(LifeSiteNews) — As the U.S. presidential election looms, both candidates are utilizing every method to reach new audiences to shop for votes—including appearing on non-traditional media such as popular podcasts. Previously, Donald Trump appeared on the “This Past Weekend,” a popular podcast run by comedian Theo Von, to talk politics and addiction. Kamala Harris, as I noted earlier in this space, went on the sex advice podcast “Call Her Daddy,” where she once again presented herself as the abortion candidate.
In many ways, these podcasts have become more important than traditional media outlets. They reach audiences of younger voters who do not generally engage with media (especially cable TV). That is why what the candidates say on these podcasts is important—and why their comments on abortion are important in particular. Trump and Harris are attempting to win over listeners and viewers, and how they do that is indicative of their political strategy. Harris, of course, is all in on feticide. Trump’s trajectory, as his latest podcast appearance indicated, is still chaotic.
When Trump was running as a pro-life candidate, he emphasized his opposition to abortion (although focusing primarily on late-term abortion), while downplaying his support for “exceptions” such as sexual assault. His constantly evolving strategy this time around is to emphasize his support for exceptions and to downplay his previous pro-life record, insisting that the goal of overturning Roe v. Wade was not to pave the way for pro-life protections, but to allow states to do whatever they want.
In short: The pro-life movement always saw the overturn of Roe as a stepping stone; Trump and many other GOP politicians now present it as the end goal. They’ve moved the goal posts in order to declare victory while abandoning the political agenda of the pro-life movement, which has always been about protections for pre-born children in the womb.
Trump emphasized this on his most recent podcast appearance. “Flagrant” is a comedy podcast, and comedian Andrew Schulz opened the abortion segment of conversation (it begins around an hour and six minutes in) by baiting Trump. “So tell me this,” Schulz said. “Barron is 18, he’s handsome, he’s tall, he’s rich…” Trump interjected, agreeing. “He’s about to be unleashed in New York City,” Schulz continued. “Are you sure you want to reverse Roe v. Wade now? Maybe give him a few years!” Everyone burst into laughter; the message was clear. Barron is going to need abortion to be legal, because what if he gets some girls pregnant while sleeping around? Funny, right?
Trump pivoted. “It’s up to the states, and I believe in exceptions and all of the different things.” Schulz nodded. “You’ve been vocal about that.” Trump continued: “I’ve been very, very strong, very tough.” He implied that abortion was costing the GOP elections, and said, again, that “Roe v. Wade was always about getting it back to the states.” He then reiterated his confusing claim that “no legal scholar, no Democrat, wanted it in the federal government”—which is obviously untrue. In fact, Kamala Harris is promising to nuke the filibuster just to be able to enshrine abortion “rights” in federal law. She’s running on that platform.
“There’s some people, and I think that group is smaller and smaller when they realize what’s going on, that [support abortion] under no circumstances,” Trump emphasized. “I don’t happen to agree.” Schulz then told Trump that he and his wife had obtained a child through IVF, and that he appreciated Trump’s proposal to fund IVF and was looking forward to a refund, adding that he did not understand why some people opposed IVF. “These are crooked politicians,” Trump responded. He then explained that embryo-destroying IVF is “a great thing” and detailed how he had responded to the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos are children.
Notice: Trump’s campaign strategy this time around is emphasizing his differences with the pro-life movement rather than their common ground. Trump ended the segment by emphasizing that exceptions are necessary wherever pro-life legal protections are passed, stating: “I do believe in exceptions: life of the mother and incest. If your daughter’s raped by somebody and let’s say he’s from a prison from some place and he’s killed people and everything else, absolutely you have to be able to [have an abortion].”
READ: Pro-life OB/GYN affirms abortion is never medically necessary in Senate testimony
Will this have an impact? I think it might. A Florida abortion group sent out a mailer using Trump’s own words to urge people to vote for Amendment 4 in November. “He probably doesn’t hate it,” an anonymous Trump confidant, who has discussed the issue with Trump and spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Bulwark. “He might vote for the amendment privately. I don’t care what other people say. Six weeks is just bad.” It isn’t just abortion groups that are getting the message—pro-lifers and Christians are too. As a result, recent polling data indicates that a growing number of American Christians—41 million according to a survey by George Barna—are thinking of sitting out the election.
As Newsweek put it:
The decline in Trump’s support among Christian and evangelical groups comes as the former president faces widespread criticism from these movements for his wavering stance on abortion during this campaign. Trump has repeatedly downplayed the importance of abortion, stating that it is no longer a ‘big factor’ in elections and predicting it will become ‘a very small issue’ in this year’s vote.
I’ve been saying this for months: If Trump continues to emphasize his pro-abortion views and insist that he opposes pro-life protections, this will cost him precious votes in states where he and Harris are neck in neck. He isn’t going to win over pro-abortion voters. He should stop repudiating pro-life voters who want reasons to vote for him other than the fact that he is not Kamala Harris.
