Trump’s switch to Pro-Life

Up until 2011, Donald Trump was on one side of an issue so salient for the Republican party that there is no way that he ever would have been able to secure the nomination, he was pro-choice. Going back all the way to 1991, Trump was “pro-choice in every aspect” refusing to ban partial birth abortions. But when he first decided to change his position before running in the Republican primary, he had to reassure people that he wasn’t just another flip flopping politician. And for all of Donald’s failings this seems to be one area he has been particularly adept at. His first problem was how he hoped to explain his prior 20 years of pro-choice rhetoric. His tactic was actually spot on for what it needed to be. He told the story of a couple he knew deciding or not whether to keep a baby they would soon have. He said they decided to keep the baby and as the father would say later “[his daughter] is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to him”. Not only did he personalize his message, he played on one of the strongest bonds most people have, that of a parent and child. Whether or not that story is true or just something he crafted doesn’t really matter because he’s solidly cemented himself as a staunch pro-life candidate. Even during the last debate, he attacked Hillary for her position on abortion. He used harsh and violent rhetoric that stuck in people’s minds much more that Hillary’s attempt at a response.

Of all the policy that Trump has gone back and forth on and of all the numerous scandals plaguing his campaign, his stance on abortion has managed to stay firmly rooted. This is because, while it may be what he believes, this may be his best in to reaching women voters that as dissatisfied with Hillary but think Trump is too much of a wild card. By consistently staying on message on an issue that women care deeply about, Trump is trying to gain back a percentage of the people Hillary thinks are squarely in her camp. Especially by softening his position on planned parenthood, he has emerged as a candidate that has cares about women’s issues which he hopes is enough to counter some of the comments he’s made in public.

How Donald Trump could win back some women

For the most part, women have left Donald Trump’s campaign like rats fleeing a sinking ship that’s also on fire. Trump it seems has done everything he can to alienate women but yet he still has a percent who continue to support him. By most estimates, Clinton is dominating Trump by upwards of 15 points nationwide with women (http://presidentialgenderwatch.org/polls/womens-vote-watch/presidential-polling-data/). Clinton’s female supporters are just as loyal as Trump’s male ones. But even now, Trump still has a sizable percent of women in his corner (33-45% range) with some still undecided. As always, it is these undecideds that can sway the election. If Trump can pick up the remainder of these women who still have yet to back a candidate, in key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Florida (where Trump just pulled ahead in a new poll http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/26/politics/bloomberg-florida-poll-trump-clinton/index.html), or North Carolina, it is possible for him to stand a fighting chance.

He isn’t going to swing any women from the Hillary camp, especially because of her ability to go after Trump specifically on women’s issues. But if Trump is able to keep that quiet, and focus on other issues that women find appealing, it is possible for him to sway a few minds. His biggest focus in these last 12 days before the election should be on national security, providing reliable jobs, and how he will fix Obamacare. With specifically these three points, he has the opportunity to keep himself relatively safe and at the very least keep the down ballot Republicans for loosing too disastrously.

One last thing Trump needs to quit doing is attacking Bill and Hillary for past misdeeds. At this point, all of America has heard of what Bill did and for Trump to keep bringing up their history keeps his in the news cycle as well. All he needs to do is simply say that he is no longer that person, that he has changed, and that he is sorry for the mistakes he made in the past.

Trump had one last chance (And he blew it)

After last night’s debate, if Trump wants to make a genuine attempt to reach out and connect with women voters he’s going to have to do something massive. Trump managed to keep his composure for the first third of the debate, not interrupting Hillary, staying on topic, and answering questions with legitimate plans. But Clinton knew how to push Trump’s buttons in such a way that he would come off the rails and possibly saying something he would regret later. And he did. He said that he had more respect for women than anyone which garnered an audible laugh from the audience. He called Hillary a “nasty woman” to which the internet raged against him. He was forced to deal with the allegations of nine different women who came forward saying that they had been sexually assaulted by Trump.

