Trump gives two-minute speech to extreme anti-abortion group - without mentioning abortion
Kelly Rissman and John Bowden
THE INDEPENDENT
Mon, June 10, 2024
Donald Trump delivered brief pre-recorded remarks at the ‘Life and Liberty Forum’ on Monday (Danbury Institute / screengrab)
Donald Trump supplied a brief, two-minute, pre-recorded message for an event hosted by an extreme anti-abortion group - which denounces the procedure as “child sacrifice” - but managed to dodge the issue altogether.
Trump spoke virtually Monday at the “Life and Liberty Forum” held by the Danbury Institute, a group that has decried abortion as “the greatest atrocity facing our generation today” and has vowed not to rest “until it is eradicated entirely.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, however, did not mention “abortion” once.
Instead, his words echoed his campaign rally speeches. “You just can’t vote Democrat. They’re against religion. They’re against your religion in particular,” he said in remarks broadcast to a half-empty room at the Indiana roof ballroom in Indianapolis.
“We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life and the heritage and traditions that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world.”
He added: “But now we are, as you know, a declining nation. I know that each of you is protecting those values everyday and I hope we’ll be defending them side-by-side for the next four years.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson attempted to clarify the former president’s abortion stance, telling Politico ahead of the event that Trump “supports the rights of states to determine the laws on this issue and supports the three exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
Trump’s remarks were broadcast to a half-empty room at the Indiana roof ballroom in Indianapolis (Adam Wren / screengrab)
Trump “is committed to addressing groups with diverse opinions on all of the issues, as evidenced by his recent speech at the Libertarian Convention, his meetings with the unions, and his efforts to campaign in diverse neighborhoods across the country,” the spokesperson also told the outlet.
The Independent has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
Trump’s stance on abortion remains unclear. He has touted the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022 as a victory, calling himself “proudly the person responsible” for the reversal of the landmark ruling on abortion rights. However, the former president also pledged in April that he would not sign a national abortion ban into law if it were passed by Congress. That same week, he said on social media platform, Truth Social, that he believed that the issue of abortion should be left up to states.
Trump’s two-minute statement at the nearly three-hour, Christian event starkly contrasted the other speakers’ speeches.
Many speakers at the event were Southern Baptists arguing their opposition to abortion and IVF services, as well as gender-affirming health care, same-sex marriage, and even “no-fault divorce.” Some speakers went so far as to claim that many “women are being coerced” into getting abortions. One speaker even likened a surge in abortions to the Holocaust.
Dr Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, took aim at IVF, saying the practice is “not only the alienation of reproduction, from the conjugal setting, it is also an engineered system whereby multiple embryos are created only for most of them assuredly to be destroyed.”
He added: “We need to recognize any intervention with an embryo, any commodification of the embryo, any turn of the embryo into a consumer product, is an assault upon human dignity.”
He touched upon the Alabama ruling in February, when the state’s Supreme Court labeled embryos as “children,” allowing a wrongful death lawsuit to proceed after embryos were destroyed at an IVF clinic. Dr Mohler slammed the GOP-controlled Alabama legislature and Republican governor for passing a “short-term measure” that protected IVF services after the controversial ruling.
“Even in the state of Alabama lack of political will to stand behind what was the correct rule and judgment by the Alabama Supreme Court,” he said.
He also claimed that conception starts at fertilization rather than implantation. “We mean when the sperm and the egg meet and God said, ‘let there be light,’” he said.
A welcome video was played at the beginning of the conference. “God has been pushed out of our schools and our public squares,” the narrator stated, before accusing transgender Americans in public spaces of “exposing [children] to indecency and confusion.”
Tim Lee, an evangelist and marine, claimed the US is trying to “kick God out of everything.”
“Our forefathers wanted God in America,” he said. “It’s time to take America back.”
Trump’s message to the Christian gathering aired on the same day he was interviewed by a probation officer ahead of his sentencing next month in his hush money trial. Trump made history last month as the first former president to be found guilty in a criminal case.
Mon, June 10, 2024
Donald Trump delivered brief pre-recorded remarks at the ‘Life and Liberty Forum’ on Monday (Danbury Institute / screengrab)
Donald Trump supplied a brief, two-minute, pre-recorded message for an event hosted by an extreme anti-abortion group - which denounces the procedure as “child sacrifice” - but managed to dodge the issue altogether.
Trump spoke virtually Monday at the “Life and Liberty Forum” held by the Danbury Institute, a group that has decried abortion as “the greatest atrocity facing our generation today” and has vowed not to rest “until it is eradicated entirely.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, however, did not mention “abortion” once.
