Trump and Abortion Abolitionism

I am a supporter of abortion abolitionism, and I am voting for Donald Trump in 2020. My position being stated, I want to then move to make the argument for why I believe as someone who supports the abortion abolition movement, it is consistent to vote for Trump, who is not an abortion abolitionist. Before I dive into that, I need to make something very clear from the outset.

Grace is needed in this conversation. In a time of great need, Christians cannot afford to be divided on key issues. We can disagree on eschatology to our dying breaths. We can disagree on particular points of soteriology as well, or how ecclesiastical functions are to be modeled, or on the mode of baptism. With the issue of abortion, however, we need to be careful in distinguishing friend from foe, as well as from potential ally. What I will present here is not me saying that if you don’t vote for Trump, you are complicit in the destruction of America. I know many people who have decided they could not support Trump in 2016, and cannot support him this time around. I know their arguments, I understand where they are coming from, and hence, I respect their decision (though I disagree with it). I hope and pray mine is treated with equal respect.

My Political Background

That having been said, I want to provide some of my background so you see where I am coming from. I grew up in a standard Christian home, with soft, shallow evangelicalism fed to me about once a week. We were a conservative home, and as a result, I grew up with a conservative influence. After I got my first job at Walmart, and began to make money, got my first car and phone, I started listening to Rush Limbaugh daily. I was hooked on Rush, and Hannity after him. This was all during the time of the McCain vs Obama ticket in the 2008 elections.

I remember hearing people talk about how crucial this election was, and how we needed to vote McCain, and all the research and stories pumped out by right-wing talking heads like Dinesh DeSouza and Sean Hannity about how “dangerous” Barack Obama was. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not trying to downplay the fact that I think Obama was not a good president, but what we were told in essence was that he was a potential candidate for the antichrist, and that if he was elected, it was the end of America. As for John McCain, I knew virtually nothing about the man; all I knew was that he was a laughing stock in the open of the 2008 Republican campaign, and ended up becoming the nominee. It was a strange dynamic that I forced into the back of my head because “Republicans need to win, no matter what”. So I pretended all the mockery McCain got, and the disrespect he got never happened. I was pure team GOP, your standard, millennial conservative voter.

I also remember Ron Paul was running as a libertarian. This was the first election I was going to be able to vote in, so this was really strange to me. Paul had virtually no chance of winning, and he was an even greater laughing stock than McCain was. Paul was the pinata for Republicans; but his voters were people to scorn, mock and ridicule. I remember a conversation I had with one, where I made the argument, “He can’t win. If you vote for him, you waste your vote, and that’s one more for Obama.” Yes, I made those arguments that I today would slap myself for if I could go back and do it.

Fast forward to 2012, and I once again leaped onto the GOP hype train with Romney. And just like with McCain, I remember hearing about all kinds of bad stuff about Romney. But I actively suppressed those things because once again, the R’s gotta win–that’s all that matters. And Ron Paul again was running for president, and just like last time, I thought this election was so desperate that it was simply beyond a joke but utter disgraceful for anyone to support that old windbag of a candidate (as I thought). I had no respect for the Ron Paul crowd anymore.

When Romney lost, I had to do some serious thinking. One of those things was my final recognition that I had wasted so much time defending weak GOP candidates, and afraid that if I jumped ship of the Republican party, I would help doom the party that would save us. Honestly, in many ways, the puritanian Republican loyalty is cultic in its nature, if not a form of Stockholm syndrome; a love/hate relationship, or a cognitive dissonance where the conservatives hate on their leaders while refusing to break loyalty with them at the same time. I just had enough.

Coupled with this, I got saved, in the real sense. When the Holy Spirit grabbed a hold of me, my desire for politics almost entirely went away. All I cared about was who God was, and what the Scriptures said. I spent nearly two years just feasting upon Scripture, and getting involved with church. That was only the beginning; as the years went by, my entire worldview was changed. That only further entrenched me in the idea that as a Christian, I cannot sell my loyalty to a political party that very clearly does not operate with the Christian worldview at its center.