Outside of the debate, Trump was already doing poorly with women across the board, but a one on one debate with a women there was no way he would have any chance pulling in more votes. The way he attacked Hillary, and specifically the way she defended herself, showed women across the nation that he was largely the same person that the 2005 tapes showed. For example, in response to the sexual assault Trump said “Those stories have been largely debunked. Those people, I don’t know those people. I have a feeling how they came. I believe it was her campaign that did it,”.  His rhetoric should have been along the lines of “I would never have done anything like what these women are accusing because I have changed morally from what the media has portrayed in the past”. But he didn’t and Hillary slammed him for that. It was an area she was both passionate and prepared about and it showed that women should support her, not just because she is a women but because she is willing to defend women’s rights.

In conclusion, Trump largely missed his last and best opportunity to win a key demographic and there is little that he can do to change it. The massive amount of prior rhetoric against women that Trump has spewed is continuing to pile up and is causing him to bleed possible voters. He gave women everything they needed in 90 minutes to verify that they can’t trust him.

How not to apologize

In regard to Donald Trump’s comments concerning women that were released last Friday, I would like to look not on the comments but instead his apology and lack thereof. A typical apologia speech is used to apologize for an action or comment someone in the public eye has done or said. And we’ve heard our fair share not just from politicians but celebrities, athletes (see Tiger Woods circa 2010), or public figures. These speeches have many different tones and can be taken many different ways. You can explain your behavior in a positive light, or you can justify the thing and try to remove it from the news cycle, deny it, differentiate public and private behavior, bolster the legitimacy of the action, or you can simply confess. Even with all these options, Donald Trump decided to not to stick with any of these options and instead blaze his own trail.

During his apology video, as you can see below, he does at least start by apologizing to America. But then he goes into this odd part when he says that these comments don’t reflect who he is. This would have been a perfect time for him to differentiate public and private behavior but instead he says that’s just not who he is. All of this take place in the first 25 seconds. The rest of the video is just a political ad, with a pivot at the end to ensure that he fires off a shot at the Clintons. In terms of what this video was supposed to do, he really didn’t accomplish much. The rhetoric was harsh and intimidating, something that women, who the video is trying to speak to, don’t find appealing. Also, the fact that his apology lasts for approximately 25 seconds keeps it from sounding sincere at all. Hell, even Tiger’s is 14 minutes long and he’s not even running for president.

Are you not entertained?

Trump today made the comment that any disparaging comments he made towards women in the past were for the purpose of “entertainment”. He added that “There’s nobody that has more respect for women than I do” which in itself is ironic because he is the only thing standing in the way of the first female president of the United States. Trump’s problems with women have been widely circulated and this isn’t bound to help him in any way. If the attacks were limited to a certain instance, that would be easier to explain. But years of comments are following him and with as many as he is responsible for, it becomes increasingly difficult to explain how fat shaming a women at 3 am or his comments about Megan Kelly being affected by menstruation.

Women’s opinions of him dropped sharply after the first debate in which Trump came across as hostile. “Twenty-seven percent of likely women voters said the debate made them think worse of Trump. Meanwhile, nearly a third, or 30 percent, said their opinion of Clinton had improved…”. This all proves the original point that Trump saying all these things may have been entertainment for him but no one else seemed to enjoy his brand of entertainment. He constantly turns women voters away and this latest stunt is sure to anger the largest group in America even more.

This is a problem for him especially because he knows that suburban college educated women are a key demographic that he needs to do well with in order to stand a chance in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina. He needs to realize how delicate of a position he is currently in. Go too harsh and he runs the risk of coming across as sexist, however his ego and lack of experience may point to the fact that he is very likely to try to make a drastic change anytime soon.

Sources

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-live-updates-trailguide-1475788177-htmlstory.html

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/poll-after-debate-women-think-less-trump-better-clinton-n656321