WOMEN UNITE — The Weekly Opine

Men are ruining a good thing. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

The “weaker” sex holds the power

As campaign season heats up with state primaries, two front-page issues focused on women’s health stand out. Abortion, and now in vitro fertilization (IVF), have ascended as consequential, make-or-break political minefields. Disgustingly, some men (as usual) are forcing their uninformed, backwater views on women and those of us who respect a person’s right to make personal decisions. It sure is aggravating to watch as dirty old men (mostly Republicans) and their subservient, arm-candy women feel the impulse to control women’s bodies with dangerous, Puritan legislation regarding women’s rights.

Just this month in Alabama, the male-dominated state Supreme Court made a controversial ruling that says frozen embryos are legally protected as children. The state legislature, feeling visceral national blowback, now scrambles to introduce legislation explaining that frozen embryos are not an unborn child. Governor Kay Ivey says she “supports a culture of life that incudes IVF” and will promptly sign the legislation into law.

On top of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to an abortion, the IVF calamity should intensify women’s participation in the November election. The insane argument that embryos and babies are one and the same should sound the death knell for evangelical, fake Christian’s overreach as they try to run (ruin) the lives of American women.

Responding to the ignorance of people who believe a baby and embryo are one and the same, a woman succinctly tweeted on X/Twitter that if you freeze a baby the baby will die, whereas embryos must be frozen to survive. Quite obviously, babies and embryos are not the same, no matter that Nikki “slavery didn’t cause the Civil War” Haley thinks otherwise.

Cracks in foundation

On the campaign trail Trump, as pliable as any political candidate this side of Russia, read the room (see, he does occasionally read) and quickly denounced Alabama’s decision. Known as a braggart, Trump frequently brags up-and-down about his role in ending Roe v. Wade. He is quick to loudly remind us he appointed three conservatives to the Supreme Court, which handed conservative justices a 6-3 advantage, paving the way for destruction of a woman’s right to choose in a growing number of red states.

Despite at worst lying and, at best, speaking in cagey vagueness during their Senate confirmation hearings, associate justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have proven they never believed Roe v. Wade to be settled law. And presto, when given the opportunity they jumped at the chance to undo settled law.

After being dealt shellacking after shellacking in states such as Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio and Vermont, when voters flooded the polls demanding abortion rights, Trump is keenly aware the damage the abortion rights issue has done to his political prospects. And with getting re-elected his best path to avoid prison, Trump is starting to swim upstream against evangelicals, at least as it relates to IVF. (I’d bet he doesn’t understand a thing about in vitro fertilization.)

Other than on TV at Trump rallies, you don’t see a lot of Trump gear these days. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Not only are the walls of justice closing in on Trump, the reality of voter distaste for what he is selling became apparent last weekend in South Carolina and, to a lesser degree, in Michigan. In a one-on-one contest in South Carolina with unpopular former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Trump could only muster 60% of the GOP vote. Not surprisingly, in Michigan, Trump did better, collecting 68% of the Republican vote. Still, a large swath of Republicans rejected Trump’s fascism and chaos. In exit-polling, 20- to 30-percent of Haley voters say they won’t ever vote for Trump. Alarm bells ring at Mar-a-Lago.

Real estate developers know a skyscraper built on a cracked foundation risks the whole thing tumbling down. Trump surely knows this.

Not exactly data analytics but, I’ve noticed when traveling by rail, I no longer see the once prevalent Trump yard signs or Trump flags while passing through blue-collar towns that line alongside the train tracks. Same with Trump hats. Used to see a few Trump hats in the grocery store or at the ballpark or street fairs. Haven’t seen nary a one the past year or so.

Conservative Republican’s position on abortion and IVF, orchestrated by a rabid base of lunatic, evangelical MAGAs, is causing headaches for Trump and is impairing the GOP’s prospects of holding the House and retaking the Senate.

So, what happens if Trump and Speaker-in-title-only Mike Johnson, and other Republican officials, slink toward sane policies regarding a woman’s right to control her body? If that were to happen, it would be fun to watch as the crazies turn on their master Trump, and vice-versa. Imagine how nasty that could get! (Remember when MAGAs booed vociferously at Trump during a rally when he dared suggest they get vaccinated?) But I digress.

If you are a self-respecting woman or decent man, Clarence Thomas, Trump, Brett Kavanaugh and Matt Gaetz represent the worst of America. (Photos credit Politico, AP, New York Magazine, The New Yorker)

The GOP’s 3rd rail female problem

Lurking just behind top-of-mind issues abortion and IVF, Republicans may have another disaster-in-waiting topic, a third rail, if you will. Republicans have made it quite clear they don’t care if colleagues commit sexual harassment and sexual violence against women.

For example, in high-profile cases spanning three decades, involving Clarence Thomas, Trump, Brett Kavanaugh and Matt Gaetz, Republicans have displayed no real interest in holding these men accountable.

In Justice Thomas’ case, Anita Hill leveled believable allegations that Thomas sexually harassed her. Regarding Trump, E. Jean Carroll proved in a courtroom that Trump raped her; plus, more than 20 women credibly assert Trump committed sexual assault. Christine Blasey Ford credibly accused Justice Kavanaugh of raping her in high school. And a Department of Justice investigation, into sex trafficking involving Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and his close friend Joel Greenberg, sent Greenberg to prison for 11 years. Although his influence within the GOP House Conference grows, Gaetz is now under a House ethics probe for allegedly paying underage teen girls for sex, a la Jeffrey Epstein.

As if Republicans are not in enough deep water because of out-of-touch, myopic positions regarding abortion and in vitro fertilization, the Republican Party evidently condones sexual misconduct directed at women.

A damning trifecta for the Grand Old Punks.