Sarah Posner: The public outrage from the Christian right is a huge gift to Trump, actually. It makes a rift between him and his extremist base visible to the public, giving him more ammunition to claim he's more moderate on abortion even than his own party and has power to transform the party itself. 7/x

Washington Post has more on the story first in Politico the other day about the clashes between the Christian right and the Trump campaign/RNC on platform drafting. It's getting heated, but what will it amount to? 🧵1/x www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Tempers flare as Trump team revises abortion plank for Republican platformwww.washingtonpost.com The former president wants the platform to endorse leaving the issue to the states rather than a federal ban in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s demise.

The piece pretends (i.e., gives Trump a giant benefit of the doubt) that Trump has settled on abortion policy that conflicts with his base. Trump, according to the piece, wants to "leave it to the states" and the Christian right/anti-abortion groups want national ban + personhood amendment. 2/x

Trump has only hinted at this, and has otherwise given a mishmash of answers when asked about this. At the debate, for example, he lied that the Biden/Dem position includes murdering newborns and that he would somehow have a policy to prevent that. 3/x

Let's return to the visible anger among heavyweights on the Christian right -- people like Marjorie Dannefelser, Tony Perkins, and more. They're mad that the platform (at least from 2016, since there wasn't one in 2020) will be "watered down." 4/x

Perkins has been talking about this for weeks, including on his radio show, and has been urging followers to pressure their RNC delegates. Trump's RNC has now blocked media from the platform committee meetings, something Perkins called "un-American." Yes, I know, leopard eating face, etc. 5/x

Trump's RNC, as Politico reported earlier in the week, purged a few people from the platform committee who were seeking strict anti-abortion language, including one who is a longtime Republican operative deeply embedded in the evangelical community (Chad Connelly). bsky.app/profile/sara... 6/x

This could turn into a BFD Also: Republicans in disarray (over abortion) www.politico.com/news/2024/07...

Trump campaign blocks pair of anti-abortion activists from RNC platform committeewww.politico.com The shakeup, which has not been previously reported, comes as anti-abortion groups petition Trump, his campaign advisers and members of the RNC not to make significant changes to the party’s platform ...

The public outrage from the Christian right is a huge gift to Trump, actually. It makes a rift between him and his extremist base visible to the public, giving him more ammunition to claim he's more moderate on abortion even than his own party and has power to transform the party itself. 7/x

The Christian right has spent the past 8 years claiming Trump was "the most pro-life" and "the most pro-religious liberty" president ever. That was because of SCOTUS/Dobbs, and because of their personnel/policy flexes inside his administration. Now they're incensed he's "moderating." But is he? 8/x

Evangelical leaders are hinting the base will be deflated if the platform doesn't measure up on abortion (and, also, lower down in the WaPo piece, marriage equality, which they want reversed). But it's hard to see the base being so deflated they'd let Dems (who they portray as baby killers) win. 9/x

Also (in part because of the 8-year campaign of submitting to Trump, God's anointed), the base reveres Trump and trusts he will have their backs if in office again. Could this flex against the platform committee change that? I have my doubts, because Trump is the party now. 10/x

A big part of the problem for the Christian right leaders is that they've spent so much time praising Trump as the best president ever that it's very hard for them to get the base to switch gears. They'd really have to show that he's engaging in a serious reversal/bait and switch on abortion. 11/x

Even so, the base could see it as a clever move to win over needed voters in the general election. In other words, they'd be in on Trump's fake moderation, with the expectation that he'd be on their side once in office. 12/x

We'll know in a few days who prevails in this showdown. What horse trading we find out about will depend on leaks, but of course there will be a lot of motivation to lie /spin. 13/x

This analysis is sobering. I wonder if the Christian Right base would simply refuse to believe the fact of the RNC platform. Less of a wink and a nudge than a denial of reality (for the reasons you raise - Trump is God's guy)

I would bet Trump paid for more at least one abortion. The GOP knows a full ban is not popular. The GOP is hoping their extreme forced birthers will trust them, this is just a ploy to get votes. The GOP is a sad example of a party. No ethics, honor or empathy. And all they do is lie.

This is it exactly. He's trying to hold on to pro-choice GOP voters.