A friend of mine is having problems with her ex.
Charismatic, rich and famous, and he can't commit.
In 1999, when he first fell in love with my friend — let’s call her “Choice” — he appeared on “Meet the Press” and told the nation over and over again that Choice was the one for him.
Opinion columnist
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LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports, and navigating life in America.
Then, when he began to think about public office again in 2011, he split from Choice and began hanging out with Pro-Life.
It happens. And breakups can be ugly. But this guy took it to the extreme.
Back in 2016, Donald Trump (you guessed it was Trump, right?) was already suggesting that women should be punished for exercising their right to choose. After the House of Representatives passed a national abortion ban in 2017, this man not only applauded the bill, but he also spent much of 2018 trying to get the Senate to follow suit. In fact, he was the first sitting president to address the March for Life convention and say, “Send it to my desk for me to sign.” He was just a few votes short.
It's hard to believe. I don't know what Choice saw in that guy, because he's a very peculiar guy.
“American women are not stupid,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently said of this presidential election, noting that 14 states have banned abortion since Trump-appointed judges overturned Roe v. Wade. “We are not going to entrust the future of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking abortion access for women across the country.”
In 2022, he bragged about what his Supreme Court had done. Now it's 2024 and he's struggling to find younger women at the polls, so he's back to making empty promises to impress Choice, with His campaign said he would veto any national ban.This is from the guy who almost managed to push one.
Total user.
On Sunday, she invited fellow Sen. J.D. Vance to “Meet the Press” to set the record straight about the former president’s history with Choice — something that had to be done only because she’s been in and out of the relationship for 25 years.
“It’s important to step back and ask ourselves, ‘What has Donald Trump really said on the abortion issue?’” Vance said.
Well, let's do it.
In 1999, on “Meet the Press,” when Trump was considering a run for the White House, then-host Tim Russert asked him if he would ban abortions, and he said no.
In fact, Trump has repeatedly said: He said he was in favor of freedom of choice.. Even “very pro-choice.”
But to win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, he couldn’t be. So he dismissed Choice and said those seeking an abortion should have “some kind of punishment.” One Trump term later, that’s the reality facing 2 in 5 women in this country. So I still wonder why Choice would trust him again.
Or anyone like him. Because it has to be said: the chaos that has erupted since Roe was overturned is not Trump's fault alone.
Republicans have been approaching that decision for 50 years, and for the most part with the same dose of critical thinking and reflection that Trump demonstrated. One member of Congress, Todd Akin, he infamously said Pregnancies caused by rape should not be excluded from abortion bans, because “if it is legitimate rape, the female body has ways of trying to stop all of that.” That was in 2012. A decade later, in order to receive an abortion, a 10-year-old rape victim in Indiana He was reportedly forced to travel to Ohio.
Vance, who will never be in a position to make that decision himself, was not happy about it.
“Look, I think two wrongs don’t make a right,” she said of exceptions for rape or incest. She also used the word “inconvenience” in characterizing the decision, as if carrying a pregnancy to term was a mere “inconvenience” for a fifth-grader.
This weekend on “Meet the Press,” Vance also said, “No Republican with any reasonable power is saying we should have a total ban on abortion nationwide,” despite the fact that a federal abortion ban has been part of the Republican Party platform for 40 years.
Was deleted last monthat Trump's request. He's trying to get back with my friend Choice so he can go back to the White House.
But choice needs more than just words. Choice needs a partner who is willing to commit.
