It’s been less than a week since the narcissistic man-child Donnie-boy took his “Oath of Office” (which, in his case, means nothing), and so far, he’s signed a slew of executive orders that will make life much more difficult for average Americans – particularly those with low incomes.
But he and his cronies aren’t satisfied with just hurting the poor in America; he’s also going after women in developing countries. On Monday, he reinstated a Reagan-era executive order that that stops any nongovernmental organization (NGO) from receiving foreign aid money if they either provide or even mention abortion services.
It’s bad enough that reinstituting this rule, known as the “Gag Rule” or “Mexico City Rule,” is going to have devastating consequences for women’s health and reproductive freedom throughout the world. It’s even worse that Donnie-boy’s executive order is only the opening salvo in what he has vowed will be an all-out war against reproductive rights here and abroad. He has also promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade. What makes this particularly egregious, however is its sheer hypocrisy.
There was a story going around a few months ago that was published on Daily Kos, reporting that Donald Trump had paid for five abortions for women he had impregnated. That story turned out to false. However, there was a time when one of the many women in his life was faced with an unexpected pregnancy.
Last March, Lawrence O’Donnell presented an audio clip of Trump being interviewed by radio “shock jock” Howard Stern. He was discussing his old flame, Marla Maples, whom he started dating in 1989 and eventually married in December of 1993 (and divorced in 1999).
While Donald and Marla were dating, she was on the Pill – but no form of contraceptive is 100% foolproof. In 1993, she announced that she was expecting. It was a joyful occasion for Marla: she told him, “Darling, I’m so happy, we’re having a child!”
Donald was less thrilled at the prospect. Instead of doing what any real man in love would do, taking his beloved into his arms and expressing his own joy, he said: “Uh, excuse me? What are we going to do about this?”
The implication of that statement is crystal clear.
Marla Maples did have the child, whom she named Tiffany – now 23, working as a model and “Internet celebrity.” But it is obvious that, had Donald had his way, that young woman would not be alive today.
The point here is not about whether abortion is right or wrong. It has never been a moral issue. It’s about personal choice. Marla Maples chose to have Donald Trump’s child. She might have chosen otherwise – but at least she had that choice. Now, her ex-husband wants to deny that choice to every other woman in the world.
It’s also significant that when Trump signed this most recent travesty of an “Executive Order,” he was surrounded by men. Not a woman in sight.
Anyone who has ever bothered to really talk to a woman who has had an abortion understands that in the overwhelming majority of cases, it is an economic decision; the woman simply does not have the resources or support to feed and care for a child. That fact is in addition to the fact that people like Donald Trump and the rest of the so-called “pro-lifers” usually don’t give a tinker’s damn about that child once s/he is born. As far as these people are concerned, to quote political personality Randi Rhodes, “life begins at conception and ends at birth.”
Here’s a bright idea, Donnie-boy: instead of making it impossible for women to obtain abortion services, how about strengthening those social safety nets? Maybe a woman who knows she’ll get prenatal care, health care for her child and resources and support, who knows she won’t have to live in abject poverty and bring a child into a world where there isn’t enough to eat – maybe that woman will choose to have the child. While we’re on the subject, how about making it easier to prevent those pregnancies in the first place by making contraception more easily available?
If society’s goal is the reduce the number of abortions, that is the way to go about it. But that’s not in the right-wing conservative mindset. To them, it’s about patriarchy, it’s about self-righteous moralizing and its about control over women’s bodies and sexual behavior.
Spare up your hypocrisy, Donald.