Did that mean that my moral tendencies sided with the Republican side? Yes. But that also meant that I call balls and strikes, and expose the fact that the GOP preaches one thing and does another. Christians must stand on principle, never to compromise for the sake of a party’s integrity. If we do not hold our people accountable, then they either lose, or they continue to give ground to the spirit of the age.

All that to say that I eventually became the thing I once scorned; the Ron Paul acolyte; a through-and-through libertarian. I was all in on anti-war rhetoric, and for the first time, I felt like I could get behind someone not just because they were better than the other guys. But sadly, I came at a bad time, as Ron Paul ended his political career after the 2012 election (if I recall correctly). From that point on, I had begun to think that the GOP wasn’t going to save us, and I refused to support the establishment any longer. This meant that I did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016.

You read that correctly, I did not vote in 2016. I didn’t trust Trump, and I thought that if this was the best we could offer, we were surely doomed. I was no longer going to “vote for the lesser of two evils”. At least two years into the Trump presidency, I was entrenched even more in this idea the more I contemplated it. I actually nearly posted an article about a year ago, where I made the argument that voting for the lesser of two evils is just more evil, delivered slowly and slowly, bit by bit. In essence, what the American political system offers is either you slit your wrist and bleed out slowly, or just go straight to the Guillotine.

So what changed? Clearly I am going against that principle, right? Maybe I am. Or maybe things have happened that have made me rethink some things. Desperate times can help sober us up to think more critically about things, from a perspective we never considered before. Or, they can turn us into cowards, who never had any real convictions in the first place. Maybe that’s what I am now, but I don’t think that is the case, and I want to provide my argument for why in the next two sections of this article.

The Vote That Counts

With all of that having been laid out, what I want to say here is that I have been thinking greatly about this matter the last few months. Up until March, I was ready to just continue to let the United States twirl into chaos. In fact, one of the reasons I was not going to vote for Trump was because there was no way he could lose. Well, when the entire COVID-19 insanity happened, all of that changed. Given what we have learned in the past few weeks about this virus, and what we did about it, and continue to do, it has become patently obvious to me that there is an effort to take this man out like I have never seen before.

Does that make him a prophet? A messiah? Of course not! And I never said it did. Believe me, guys–and this is why I began this with my backstory, so you don’t misunderstand me, I am not a Trump cheerleader; I don’t have a MAGA hat, and will never get one. But I have to recognize a plot when I see one. I did with Bernie Sanders (who was cheated twice by the DNC), and I do the same with Trump. Whether I like them or not, when they are unjustly treated, I have to say so, and if you’re a Christian, you are actually obligated to do that by biblical standards.

I began to realize just how far the left is willing to go to destroy Trump. This is no longer a political difference of opinion–Legion has come out. This is Thanos taking the Infinity Gauntlet and saying, “I’ll do it myself!” For the last few election cycles, I got tired of hearing the same old, “This is the election of our lifetime! It’s now or nothing!” Blah, blah, blah; Obama didn’t turn out to be the antichrist, and I still think to this day that if Hillary won, she wouldn’t be either. But those were different times.

I understand completely, and in fact identify with the crowd that is tired of throwing votes away to the GOP. As I told you in my testimony above, I became disillusioned to the GOP. But the last few weeks I’ve had to ask myself the question I present to you: Did I, in my disillusionment, go from one extreme to another? Often times we are most vulnerable to extremes when we just renounced one. In fact, I would say that’s when you are the most vulnerable. Hence balance is so key, and that is why I call this blog Finding the Balance. We must be careful that in our rejection of one system, we don’t hurl ourselves into another bad one.

So ultimately, I’ve come to the conclusion that all those times of people telling me to throw my vote away to weak Republicans who would have caved to almost anything the Democrats threw at them, were just blowing hot air. I think this time it’s very different. What I am saying here, to anyone who thinks I am now going back on previous commitments, and have now begun to throw my vote away to the GOP over and over and over again, I say that I am not, and never have. I’m actually making the vote count this time, because this election is–in fact–unique, and we are against an evil unprecedented.

Children torn to pieces at even eight to nine months, boys castrated to be forced to be “women”, forever mutilated at the whim of sick, depraved parents. The outright, unrepentant and proud support of violent bandits hurting and even killing citizens of these United States, the deliberate forcing of citizens to plunge their life savings and livelihood into direct economic depression to try and force this president into economic collapse, how these people are willing to hurt others, put them in direct harms way to gain political power.

