Trump Aborts Right-Wing Support in Campaign’s Third Trimester

Christian right up in arms over IVF's murder of unarmed cell clusters

Sept. 3: Right rebels on IVF … Biden joins Harris on stage … Netanyahu under siege … UK blocks some Israel arms sales …

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Donald Trump either kissing and/or eating an unaborted toddler-aged fetus who was not genocided by IVF during an Oct. 11, 2016, campaign rally. (Screengrab / NBC video.)

The Christian right this weekend used the worst insult possible against former Pres. Donald Trump. They said his “plan” to make in vitro fertilization free was worse than a similar move by Pres. Barack Obama, best known among the Christian right for getting Eve to eat the apple and seeking to usurp God Almighty from His throne in Heaven.

According to the right-wing Washington Examiner, right-wing Christian leaders responded harshly to Trump’s IVF “plan” over the long Labor Day weekend, or as they call it, Forced Labor Day.

And they compared Trump’s “plan” to Obama requiring insurance companies to cover contraception, famously murdering millions of potential people — without even knowing if they were future Hitlers! (At the time, the Christian right responded the way one does to the anticipated murder of millions of potential humans, however microscopic: WIth lawsuits!)

Eventually, in the Hobby Lobby decision, the Supreme Court decided that requiring contraceptive coverage violated the Democratic Religious Freedom [sic] Restoration Act.

But now the Christian right says that Trump’s IVF “plan” is even worse. Even though Trump is white!

On Thursday he unveiled spontaneously blurted his extensive plan vague promise to have the government or insurance companies pay for IVF.

To the right, that’s even worse than Obama murdering potential humans because now Trump will force companies to pay for the murder of totally developed, fully grown humans in the form of microscopic cell clusters no bigger than Dippin’ Dots™.¹

“Trump’s proposal is actually worse, as it would fund the destruction of human life on a massive scale,” said Eric Sammons, editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine, a Catholic outlet. “This proposal not only would fund the destruction of human life; it would force Catholic institutions to pay for services they find deeply immoral.”²

Trump has been alienating the Christian right ever since killing Roe v. Wade gave birth to a massive political backlash against him. Most recently, Trump called Florida’s six-week abortion ban “too short.”

With Trump already waffling on fetuses, Sammons called the new IVF pledge “the final nail in the [teeny tiny] coffin.”

Coup Victim Joins Coup Perpetrator in Joyous Reunion

Pres. Joe Biden — forced at gunpoint to quit the presidential race in July — joined Vice Pres. Kamala Harris on stage Monday for the first time since she masterminded the brutal ouster of America’s president despite being totally ineffective at everything else.

The two campaigned together in Pittsburgh, not just a legendary steel town but also conveniently located in allegedly must-win Pennsylvania. If anyone missed the message, the event was at a union hall, with labor leaders including United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, and where attendees wore IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) t-shirts. On Labor Day.

Harris used the occasion to sign on to Biden’s position — and Donald Trump’s — and United Steelworkers’ — that Japan-based Nippon Steel should not be allowed to purchase U.S. Steel, even though it’s not clear how much it matters where our corporate oligarchs file their loophole-ridden tax returns.

The proposed purchase was defended by U.S. Steel spokesperson Tucker Elcock, not to be confused with the Spanish nickname for Tucker Carlson.

Republicans have responded to Biden’s involvement in the Harris campaign with two lines of argument which are in total conflict with each other. Aiming to scare off voters who don’t approve of Biden, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) argues that Harris “has been calling the shots” in the Biden presidency. Aiming to scare off union members who approve of Biden, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) said that Harris is “nowhere near the same type of a Democrat for Pittsburghers as President Biden was.”

Harris, meanwhile, reminded listeners that Trump facilitated corporate union-busting and blocked overtime pay and benefits for millions of workers. And while Trump and Vance have supported measures weakening the legal rights of organized labor, they both took off on Labor Day, a day off created by organized labor. It was a fitting way to begin the traditional campaign sprint to Election Day, now just 60 days away.

Crime Watch

ISRAEL Relief workers are struggling to get political aid to besieged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now surrounded, isolated, and cut off from the world by his own people and pretty much everyone else.

Pres. Joe Biden yesterday refused to provide relief, responding simply “No” when asked whether Netanyahu is doing enough to get Hamas to free the remaining hostages.

And the U.S. right wing is freaking out that Vice Pres. Kamala Harris might actually enforce U.S. laws against arming human-rights violators, according to a new entry in Rupert Murdoch’s dream journal, citing Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) saying Sunday that Harris is “open to a new direction” on Israel.

The new government of the United Kingdom on Monday said it’s going to start obeying international law on the subject, cutting Netanyahu off from some aid.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said yesterday that the U.K. is suspending some weapons exports to Israel based on the “clear risk that they might be used to commit, or facilitate, a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

Those arms could include aircraft parts, assault rifles, and things that explode.

Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that mediators in the talks with Hamas are no longer accepting Netanyahu’s claims that he wants a cease-fire and now believe he wants a keep-fire, with one Israeli official saying, "While Netanyahu always reminds others that negotiations aren't 'give and give' by Israel, he's in fact turned the discussions into 'take and take.’”

Of course, as long as the war keeps going and Netanyahu remains in power, he won’t be facing his pesky corruption charges in court. So, best of luck to the remaining hostages.

Netanyahu is now apparently so concerned about running out of war and/or people to kill in Gaza, that he’s now opening a new franchise in the West Bank.

