Donald Trump has promised to appoint a slew of socially conservative judges that he somehow thinks might overturn Roe v. Wade but absolutely won't mess with marriage equality. Trump's latest slice of delusion came from his wide-ranging 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, reports Emily Schultheis:
As for same-sex marriage, Trump said after the Supreme Court ruling last year it’s the law of the land -- and that he is “fine” with that being the case.
“It’s irrelevant because it was already settled. It’s law,” he said. “It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done … these cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been settled. And-- I th-- I’m-- I’m fine with that.”
So that's the law of the land since 2015. But a woman’s right to a safe and legal abortion since 1973, that's apparently in question now because Trump’s pro-life judges will be selectively conservative.
Asked specifically whether he wants the Supreme Court to repeal the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide, Trump replied that if the decision were overturned the issue of abortion would be decided by each state.
“If it ever were overturned, it would go back to the states,” he said.
Sorry, does he get how this works? The justices don't come to the president before they make a decision and ask him which laws he likes and doesn't like. The conservative judges he's promised will be conservative across the board.
Guys like Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady and chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, Timothy Tymkovich, they hate LGBTQ Americans and trusting women to make their own health decisions.
Canady, for instance, helped coin the term "partial-birth abortion" as a congressman and pushed for passage of the 1996 antigay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that took 17 years to overturn.
But in Trump's world none of the horrors of outlawing abortion entirely or overturning same-sex marriage will come to be no matter whom he appoints.
But does that mean some women would be unable to receive abortions, assuming their home states ban them? Asked to clarify, Trump replied: “Yeah, well, they’ll perhaps have to go, they’ll have to go to another state.”
When Stahl followed up on the question, asking whether it’s okay that some women might have to travel to other states to receive abortions, Trump said there’s a “long way to go” before discussing that.
“Well, we’ll see what happens,” he said. “It’s got a long way to go, just so you understand. That has a long, long way to go.”
Fantasyland must be nice.
