Trump’s 92-Minute RNC Speech Didn’t Mention Abortion. Don’t Let That Fool You.

Some reporters also suggested Trump's tone would change post-shooting. But guess what happened!

By Kylie Cheung  |  July 19, 2024 | 12:20pm
Photo: Getty Images Politics
Trump’s 92-Minute RNC Speech Didn’t Mention Abortion. Don’t Let That Fool You.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke at RNC’s final night on Thursday, and for a while there, it looked like he wasn’t going to stop. As one Politico headline put it, “Trump returns to the stage. And stays and stays and stays.” Trump broke the record for the longest presidential nomination speech in recorded history—shattering the previous record, also held by him, of 84 minutes in 2016. Even as audience members began to visibly doze off (you know, like Trump did while his sons Don Jr. and Eric spoke on Tuesday and Wednesday), Trump continued to roll through the hits—well, some of them, that is.

Between more incoherent mumbling about Hannibal Lecter (?), pledges to stop electric vehicles (even after Tesla’s Elon Musk very publicly donated $45 million to his campaign), and the usual racist, xenophobic nonsense, Trump—conspicuously enough—made no mention of what most of the right regards as the crowning achievement of his presidency: the end of Roe v. Wade. Abortion—even in the vaguest terms, like protecting “life”—didn’t come up once in the former president’s 92-minute, drunk-uncle-at-Thanksgiving rant of an acceptance speech.

Trump’s abortion-free speech also came just hours after Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s prayer breakfast, specifically to assure evangelicals that the party’s hard-line anti-abortion policymaking isn’t going anywhere: “I am here to tell you today that as long as I am chair of the Republican National Committee, this party is going to be a pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith party,” Whatley said, adding that platform committee members “put together a very strong pro-life platform.” It’s pretty telling that these comments are being made at small, niche events, and not on-stage at the RNC for the entire electorate to hear.

Trump’s remarks also didn’t reflect the newfound “serenity” and spirituality that D.C. reporters suggested the former president had found after surviving Saturday’s assassination attempt. Guess what happened instead! In the span of those 92 minutes, Trump called Nancy Pelosi “Crazy Nancy Pelosi,” called Biden more harmful than the 10 worst U.S. presidents combined, promised to “route the fake news media,” promised to “throw off the sick political class that hates our country,” referred to covid as the “China virus,” and called for mass deportations. I’d say “so much for unity!” but the only people who were earnestly expecting anything of the sort from Trump’s speech are the same class of D.C. media types who have been reporting on his expected tonal shifts for years now.

At the end of the day, the former president’s bitchiness and racism were just business as usual. Far more eyebrow-raising was his silence on abortion. For years, this party ran on the promise that they’d ban abortion. And their most recent platform before adopting a new one last week directly called for a national abortion ban. Trump’s conspicuous silence on the issue shouldn’t be interpreted as anything but political calculation.

He’s since chosen J.D. Vance, who’s called for a national abortion ban and opposed rape exceptions, as his running mate. He appointed a Republican platform committee rife with anti-abortion zealots with close ties to Project 2025, the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation’s detailed plan to ban abortion nationally and impose a terrifying far-right policy landscape. And the GOP’s 2024 platform advocates for fetuses to be granted personhood and citizenship rights under the 14th Amendment. So, perhaps these actions are due far more attention than any amount of lip service from one of the most notorious liars in politics.

 
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