The WØRD – “Whatever” – Party on the Peninsulas

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From Chairperson Lavora Barnes

“Whatever”.

That’s Donald Trump’s position on reproductive healthcare. He’s for whatever is convenient at the time he’s asked about it. In 1999, he said on Meet the Press that he was pro-choice, and opposed any federal law restricting abortion (even virtually non-existent late-term abortions).

Well, he’s changed that position almost as regularly as he’s changed wives. For decades, Donald Trump’s stance on abortion has been a moving target.

In 2011, while considering a White House run, he told CPAC that he was pro-life.
In 2016, while running for president, he told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that there should be “some form of punishment” for the women who get abortions.
In 2018, he vowed to overturn Roe v. Wade and advocated for a 20-week national abortion ban.

His latest position: a wishy-washy “whatever”: leave it up to the states, many of which have banned and even criminalized abortion. Of course, he can’t run away from a fact about which he brags: he killed Roe.

We all know that what Donald Trump says doesn’t necessarily line up with what he will do. You can be certain that a Trump administration, given the chance, would put in place a national law similar to the law just upheld in Arizona: criminalizing abortion and making it illegal nationwide. That would wipe out Michigan’s constitutional guarantee, approved overwhelmingly by our voters, that women make their own healthcare decisions without the government’s interference.

While Trump says he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban, he hasn’t said how he will vote on the Florida constitutional amendment which would protect women’s reproductive freedom. Chances are he will dodge that question from now until November. And if, God forbid, he is elected and sent a nationwide ban, he will sign it.

As Rachel Maddow put it so concisely: “watch what they do, not what they say”.

Your Democratic party has made a commitment to reach out to all of Michigan. While Republicans cater to their extremist MAGA wing, Democrats are working in all 83 counties to show we’re working on behalf of everyone in this state. The facts backing that effort are undeniable. Since achieving the tri-fecta in state government, Democrats have moved the state forward on issues ranging from fixing the roads, strengthening the union rights of workers, expanding voter rights, guaranteeing the reproductive healthcare rights of women, cutting taxes for families, fighting climate change and much, much more.

But historically we’ve fallen short when it comes to elections in our smaller counties. Over the weekend our Rural Summit focused on how we can earn the support of more voters in rural Michigan.

Helping us define that strategy was one of the nation’s best pollsters, Celinda Lake. Celinda is one of the Democratic Party’s leading political strategists. She was one of two lead pollsters for the Biden campaign in 2020 and continues to serve as a pollster to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), other national party committees, and dozens of Democratic incumbents and challengers at all levels of the electoral process. Celinda and her firm, Lake Research Partners, are known for cutting-edge research on issues including the economy, health care, the environment, and education.

The WØRD – “Whatever”

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