Mission Aborted

 
On Friday, there was a notable news story that got deserved coverage.  But for however much coverage it did get, I think it’s a bigger story than was reported.  It’s that Trump said he would be voting for the six-week abortion ban on the ballot in Florida.
 
The story is bigger for several reasons. 
 
For starters, Trump criticized the Florida ballot measure, saying that he believed a ban of six weeks was too soon.  Which it is, being before almost all women even know they’re pregnant.  But it showed Trump's real thinking about abortion.
 
Then, only two days later, after being slammed by the outraged extreme evangelical right, Trump immediately did a U-turn and flipped so fast you feared bodily injury, changing his position, and announcing that he would now be voting for something that just 48 hours earlier he said he was against.
 
What this also did beyond changing his position so far was eliminate any attempt Trump may keep trying to make towards the center about abortion and “State’s Rights,” since he’s showing that he believes a six-week abortion ban by states is what he supports.
 
Additionally, it leaves him wide open to attack at the presidential debate for Kamala Harris to undercut any effort Trump tries to make hiding his position on abortion by her pointing out that Trump has not only proudly taken credit for getting rid of Roe v. Wade, but also that he supports a six-week abortion ban, which is essentially the same as banning abortion.
 
And finally, it undermines any attack Trump might try to make at the debate about Kamala Harris changing her position over the years on fracking.  She now can explain why her views changed after years, but not her underlying values – while Trump flip-flopped in just two days on abortion, a switch so fast it makes almost any position Trump takes to be in question.  Since if he can change a view that quickly because of pressure by the religious right, it suggests he can change his position on anything if enough pressure is put on him.
 
This was a truly terrible decision by Trump.  Disastrous, I think. 
 
But it’s also something that was inevitable, given how backed into a corner MAGOP politicians are over abortion.  For many years, they could cry out against abortion, knowing that that appealed to their extreme-right religious base, but safe in the knowledge that Roe v. Wade wasn’t going anywhere.  But once they got what they wished for, MAGOP politicians became like the dog chasing the car and finally catching it, but not knowing what to do once he did.