My friends, that is not simply a different political position. You are dealing with pure evil, and there was a time when Christians would not stand by and let that go so that they might maintain some “moral integrity” on their part (I put that in quotes because I think Christians who make this argument are misguided; I am not mocking moral integrity). They would realize that this wickedness must be defeated, even if it meant they had to sign on board with someone as flawed as Trump, and I’m sorry, but guys, he is not pure evil. Let’s be intellectually honest here, Trump has some bad “Christians” in his circle, and I’ll give you this, that he is probably not even a real Christian, but he is not anti-Christian by any stretch of the imagination. It is absolute intellectual dishonesty to say that he is.

“Chase, don’t you see how you’re going back on that principle?” You might ask, “How is Trump better than the other weak GOP candidates?” Not by much, I’ll grant you that. But once again, consider the left’s reaction to this guy. He has driven them insane. Don’t you think that’s something to consider? I think it is. And that’s why he’s different, and that’s why this election, I think, is the actual time where the vote really counts.

The Lesser of Two Evils

Firstly, let me say that I still think voting for the lesser of two evils is still what it is, evil. However, I like to think I do a lot of self-reflection, and self-criticism because I need to do it. I am my own worst enemy, after all, and I need to be constantly on guard for my biases to get a foothold in making my judgments cloudy. The more I pondered on the idea of never voting for lesser evils, it began to simply deconstruct. Let’s think about it, is there any candidate we can think of who does not have “some evil” in their candidacy? You’ll never have the perfect candidate.

You might say, “We’re not talking about policy, Chase, but moral integrity!” That’s a fair point. But then we’re no longer talking about policy anymore, are we? We’re just arguing the moral character of an individual. In which case, why not be willing to vote for someone whose policy is good, or at least acceptable, while their personal integrity is pretty shaky at best? Furthermore, let’s apply that to Trump and ask if, beyond his personal moral integrity, he’s done anything that policy-wise is utterly evil. I can’t think of anything. He’s made many blunders, and his self-indulgence and Twitter life could be greatly reduced, but that doesn’t make life harder for any of us, does it?

At the end of the day, you have to compromise on some level. The word compromise has become a bad word, it seems–nothing good comes out of it. But I think that’s a little over-dramatic. We’re all compromising in some degree with things. The question becomes, what is worth compromising and what is not? For me, if Trump came out pro-abortion, ready to tear babies to shreds, willing to do whatever it took to stop abolition causes, that would be a bridge too far. But he hasn’t done any of this. As far as I know, he’s pro-life, not necessarily pro-abolition. Frankly, he probably doesn’t know the difference between the two, because one has political organization on a national level, the other has relatively just begun its movement.

Don’t you think that means we ought to be putting ourselves in a position where we compete with the pro-life movement? I’m not asking you to sell your soul to the devil, but let’s try and get the president’s attention. Remember, he is on the side of pro-life. Maybe it takes a little convincing to get him to take the next step. We can make that happen, but we gotta vote for him. Call me naive, but I’m hopeful about that proposition.

But all that goes without saying that I’ve been thinking a lot about all of this the last few weeks. I’ve been challenged by this situation to reassess my view. I would think any Christian who wants to be right would do the same. Am I really just anti lesser evil, or can I be lesser evil with a caveat? Remember how the GOP party-liners always say, “You may not like him, but he’s better than the other guy. At least we’ll slow down the progressive train to buy us more time–vote Republican!”

Another old and tired argument. But was it a bad argument? Not really, if you think about it. It’s actually a great political strategy. The problem with the GOP is that we find ourselves in a vicious cycle of repeating it over, and over, and over again. We vote for the guy, he wins, we buy ourselves more time, and what do we do with it? Really nothing. So just like with the vote that counts, I re-evaluated this position, and realized that it’s fine to do it, but we need to actually do something with the time we buy. You want me to vote for your guy? Fine. I’ll do it, but if that does buy us more time, no more of this pandering around, sticking to the party line guy. Use that time to get good people in the right places, people who will end abortion in this country, and so on. Again, he’s not the best, but at least he’s not going to hunt Christians down and make them have to meet in basements.