Instead, his words echoed his campaign rally speeches. “You just can’t vote Democrat. They’re against religion. They’re against your religion in particular,” he said in remarks broadcast to a half-empty room at the Indiana roof ballroom in Indianapolis.
“We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life and the heritage and traditions that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world.”
He added: “But now we are, as you know, a declining nation. I know that each of you is protecting those values everyday and I hope we’ll be defending them side-by-side for the next four years.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson attempted to clarify the former president’s abortion stance, telling Politico ahead of the event that Trump “supports the rights of states to determine the laws on this issue and supports the three exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
Trump’s remarks were broadcast to a half-empty room at the Indiana roof ballroom in Indianapolis (Adam Wren / screengrab)
Trump “is committed to addressing groups with diverse opinions on all of the issues, as evidenced by his recent speech at the Libertarian Convention, his meetings with the unions, and his efforts to campaign in diverse neighborhoods across the country,” the spokesperson also told the outlet.
The Independent has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
Trump’s stance on abortion remains unclear. He has touted the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022 as a victory, calling himself “proudly the person responsible” for the reversal of the landmark ruling on abortion rights. However, the former president also pledged in April that he would not sign a national abortion ban into law if it were passed by Congress. That same week, he said on social media platform, Truth Social, that he believed that the issue of abortion should be left up to states.
Trump’s two-minute statement at the nearly three-hour, Christian event starkly contrasted the other speakers’ speeches.
Many speakers at the event were Southern Baptists arguing their opposition to abortion and IVF services, as well as gender-affirming health care, same-sex marriage, and even “no-fault divorce.” Some speakers went so far as to claim that many “women are being coerced” into getting abortions. One speaker even likened a surge in abortions to the Holocaust.
Dr Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, took aim at IVF, saying the practice is “not only the alienation of reproduction, from the conjugal setting, it is also an engineered system whereby multiple embryos are created only for most of them assuredly to be destroyed.”
He added: “We need to recognize any intervention with an embryo, any commodification of the embryo, any turn of the embryo into a consumer product, is an assault upon human dignity.”
He touched upon the Alabama ruling in February, when the state’s Supreme Court labeled embryos as “children,” allowing a wrongful death lawsuit to proceed after embryos were destroyed at an IVF clinic. Dr Mohler slammed the GOP-controlled Alabama legislature and Republican governor for passing a “short-term measure” that protected IVF services after the controversial ruling.
“Even in the state of Alabama lack of political will to stand behind what was the correct rule and judgment by the Alabama Supreme Court,” he said.
He also claimed that conception starts at fertilization rather than implantation. “We mean when the sperm and the egg meet and God said, ‘let there be light,’” he said.
A welcome video was played at the beginning of the conference. “God has been pushed out of our schools and our public squares,” the narrator stated, before accusing transgender Americans in public spaces of “exposing [children] to indecency and confusion.”
Tim Lee, an evangelist and marine, claimed the US is trying to “kick God out of everything.”
“Our forefathers wanted God in America,” he said. “It’s time to take America back.”
Trump’s message to the Christian gathering aired on the same day he was interviewed by a probation officer ahead of his sentencing next month in his hush money trial. Trump made history last month as the first former president to be found guilty in a criminal case.
KELSEY WALSH, LALEE IBSSA and SOO RIN KIM
Mon, June 10, 2024
Trump doesn't mention abortion during brief remarks to anti-abortion group
Former President Donald Trump was slated to give a virtual keynote address to the Life & Liberty Forum hosted by the Danbury Institute, an organization that says it promotes Judeo-Christian values and wants abortion to be "eradicated entirely" on Monday afternoon -- instead, he gave a brief message that lasted less than two minutes where he did not utter the word "abortion."
Trump's remarks were focused on defending religious liberty. Also, he falsely claimed that Democrats are "against religion."
"These are difficult times for our nation and your work is so important. We can't afford to have anyone sit on the sidelines. Now is the time for us to all pull together and to stand up for our values and for our freedoms."
MORE: Trump says abortion should be a states' rights issue, Republicans 'must also win elections'
He continued, "You just can't vote Democrat. They're against religion. They're against your religion in particular … We have to defend religious liberty, free speech and innocent life and the heritage and tradition that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world."
A study released by the Pew Research Center in April examining religion and political affiliation found that protestants mostly align with the Republican Party -- however, a large majority of Black Protestants (84%) identify with the Democrats. Also, about seven in 10 Jewish voters (69%) associate with the Democratic Party, while 29% affiliate with the Republican Party, the study found. Roughly 66% of Muslim voters say they are Democrats or independents who lean Democratic, compared with 32% who are Republicans or lean Republican, according to the study.
