: will the Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield bump into the Biblical Firmament Dome?

 

[essentialsaltes]

My question is: will the Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield bump into the Biblical Firmament Dome?

That will indeed become a problem when they make good on another wholesale 'firing'.

When the only accreditation organization left is the...

Association for Biblical Higher Education​

they will have to rule on such divine matters.

 

[essentialsaltes]

These [Texas] GOP women begged the party to abandon abortion. Then came backlash.​

“Every time we talk about abortion, we are putting gas in the tank of the Democrats. That’s their one winning issue,” the 70-year-old state delegate told her fellow Texas Republicans at the party’s convention in late May, a gathering of 10,000 delegates from across the state. Her party had already made abortion illegal, she said, and now some were seeking to go even further.

“What are we going to do,” she said from the podium, “ … stone women next?”

Drawing inspiration from both Ronald Reagan and Gloria Steinem, [she and her like-minded colleagues] left their tree-lined neighborhoods for the fluorescent lights of a San Antonio convention center, all in pursuit of the same goal: Persuade the Texas Republican Party to stop talking about abortion.

But many on the right are resisting these efforts to leave the abortion issue behind. Christian conservatives, a key part of the party’s base, have continued to pressure Trump and other Republicans to crack down, arguing that fighting abortion is a core tenet of the Republican platform — and that the battle should continue until abortion is eradicated nationwide.

“I don’t want to stand before God and say, ‘Listen, we had to deny these biblical principles so we could win the election,’” said James Buntrock, a pastor and Republican Senate district leader in Harris County, Tex., where Bayegan lives. “We have to stand for what’s right. I don’t care what it costs.”

“I’m up here begging you not to make [the anti-abortion stance] one of our priorities,” Bayegan said, wearing a giant homemade button that read “Win or Else!”

“Do you believe it matters what God believes, ... or do you think it just matters to win elections?” asked another [TX GOP committee member].

--

The backlash was harsh. When a group member spoke, audience members often fired back with a string of personal attacks, questioning their faith and values. One person told them they were going to “burn in [heck],” they said. Others insinuated they weren’t real Republicans.

“These individuals are living in an alternate reality,” Matt Rinaldi, the former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, tweeted during the convention. “Principles win elections.”

Two weeks later, the Texas Republican Party released its official list of the eight issues they’d be prioritizing for the next two years — the result of a convention-wide vote.

Abortion was not on it. [unlike previous years]

Less than 24 hours after their victory event, a Republican Party friend called Bouchard with a warning: [Pastor/TX GOP district leader] Buntrock and others were circulating a petition to formally condemn Right to Win and any other Republican who did not prioritize a belief in “the sanctity of innocent human life.”

[The petition passed, but they backed away from an earlier version that would have expelled the women from the Republican Party.]

 

[Pommer]

These [Texas] GOP women begged the party to abandon abortion. Then came backlash.​

“Every time we talk about abortion, we are putting gas in the tank of the Democrats. That’s their one winning issue,” the 70-year-old state delegate told her fellow Texas Republicans at the party’s convention in late May, a gathering of 10,000 delegates from across the state. Her party had already made abortion illegal, she said, and now some were seeking to go even further.

“What are we going to do,” she said from the podium, “ … stone women next?”

Drawing inspiration from both Ronald Reagan and Gloria Steinem, [she and her like-minded colleagues] left their tree-lined neighborhoods for the fluorescent lights of a San Antonio convention center, all in pursuit of the same goal: Persuade the Texas Republican Party to stop talking about abortion.

But many on the right are resisting these efforts to leave the abortion issue behind. Christian conservatives, a key part of the party’s base, have continued to pressure Trump and other Republicans to crack down, arguing that fighting abortion is a core tenet of the Republican platform — and that the battle should continue until abortion is eradicated nationwide.

“I don’t want to stand before God and say, ‘Listen, we had to deny these biblical principles so we could win the election,’” said James Buntrock, a pastor and Republican Senate district leader in Harris County, Tex., where Bayegan lives. “We have to stand for what’s right. I don’t care what it costs.”

“I’m up here begging you not to make [the anti-abortion stance] one of our priorities,” Bayegan said, wearing a giant homemade button that read “Win or Else!”

“Do you believe it matters what God believes, ... or do you think it just matters to win elections?” asked another [TX GOP committee member].

--

The backlash was harsh. When a group member spoke, audience members often fired back with a string of personal attacks, questioning their faith and values. One person told them they were going to “burn in [heck],” they said. Others insinuated they weren’t real Republicans.

“These individuals are living in an alternate reality,” Matt Rinaldi, the former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, tweeted during the convention. “Principles win elections.”

Two weeks later, the Texas Republican Party released its official list of the eight issues they’d be prioritizing for the next two years — the result of a convention-wide vote.

Abortion was not on it. [unlike previous years]

Less than 24 hours after their victory event, a Republican Party friend called Bouchard with a warning: [Pastor/TX GOP district leader] Buntrock and others were circulating a petition to formally condemn Right to Win and any other Republican who did not prioritize a belief in “the sanctity of innocent human life.”

[The petition passed, but they backed away from an earlier version that would have expelled the women from the Republican Party.]

Texas will be light purple by 2028

 

[essentialsaltes]

MAGA candidate for Ohio Senate says he'll take 'tough questions' from press — then rejects one immediately​

“I can tell you this, if I'm here, I will talk to you at any point in time, even take tough questions," Moreno said, while standing outside Brown's office. "Sherrod Brown won't do that.”

But then, according to NBC News' Frank Thorp, Moreno was instantly asked whether his stance on abortion rights matches the newly updated position in the GOP platform, to which he responded, “We’re not here to talk about abortion.”

 

[Pommer]

MAGA candidate for Ohio Senate says he'll take 'tough questions' from press — then rejects one immediately​

“I can tell you this, if I'm here, I will talk to you at any point in time, even take tough questions," Moreno said, while standing outside Brown's office. "Sherrod Brown won't do that.”

But then, according to NBC News' Frank Thorp, Moreno was instantly asked whether his stance on abortion rights matches the newly updated position in the GOP platform, to which he responded, “We’re not here to talk about abortion.”

We’re here to dodge the tough questions!

 

[essentialsaltes]

JD Vance moves toward Trump on abortion as VP announcement nears​

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) has been reshaping how he talks about abortion amid widespread speculation that he could be tapped as former President Trump’s running mate.

Much like Trump, who is expected to announce his vice president pick by this weekend, Vance has been trying to show he can moderate on the issue.

During his campaign for Senate, Vance applauded the overturning of Roe v. Wade and supported Texas’s ban on abortion, which does not allow exceptions other than cases where the mother’s life is at risk.

In a post on X in November 2023, Vance said state anti-abortion laws need exceptions for them to have a chance at passing.

[He recently supported Trump's 'leave it to the states' position.]

That’s in contrast to his Senate campaign, when Vance said during the debate in 2022 that “some minimum national standard is totally fine with me.”

 

[essentialsaltes]

Mostly absent on GOP convention stage: Abortion, gun rights and Reagan​

Fixtures of the GOP’s rhetoric for decades have been conspicuously missing from much of the party’s presentation in Milwaukee.

Eric Trump made somewhat dismissive comments this week about the Republican Party watering down its platform on abortion and same-sex marriage.

“This country has real holes in the roof, and you’ve got to fix those holes, and you’ve got to stop worrying about the little spot on the wall in the basement,” former president Donald Trump’s middle son told NBC News.

Through three nights at the GOP convention, the word “abortion” didn’t appear to have been uttered once onstage. That’s compared with 18 times in a single night of the 2020 convention, according to a transcript.