In reality, is the lesser evil in and of itself bad? If so, let’s all shut off our Facebook accounts entirely, since Mark Zuckerburg is clearly anti-Christian (which is actually step farther than Trump, yet we don’t cancel those accounts), and apparently censors even attempts to bring attention to child trafficking. If you’re going to claim the cause, then be consistent. We don’t though. Why? Because you compromise! You know that while Facebook is not on your side, it’s a useful tool to spread your message–and I’m all for that. So really, the lesser evil is not bad. It becomes bad when it is the sole strategy to win, which is what it has become, because it pumps the evil in bit by bit. If you use it as a unique tool, not a standard one, to buy more time to remove the evil, it has an advantage.

I think what has happened to most of us, is that we vowed never to vote for the lesser of two evils ever again, when what we should really have vowed was never to vote for the lesser of two evils as an ultimate victory strategy. We’ve confused the two together, and I believe in the process become deterrents to good causes and potentially good causes, rather than positive to them.

The Republic, or the Kingdom

There is often a discussion among abolitionists that perhaps Christians in this day of America are putting too much capital in the political process. Maybe we have made an idol out of the American system, and that it is time to let the system crumble under God’s judgment. In essence, one might sum this argument up as, choosing the Republic? Or the kingdom? Christians need to make a choice.

In all the respect I can offer, I must say, this is a solid false dichotomy we’re being offered, and I would encourage those making this argument to consider for a moment if they themselves are given to an imbalance on their part. Again, my friends, we have to scrutinize ourselves more than anyone else, and ask if we are being fair to the issue at hand, or if we have already made up our minds, and are hence just making arguments that get us to what we’ve already concluded. Maybe you have thought this through, and you come to this conclusion still, but I would suggest that you can have both.

Not to say that when the kingdom is fully consummated, I still want to wave my American flag. It’s simply to point out that why can I not love America, love what it means, and still be devoted to the Christian worldview? I don’t see why you can’t have both. Is America deeply wounded? Yes. Is it probably on its last limb? Most likely. Does that mean we throw in the towel? I don’t think so. To you, not giving up may be not voting for Trump, but rather continuing to do what you can locally, or in your very family. That’s fine. But for others, it also involves voting for Trump, and until I can be shown that he is actively opposing the Christian worldview, I think no Christian has a substantial argument to abstain from voting for him. You’ve made a personal decision to abstain, and that’s your decision, and I don’t hold that against you. But I would advise you to have the same level of respect to those of us who are voting for Trump.

A Message to Trump, From an Abolitionist

I want to offer here what you might consider an epistle to the president regarding abolitionism. With that I write, Mr. President, we are in desperate times. Whatever side you fall on, we all agree on one thing, that the race for the hill in America is on, and we are more desperate than ever to get to the top. In all of history, the one thing that is at the heart of the greatest collapses of civilization was internal disunity, and internal turmoil. The Jews in 70AD could not unite to protect the holy city, and the Roman Empire could not sustain itself from its own internal collapse. France broke down in the French Revolution, and Germany, from internal fighting, fell into the hands of the monstrous Adolf Hitler.

We have a chance to unite in this time. We’re not asking that you conform to everything we believe (though we pray for your spiritual health, and sincere repentance and humility before God). With that, I’d like to explain to you what we’re about. The abortion abolition movement is tired of legislation that simply makes abortion more difficult, but not impossible, not criminal; legislation that frankly creates jobs for pro-life representatives, and ultimately, funding for the GOP. That is simply disgusting, Mr. President and unacceptable. God will hold each of us accountable for this.

Recall how ancient Israel, pious as ever, yet as God revealed in the prophets, their hearts were filled with wickedness; they sought the sacrifices as though they actually were pleasing God, and hence so long as they continued to pay honor to Him by these sacraments, they were pardoned judgment. But God sees past those things, and looks into the heart. He says through the prophet,

[[And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”]] -Isaiah 29:13-15 ESV.

