OPINION:
In politics, shamelessness is a virtue, and accountability is kryptonite. If not for shamelessness, the halls of Washington would fall silent. And if accountability reigned supreme, the town would be deserted.
Imagine if President Biden had not been blessed with a 50-year supply of the highest-grade shamelessness ever refined in a lab. Or if by, some crazy turn, he were judged for his accomplishments from half a century in Washington.
Mr. Biden would be that homeless drug addict and registered sex offender wearing one shoe with his pants open at the busy intersection holding a cardboard sign that says: “C’mon man! Give me some money.”
Instead, he is president of the United States — doing the same thing. From a better address. And he has people who make sure he gets his pants on properly every morning.
So it is always amusing to listen to these political leeches from all over Washington who attack former President Donald Trump over his lack of experience in Washington or his failure of accomplishments in life or his supposed weaknesses as a conservative fighting for conservative causes.
This latest line of attack — from fellow Republicans — is that Mr. Trump is not truly committed to the pro-life agenda. He is somehow some kind of Manchurian candidate who is disguising himself so that when he finally reaches power, he will jump out of a pro-life cake and force everyone in America to have an abortion. Or to be aborted. Or pledge allegiance to abortion.
This extraordinary feat, presumably, will occur only in his second term as president because his first term as president was all part of the shtick to trick voters into thinking he is actually a pro-life politician. Because you see, in his first term, Mr. Trump was not a pro-life president. He was not even “one of the most” pro-life presidents.
Donald Trump was the single most pro-life president in American history. Mr. Trump was so pro-life that he shattered the meter used to register how pro-life a president could be. He reinvented the concept of a pro-life presidency in ways that even the most ardent pro-life activists had long given up hope of ever achieving.
Former President George W. Bush, who was a pro-life president, set the world on fire in 2004 when he delivered a speech over the telephone to the March for Life, an annual gathering on the National Mall of thousands of pro-life activists. Every year, the beautiful and peaceful march is held on the most brutally cold day of the year, marking the shameful day in January 1973 when the Supreme Court manufactured a fake constitutional right to murder an unborn child at any point in a pregnancy.
“But we all know there is still more to do,” Mr. Bush said in his election-year remarks over the phone to the shivering souls gathered outside on the Mall.
“Earlier this week, I proposed that we double federal funding for abstinence education programs. (Applause.),” according to the White House transcript of his remarks. “We will continue to support crisis pregnancy centers, adoption, parental notification laws and the vital work of faith-based groups. (Applause.)”
It would be 10 more years of unfettered abortion access before Mr. Trump — the ultimate outsider — would come along and turn the political world upside down and do the impossible, the unthinkable: Place three constitutionalists on the Supreme Court who would overturn the abomination of Roe v. Wade and return the issue of abortion to voters, where it belongs.
When the court rightly tossed Roe into the dustbin of history along with racism and segregation, Republican political experts in Washington immediately began the hand-wringing over what really matters most to them: The overturning of Roe would complicate the next election for Republicans.
And, of course, it has. That is the price of success — a concept that no Republican before Donald Trump has ever confronted.
Now, running for the Republican nomination, Mr. Trump has openly warned Republican politicians against banning abortion at the state level before voters are completely on board with such restrictions. That he issued these warnings during the Republican primary cycle instead of the general election season, when craven politicians usually “tack to the center,” is a tremendous credit to his honesty and transparency.
Republican political candidates pounced.
“I don’t know how you can even make the claim that you’re somehow pro-life if you’re criticizing states for enacting pro-life protections for babies that have heartbeats,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former congressman. “I think all pro-lifers should know that he’s preparing to sell you out.”
Yes, that’s right. If Mr. Trump gets back into the White House, he is going to abolish the Supreme Court and create a whole new one consisting entirely of abortion doctors and failed Republican politicians. Right after he jumps out of a pro-life cake.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.
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