Cut Donald Some Slack

Once again the established world is coming down hard on Trump because of the latest utterances being emitted from his unhinged jaw.  This time, however, the shrill tones being wailed come from opposite ends of the socio-political spectrum in, of all things, harmony.

Okay, everyone is aware that in a Chris Mathews interview the Donald said some kind of punishment should be meted out to pregnant woman who go through with an abortion.  

Any reasonable observer would also know that his response was 98% kneejerk.  Asked the question he paused and paused again, his cerebral search function downloading anything which would tell him the most evasive answer with the least consequence.

It settled on abortion bad, so the answer had to be punishment good.

As what has happened before with the Donald, and in all fairness to almost countless others running for public office, he quickly fired off a correction after being dummy slapped by his “team” leaders.  They poured a bucket of it was taken out of context, I didn’t really say it, I obviously meant doctors, I cherish all women on the fire.  Then he retired to the shadows to see if the whole adventure actually worked to his benefit.  Modus operandi.

The Pro-Choice folks of course stepped in immediately with their outrage. Considering it was Donald Trump they were attacking, their righteous anger sounded more like platitudes than the continuance of a serious debate.

But what was up with these Pro-Life, Right to Life, love of life anti-abortion action groups, including the remaining two Republican Presidential candidates?  They all hurled every nasty epithet they could at the Donald saying he doesn’t represent their position.  “This is not who we are” the groups tweeted, “…of course the mother should not be punished” said both Ted C and John K. 

Now, wait a minute.  Just how wrong was the Trumpster?

Since 1973 and the rise of the Conservative American Theocracy, the Pro-Life crowd has called abortion murder.  The lunatic fringe of that movement has gone so far as to try, convict, and carry out the executions of doctors who aggressively support Pro-Choice positions.  The movement makes no bones about restricting health services to women in pursuing their agenda (a punishment in itself), nor will it address the fact that their ultimate success only affects poor women or women of limited means, essentially a discriminatory penalty.

All criminal law is society’s attempt to externalize ethics for the greater good.  What is good and what isn’t is the constant struggle of our domestic politics and courts.

The entire Pro-Life effort is based on a moral imperative which ranks any successful abortion as a crime.  The hypocrisy of saying that, under a state law outlawing abortion, only the doctor would be violating the ethic and thus the law is painfully clear.  You can’t have it both ways.

The reality is that poor ol’ Donald unwittingly gave the Pro-Life position out loud.  I’m guessing he probably doesn’t give a flying fig one way or the other.

The irony is that the Pro-Life enthusiasts have no problem penalizing women before and during an abortion. They’re doing it in Conservative run states all over the Country today.  Why should anyone think that, given the power, they would have any problem penalizing a woman after an abortion?  If you do, Cruz is your man.

I’m beginning to think it’s no accident that Ted Cruz is the personification of Snydley Whiplash minus the mustache.  I just can’t get that image out of my head.