After suggesting that the nation is in decline, Trump said he understood where the group is coming from and where they are going. He advocated that he'd be by their sides for the next four years.
The Danbury Institute takes a strong stance against reproductive rights, claiming life begins at conception, and "abortion must be ended. We will not rest until it is eradicated entirely," according to its website.
The Christian organization says on its website that it believes that the end of Roe v. Wade was just the beginning to their life mission.
"We are grateful to God and to the current slate of Supreme Court Justices for the successful overturning of Roe v. Wade. However, the battle is far from won. In many ways, it is only beginning," the website says.
Abortion rights are a key issue for many voters as Election Day approaches -- with both Trump and President Joe Biden working to highlight their platforms as they face off in what is expected to be a tight race.
MORE: Facing backlash, Trump walks back comments on restricting contraceptives
Trump said in April that abortion should be decided by the states. He has not said if he personally favors a certain number of weeks into pregnancy at which state-level bans should take effect, though he has publicly criticized a six-week ban in Florida and, more recently, talked privately about the idea of a national 16-week ban with exceptions, sources told ABC News in February.
The Biden campaign blasted Trump's participation in the Danbury Institute event suggesting that his priority is to fight for those who want to eradicate abortion.
"If you want to know who Trump will fight for in a second term, look at who he's spending his time speaking to: anti-abortion extremists who call abortion 'child sacrifice' and want to 'eradicate' abortion 'entirely,'" Biden's campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.
PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump greets supporters upon arrival for his campaign rally at Sunset Park on June 09, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Trump takes credit for the for the U.S. Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
"After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the 'shock' of everyone, and for the first time put the Pro Life movement in a strong negotiating position," Trump wrote on his social media platform last month.
Biden has blamed Trump for the spread of abortion bans since the end of Roe v. Wade, encouraging women voters to back him in November.
"[Trump is] wrong, the Supreme Court was wrong. It should be a constitutional right in the federal Constitution, a federal right, and it shouldn't matter where in America you live," Biden said in a speech in April. "This isn't about states' rights, this is about women's rights."
Organizers of Monday's event suggested it was hard to schedule Trump's remarks due to his ongoing court trials, but they were grateful for the video message. The Danbury Institute did not respond to ABC News' inquiry on the length of Trump's appearance.
Trump doesn't mention abortion during brief remarks to anti-abortion group originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Adam Wren, Megan Messerly and Lisa Kashinsky
POLITICO
Mon, June 10, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — Donald Trump’s problem with abortion politics was never more apparent than it was here Monday, as he delivered brief virtual remarks to a Christian advocacy organization that wants to ban all abortions — and didn't mention the procedure once.
For all his efforts to avoid the issue and “make both sides happy,” as he has long promised, Trump still got hit by both sides — from Democrats for appearing at all, and from some of his own voters in the room for skirting a topic at the top of their agenda.
“He sounded more like a politician who wants to be elected,” said Rick Patrick, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Sylacauga, Alabama. “I voted for him and I plan to vote for him again, but he was not like the other speakers who were here talking about religious things.”
In a pre-taped video address just under two minutes long to the Danbury Institute, which calls abortion “child sacrifice,” Trump did not mention the word “abortion” at all, even though the group’s CEO praised Trump in an introduction for addressing, as president, what he called “the most important issue facing our country and the next generation of our children who are being slaughtered in the womb.”
Instead, Trump told the group, “You just can’t vote Democrat. They’re against religion. They’re against your religion in particular.”
The former president’s brief remarks to the Danbury Institute, on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, served as the latest example of the tightrope Trump is walking on an issue where polls show he remains vulnerable. Before the address, for which he was billed as a speaker, Trump’s campaign privately cautioned that he would only give a pre-recorded welcome message lasting less than two minutes. His address drew only polite applause and garnered some criticism among anti-abortion Southern Baptist leaders in attendance.
“It’s disappointing because you would hope to have a Republican presidential candidate who speaks strongly that life begins at conception,” said Kevin McClure, an attendee from a Baptist congregation in Louisville who said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom he backed in the Republican presidential primary, was a better opponent of abortion rights.
Trump’s stated position on abortion — that the issue should be left to the states in the post-Roe era — is in conflict with the hardline position of the Danbury Institute. It is a major liability for him, even though he has taken credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices necessary to overturn Roe.
