On Sunday’s edition of AM Joy, a discussion on President Trump’s potential Supreme Court justice pick turned into a full frontal attack on Republicans and the party’s pro-life positions. Three separate guests lambasted the GOP as hypocrites not fit to accurately call themselves pro-life.
The Beat DC’s Tiffany Cross said that the issue was “red meat” that allowed Trump's base “to give him a bottomless mulligan when he supported an accused child molester,” referring to his backing of Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. They will let President Trump get away with anything, “Because they care so much about fetuses but very little about children crossing the border in cages or children in Flint Michigan drinking poison water,” Cross claimed.
Michelle Bernard of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy chimed in, saying Republicans also don’t care for “children with black or brown skin.” Both were constructing straw-man arguments, creating their own definition of “pro-life” and then attacking Republicans for not adopting all the tenets of their progressive agenda.
Later on, Cross reiterated her attack against pro-lifers. After Republican strategist Katon Dawson mentioned the pro-life GOP platform, Cross said: “I also want to respectfully correct Katon and say I don’t know that Trump’s base is pro-life. They're pro-fetus. But I think it's an error to call them pro-life.” She seemed to neglect that protecting the life of the fetus would in and of itself qualify as being pro-life. Nevertheless, she felt it necessary to claim that “we are certainly the losers as the American public, should any of these justices get confirmed.” The vulnerable unborn might disagree.
Anushay Hossain, a writer for Women in the World, fatalistically declared: “Donald Trump has made clear that he is a president for his base. He's definitely going to pick a candidate who’s gonna overturn Roe versus Wade. And I think that it's not only terrifying, but it also demonstrates that this base, Donald Trump's base, is not pro-life.” Apparently, seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade does not a pro-lifer make.
Hossain continued: “They're not pro-life, they’re pro-fetus. They don't care about the woman’s life, they don’t care about a living woman, a breathing woman's decision over if whether she wants to have a pregnancy or not. And, I think it's terrifying for the women’s movement in America and abroad.” Not only did she again make another straw-man argument, but she is blatantly wrong. The pro-life movement has in fact established thousands of Crisis Pregnancy Centers that offer counseling and material resources to pregnant women. Pro-lifers simply believe that abortion is wrong.
Hossain concluded by denigrating those heralding potential nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s gender, saying: “And I think it's also very sexist that people are throwing out that oh he has a woman candidate in there as well. A woman candidate is not necessarily always a woman’s candidate.” Democrats have often argued the exact opposite. In 2016, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright claimed there was a "special place in hell" for any woman who didn't support Hillary Clinton.
Over the coming weeks and months, expect the unwarranted attacks and straw-man arguments to continue as the focus shifts to abortion to try to prevent the confirmation of a justice at all costs.
The full transcript can be found below:
AM Joy
7/8/18
10:48:15- 11:45:30 [2mins 7secs]TIFFANY CROSS: And I just want to say very quickly, this is red meat to his base. This is why they were able to give him a bottomless mulligan when he supported an accused child molester. Because they care so much about fetuses but very little about children crossing the border in cages or children in Flint, Michigan drinking poison water. This is why his base elected him .
MICHELLE BERNARD: Or children with black or brown skin.
CROSS: Absolutely.
JOY REID: Alright, the whole panel will be back next hour....
CROSS: Right. This is another false equivalency that Republicans like to use comparing Merrick Garland with this Supreme Court pick. I also want to respectfully correct Katon and say I don’t know that Trump’s base is pro-life. They're pro-fetus. But I think it's an error to call them pro-life. And I just want to go back to what Senator Lindsey Graham said when he said they had four lottery winners. That may be true. But if they're all lottery ticket winners, then we are certainly the losers as the American public, should any of these justices get confirmed. And, I think this highlights the point that, you know, when McConnell and when the Republicans killed the filibuster, they changed the Senate and that essentially said to over 140 million people, we don’t care about your thought or your perspective...
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ANUSHAY HOSSAIN: This is like my nightmare come true that Donald Trump not only gets to pick a Supreme Court justice but also this is a boon to his base. And who are we kidding? Can we stop with this gaslighting? Donald Trump has made clear that he is a president for his base. He's definitely going to pick a candidate who’s gonna overturn Roe versus Wade. And I think that it's not only terrifying, but it also demonstrates that this base, Donald Trump's base, is not pro-life. Exactly to what Tiffany Cross was saying earlier. They're not pro-life, they’re pro-fetus. They don't care about the woman’s life, they don’t care about a living woman, a breathing woman's decision over if whether she wants to have a pregnancy or not. And, I think it's terrifying for the women’s movement in America and abroad. And I think it's also very sexist that people are throwing out that oh he has a woman candidate in there as well. A woman candidate is not necessarily always a woman’s candidate.
