The Circus in Town Is the Trump Campaign

This piece first appeared in our weekly newsletter, The Fallout.

The first presidential election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade is turning out to be a total clown show for conservatives. J.D. Vance can’t order doughnuts without making it weird. Donald Trump rambles incoherently about mifepristone and whatever other shiny object has captured his attention at the moment.

And in last night’s debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, that shiny object is apparently word-salad around Democrats’ embrace of “post-birth abortion” and claims that every legal scholar wanted Roe overturned. Which, what?! The spectacle would maybe be entertaining if this weren’t the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes.

I’m convinced the chaos of it all is a big part of their election strategy, because the more outrageously Trump and Vance behave, the less attention the media will give to the deadly consequences of a second Trump term.

No matter what Trump serves up on abortion, the fact is the conservative legal movement remains hell-bent on enacting some kind of national abortion ban, whether via legislation or simple, draconian enforcement of the Comstock Act. Their “leave abortion to the states” talking point never mentions how in 2024, for example, four states introduced legislation that criminalizes non-parent adults who support minors’ out-of-state travel for abortion care—and Tennessee enacted its law. Conservatives certainly don’t highlight the fact that they are champing at the bit to prosecute patients for accessing care in addition to the providers and aid organizations facilitating it.

And they’re definitely not talking about how their plans for enshrining fetal “personhood” into law would eliminate access to in vitro fertilization, threaten contraception access, and drastically expand the criminal surveillance of people who can get pregnant.

Nope. And it’s clear the media is more interested in engaging with the circus Trump’s campaign team has served up than holding him and the rest of the conservative movement accountable for the consequences of overturning Roe.

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