“The president is not dumb, and he recognizes just how lethal Dobbs was in the midterm elections. From a purely political perspective, I think both the president and even the Republican Party in general realize that where they have been is maybe not where people are, or at least the majority of Americans are,” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump administration appointee.
But Trump also “cannot look like [he is] abandoning the religious right,” Bartlett said. And so he needs to “negotiate with the religious right, show that he understands them.”
Nearly two years out from Dobbs, roughly two-thirds of Americans continue to disapprove of the decision that felled federal abortion protections, according to a mid-April CNN/SSRS poll. And it remains a major issue for suburban women, a key voting bloc Trump has struggled with, according to a spring Wall Street Journal poll of seven swing states.
On the other hand, Trump may have found some middle ground with his stated position view that abortion rights should be left to states. Half of voters in a POLITICO-Morning Consult poll conducted after Trump cemented that stance in early April said they support states making their own laws about abortion access, compared to just 35 percent who do not.
On Monday, Trump’s video remarks came after nearly an hour of discussion earlier in the event about where the anti-abortion movement should be focusing in the post-Roe era — including restricting abortion pills and criminalizing women who receive abortions. Those policy measures would further curtail access to a procedure that is banned in almost all cases in more than a third of the U.S.
A Trump campaign spokesperson previously defended Trump’s appearance at the Danbury Institute, saying he “is committed to addressing groups with diverse opinions on all of the issues.”
But it came at a cost. President Joe Biden's campaign blasted Trump as a politician who “loves campaigning with abortion ban extremists.” And the Indiana Democratic Party joined in Monday morning, accusing Trump of “doing the bidding of the most extreme anti-choice groups in the country.”
Meanwhile, the former president disappointed many anti-abortion advocates still stung by his declining in April to endorse a national limit on abortion, saying that issue should be left up to state lawmakers and voters.
“We want to see abortion gone because it is a human rights issue,” said Tyler Murphy, an associate pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Fulton, Missouri, who supports a national abortion ban. “The federal government needs to protect its people.”
During an abortion-focused panel, Tom Ascol, senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, criticized anti-abortion groups for not taking bold enough positions on abortion since the fall of Roe. He and other speakers lamented the widespread accessibility of abortion pills, which have allowed people who live in states where the procedure is banned to terminate their pregnancies, and said that conservatives need to band together to work toward the complete elimination of abortion.
“Some of the pro-life organizations said, ‘Look, we've abolished abortion in America.’ No, we have not,” Ascol said.
And abortion was not the only issue on the religious leaders’ minds as was evident throughout the convention’s early proceedings. Prominent evangelical leader Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said that Christians have before them a “bigger task than ever before” as he touted a resolution that is being put forward at the Southern Baptists’ annual meeting voicing opposition to in vitro fertilization as typically practiced in the U.S.
“We're about to find out how pro-life the pro-life movement is,” Mohler said.
Trump to call for abortion to be ‘eradicated entirely’ to Christian group
Mon, June 10, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — Donald Trump’s problem with abortion politics was never more apparent than it was here Monday, as he delivered brief virtual remarks to a Christian advocacy organization that wants to ban all abortions — and didn't mention the procedure once.
For all his efforts to avoid the issue and “make both sides happy,” as he has long promised, Trump still got hit by both sides — from Democrats for appearing at all, and from some of his own voters in the room for skirting a topic at the top of their agenda.
“He sounded more like a politician who wants to be elected,” said Rick Patrick, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Sylacauga, Alabama. “I voted for him and I plan to vote for him again, but he was not like the other speakers who were here talking about religious things.”
In a pre-taped video address just under two minutes long to the Danbury Institute, which calls abortion “child sacrifice,” Trump did not mention the word “abortion” at all, even though the group’s CEO praised Trump in an introduction for addressing, as president, what he called “the most important issue facing our country and the next generation of our children who are being slaughtered in the womb.”
Instead, Trump told the group, “You just can’t vote Democrat. They’re against religion. They’re against your religion in particular.”
The former president’s brief remarks to the Danbury Institute, on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, served as the latest example of the tightrope Trump is walking on an issue where polls show he remains vulnerable. Before the address, for which he was billed as a speaker, Trump’s campaign privately cautioned that he would only give a pre-recorded welcome message lasting less than two minutes. His address drew only polite applause and garnered some criticism among anti-abortion Southern Baptist leaders in attendance.
“It’s disappointing because you would hope to have a Republican presidential candidate who speaks strongly that life begins at conception,” said Kevin McClure, an attendee from a Baptist congregation in Louisville who said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom he backed in the Republican presidential primary, was a better opponent of abortion rights.
