Thursday’s debate was an unmitigated disaster for Democrats. Appearing on the national debate stage for perhaps the first time, former President Donald Trump appeared relatively calm and articulate. By comparison, President Joe Biden appears senile, incoherent and often seems unable to form a comprehensible sentence.
While questions surrounding Biden’s cognitive abilities have defined the 81-year-old president’s campaign, any legitimate denials about his mental acuity were destroyed by his poor performance on Thursday.
While Biden’s apparent cognitive decline dominated the debate’s response, he made another underrated mistake.
About abortion and post-abortion issuesDobbs The abortion bans sweeping dozens of states should have been a no-brainer for Biden. According to one polling Reports released in March showed that one in eight voters ranked abortion as a top issue. when The abortion question is on the ballot, and voters are resisting bans — even in red states like Kansas and Kentucky.
Yet Biden’s comments about abortion during Thursday’s debate were almost a coherent blunder, highlighting, rather than downplaying, the weaknesses of the Democratic position on abortion.
“I support Roe v. Wade“Three of those trimesters,” Biden said in response to a question about whether he supported any abortion restrictions.The first time was between a woman and a doctor. The second time was between the doctor and extreme circumstances. The third time was between doctors – I mean, it was between women and the state.
While it’s not entirely clear what Biden meant, I think a good-faith reading of his comments goes something like this: A first-trimester abortion should be done between the woman and her doctor (i.e., always acceptable), with the more rare second-trimester abortion Abortions should also be performed in the second trimester.
The problem with this answer is that late-term abortion is extremely unpopular. According to a May Gallup poll, only 35% of Americans (including just 30% of independents) think abortion should be Allowed in all situations.
Democrats’ general resistance to supporting any restrictions on abortion makes them vulnerable to the scary late-trimester hypothesis. “As we speak, he is willing to pull babies out of the womb and kill babies at the ninth month,” Trump said. “No one wants that to happen.”
Biden tried to refute Trump’s frame-up, saying “Roe v. Wade There is no provision for this. This is not the case. Only one woman’s life is in danger. She is dying. This is the only situation where this can happen.
Although Biden is right roe There is no requirement that states allow postviability (usually between 20 and 24 weeks) abortion, and his answer was unsatisfactory. Nine states and the District of Columbia have no gestation limits on abortion and allow doctors to perform abortions purely for elective reasons. Trump took full advantage of this weakness.
“under Roe v. Wade. You have a late-term miscarriage. You can do whatever you want,” Trump said. “Depending on the state, you can do whatever you want. We don’t think it’s a good thing. We think it’s a radical thing. We think Democrats are the radicals, not Republicans.
Although late-term abortions account for less than 2% of all abortions, this still Amount The number of abortions after 20 weeks is approximately 10,000. The fact that many states allow abortion without regard to gestational age and without requiring a medical diagnosis or health emergency irks many voters.
Rather than seizing the opportunity to highlight the devastating impact of a blanket ban on abortion, we can use the stories of women like this Amanda Zulawski Denied abortion despite facing life-threatening medical complications – Biden made a critical mistake that set Trump apart.