But the most potent foe Netanyahu has to worry about right now is his own people. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to protest their government, which I guess means they’ll probably all be expelled from Columbia University because they’re all antisemitic now.

The protesters are pissed that the government was not able to win the release of six hostages who were murdered by Hamas.

In fact, the entire country was largely shut down yesterday by protesters who obviously, uh, hate Israel, including Israel’s largest labor union, which called to shut down the economy because, uh, they hate Jews so much. Or think Netanyahu is terrible for Israel.

Anyway, the point is that when Netanyahu tanks hostage-release talks, he shouldn’t be blamed because Hamas murdered them. But when a suicide bomber kills 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, that’s because Harris hates the troops.

RUSSIA Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin expanded his criminal empire on Monday, by a whole country.

Putin is wanted for war crimes, specifically for criming a war in Ukraine, more specifically for stealing untold numbers of Ukrainian children and shipping them to godless-knows-where in Russia. Which means that countries which are members of the International Criminal Court are obliged to arrest him if he pops by.

But instead of slapping handcuffs on Putin when he showed up Monday, Mongolia rolled out the red menace carpet. Which means now Mongolia itself could be prosecuted by the international court, which could punish the country with all of the absolutely ineffective powers in its laughable arsenal.

VENEZUELA The United States on Monday seized the official jet of Venezuelan Maybe-President Nicolás Maduro, claiming it was purchased illegally, in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Maduro is wanted on drug-trafficking charges and also for not playing ball with capitalism. Earlier this summer, Maduro stole Venezuela’s presidential election by faking the results and where’d he get THAT idea?!? 

Venezuela called the U.S. seizure of Air Force Uno “piracy.” But think how much harsher the U.S. would have been if Maduro had done something really awful, like sell arms used for human-rights violations.

MUSK In case you missed it, the walking, one-man sovereign nation-state known as Elon Musk — whose fiefdom includes SpaceX, X Twitter, and Tesla — last week accused Brazilian Justice Alexandre de Moraes of going rogue with his order to shut down Twitter there.

Well, four other judges got to weigh in yesterday. And they all went rogue, too!

The five-member panel from Brazil’s Supreme Court, including de Moraes, unanimously upheld his order. Contrary to Brazilian law, Twitter doesn’t have a corporate representative there for the government to notify when the company commits crimes. So Brazil, with tens of millions of people on Twitter, has shut Twitter down, making Bluesky and Threads very happy

The order is not being enforced by one internet provider, Starlink, which is obviously a Musk company, as we all soon will be.

The judges were less happy about de Moraes imposing fines on Brazilians who circumvent the order so they can use Twitter, so that measure may not survive if the Musk beef is taken up by the full court.

Musk has railed against de Moraes, saying no one man should have that much power. And also that irony is dead.

Campaign Watch

SENATE - ARIZONA The Arizona Police Association (APA) last week endorsed Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) for Senate, even though the APA just endorsed former Pres. Donald Trump for represident. The APA said “Gallego has continually fought for robust, increased funding.”

Also helping Gallego win the endorsement was the fact that he’s running against former, uh, candidate for other stuff Kari Lake, who’s apparently forgotten that she claims she’s also serving as governor at the moment.

"The APA does not take our endorsements lightly; we recognize the importance of having a U.S. senator that can bring people together to improve society for all," said APA President Justin Harris in an obvious-except-to-Lake shot at Lake. "We believe Congressman Gallego will be that U.S. Senator."

NEW HAMPSHIRE Really early results are in from New Hampshire, where the campaign of Donald Trump issued an unofficial statement conceding the state to Vice President Kamala Harris.

The premature concession statement came from a Trump volunteer who said in an internal email that Trump is “sure to lose by an even higher margin” than he did in previous years, according to unspecified “campaign data.”

Officially, the Trump campaign denied that they’re giving up on the state, but it’s now gonna be a lot harder to claim that Harris stole it.

The volunteer who wrote the email has been fired. Because he didn’t have a union. 

The Vance Files

If you missed it, I spent much of Labor Day laboring on the latest installment of The Vance Files. (You can support this work with a subscription or donation!)

Yesterday’s installment focused on a subject U.S. media virtually ignores: Religious shit. Specifically, I found multiple instances of pre-Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) trashing evangelical Protestants back when he was best known as the author of Hillbilly Elegy and was widely celebrated for trashing other people for other reasons.

I found old interviews and multiple columns he wrote, mostly from 2016 but as recently as 2019, in which Vance committed right-on-right violence, going after conservative, evangelical Protestants.

He said some Bible Belt Christians don’t read The Bible, don’t go to church, and wear their Christianity like “cultural tchotchkes,” like fishing or country music.

A lot of readers seemed uncomfortable realizing they agreed with some of what Vance said. But it’s worth keeping in mind that Vance has at one point or another expressed every possible opinion humans conceivably can have, so yes, you’ve probably agreed with him multiple times. It’s okay.

The story modestly blew up on Twitter, with some Big-Online Names You Know sharing and commenting, but you can read the full thing for yourself here and the rest of The Vance Files here.

TCB

CORRECTION I know I said I’d take off on Labor Day, and yet there I was putting up new original TFN reporting. TFN regrets the error but appreciates your support.

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Go get ‘em, kids.

1. Weird how few of these people seem to mind being forced to subsidize the wholesale killing of Palestinian fetuses after delivery. Even years after delivery!

2. See footnote 1.