A rhetorical question, of course; God does know. We only fool ourselves when we think He does not, when we think our Christian piety will get us past His righteous judgment. He judges you by your heart, not by your outward religious piety. He judged His own people in Israel, what makes us think He won’t do the same to us? Can we not see how His Scriptures serve as a warning to us today?

[[I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not profit you.]] -Isaiah 57:12 ESV.

[[Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal?]] -Jeremiah 23:24-27 ESV.

These are only a few examples of warnings to all those who claim to be God’s people, that you who claim to be His, He knows the deep parts of your heart. Were He to open it, what would He find? Will He find one who has hidden deep sin? One day, we will all stand naked before Him to give an account, and we will not be able to say we did not know nor see. There will be no excuse for us.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am not a better man; I am a great sinner, who needs a great Savior, and that is Jesus Christ and him only. His righteousness is what I hope in for my position before God. When I consider these great and terrible Scriptures I have presented with my own righteousness, I know how helpless I am, and I am overwhelmed with horror. When I consider them with Christ as my advocate, not because I did anything worthy of him to be my advocate, but because he is gracious and merciful, I know I have peace with God therefore (Romans 5:1). That is the hope we need right now, Mr. President. But He will not clear the guilty, those who will not turn from sin, even as they claim to belong to Christ.

At the end of the day, the national pro life movement is not interested in ending abortion. It is interested in using it to make money. People profit off tragedy all the time, and if we are to face these difficult times, we must face the hard facts and flaws in our own cause. This is the cancer that is killing unity in America right now. I am a supporter of abolition, and for the last few years, I have had to watch the Republican party, and the conservative movement continue to give up ground after ground, after ground. Mr. President, the abolition movement is tired of trusting the Republican party, and frankly, even as I will vote for you, I don’t blame them.

If you read my backstory at the open of this article, you should know where I am coming from. I am not voting for you out of sincere optimism. I am hopeful, but not optimistic. You should not see my vote for you as a compliment, sadly. It’s a vote that is saying you’re the best we got, and that’s not saying much. I’m not saying this because I’m trying to offend you, but because I want you to be challenged to try and gain the votes of people like myself. We are the Christians on the front lines, who don’t sit around waiting for Roe vs Wade to go away. We have a divine mandate to stand in the gap of those who go to the slaughter, who give their unborn children to Molech, to be devoured at the alter of human autonomy.

We are not autonomous, sir–we are creatures made by God, and for God, including you. Therefore I would call you to humbly recognize that, and in that recognition know that every single child needs us to save and protect them. We would not cry out to a man murdering another, “That’s against the law! And you should stop!” No, sir–we would run as fast as we could to stop it! We need to apply that same standard consistently right now.

I understand there are forces behind this movement that will not go quietly, and that includes people in the pro life movement. I would encourage you, Mr. President, if you thought what I said about the pro life movement is wildly offensive, try and end Planned Parenthood, and criminalize abortion in one sweeping move, and watch how the leading pro life organizations will unite with the abortionists in stopping you. You will be amazed, and I hope you will then realize that this wickedness needs to end not in a year, not several years, but right now.

So once again, Mr. President, I am speaking as an earnest voter, that I vote for you not out of great hope. Don’t send me or any of us letters, or tweets or messages saying, “Together, we’ll end abortion!” Frankly, we’ve heard it over and over again, Mr. President. In all due respect, we’re tired of hearing it–we want to see action. No more talking the talk, it’s time to walk the walk. In fact, I will be less inclined to believe you are sincere if you talk and talk about it.

You get my vote in November, because I believe you’re all that stands between us and total Romans 1 giving over. But it’s sad that that’s the case. But don’t let my scorn here beat you down; I want it to encourage you, and to motivate you, Mr. President. I pray for you, with many others. Be more than a “vote against” candidate, Mr. President. If you want to ensure victory in November, cast aside your care for what the rest of the world thinks of you, seek what God wants, and go forth with it. You are not promised a safe and breezy road, but it is righteous and good to Him.

The great men of the past did not become great because they were nice, and because they were pious. They knew what had to be done, and they went forth, no matter what it cost them personally. And if we go down, then we go down warriors, keeping the faith, and Mr. President, what’s so bad about that?