Trump’s stated position on abortion — that the issue should be left to the states in the post-Roe era — is in conflict with the hardline position of the Danbury Institute. It is a major liability for him, even though he has taken credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices necessary to overturn Roe.
“The president is not dumb, and he recognizes just how lethal Dobbs was in the midterm elections. From a purely political perspective, I think both the president and even the Republican Party in general realize that where they have been is maybe not where people are, or at least the majority of Americans are,” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump administration appointee.
But Trump also “cannot look like [he is] abandoning the religious right,” Bartlett said. And so he needs to “negotiate with the religious right, show that he understands them.”
Nearly two years out from Dobbs, roughly two-thirds of Americans continue to disapprove of the decision that felled federal abortion protections, according to a mid-April CNN/SSRS poll. And it remains a major issue for suburban women, a key voting bloc Trump has struggled with, according to a spring Wall Street Journal poll of seven swing states.
On the other hand, Trump may have found some middle ground with his stated position view that abortion rights should be left to states. Half of voters in a POLITICO-Morning Consult poll conducted after Trump cemented that stance in early April said they support states making their own laws about abortion access, compared to just 35 percent who do not.
On Monday, Trump’s video remarks came after nearly an hour of discussion earlier in the event about where the anti-abortion movement should be focusing in the post-Roe era — including restricting abortion pills and criminalizing women who receive abortions. Those policy measures would further curtail access to a procedure that is banned in almost all cases in more than a third of the U.S.
A Trump campaign spokesperson previously defended Trump’s appearance at the Danbury Institute, saying he “is committed to addressing groups with diverse opinions on all of the issues.”
But it came at a cost. President Joe Biden's campaign blasted Trump as a politician who “loves campaigning with abortion ban extremists.” And the Indiana Democratic Party joined in Monday morning, accusing Trump of “doing the bidding of the most extreme anti-choice groups in the country.”
Meanwhile, the former president disappointed many anti-abortion advocates still stung by his declining in April to endorse a national limit on abortion, saying that issue should be left up to state lawmakers and voters.
“We want to see abortion gone because it is a human rights issue,” said Tyler Murphy, an associate pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Fulton, Missouri, who supports a national abortion ban. “The federal government needs to protect its people.”
During an abortion-focused panel, Tom Ascol, senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, criticized anti-abortion groups for not taking bold enough positions on abortion since the fall of Roe. He and other speakers lamented the widespread accessibility of abortion pills, which have allowed people who live in states where the procedure is banned to terminate their pregnancies, and said that conservatives need to band together to work toward the complete elimination of abortion.
“Some of the pro-life organizations said, ‘Look, we've abolished abortion in America.’ No, we have not,” Ascol said.
And abortion was not the only issue on the religious leaders’ minds as was evident throughout the convention’s early proceedings. Prominent evangelical leader Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said that Christians have before them a “bigger task than ever before” as he touted a resolution that is being put forward at the Southern Baptists’ annual meeting voicing opposition to in vitro fertilization as typically practiced in the U.S.
“We're about to find out how pro-life the pro-life movement is,” Mohler said.
Trump to call for abortion to be ‘eradicated entirely’ to Christian group
Associated Press
Mon, June 10, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Donald Trump on Monday will make a virtual appearance before a Christian group that calls for abortion to be “eradicated entirely,” as the presumptive Republican nominee again takes on an issue that Democrats want to make a focus of this year’s presidential election.
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The former president pre-recorded a video that will be shown at an event hosted by The Danbury Institute, which is meeting in Indianapolis in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Danbury Institute, an association of churches, Christians and organizations, says on its website that it believes “that the greatest atrocity facing our generation today is the practice of abortion” and it “must be ended.”
“We will not rest until it is eradicated entirely,” the group said.
Trump has repeatedly taken credit for the overturning of a federally guaranteed right to abortion — having nominated three of the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade — but has resisted supporting a national abortion ban and says he wants to leave the issue to the states.
Though the Danbury Institute advertised Trump as a virtual speaker at the event, his campaign clarified Monday that Trump had pre-taped a brief video. In a transcript of his remarks provided by the campaign, Trump thanks the audience for their “tremendous devotion to God and Country.”
“These are difficult times for our nation, and your work is so important. We can’t afford to have anyone sit on the sidelines—now is the time for us all to pull together and stand up for our values and our freedoms,” Trump said, according to the transcript. “We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life, and the heritage and traditions that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world. I know that each of you is protecting those values every day—and I hope we’ll be defending them side by side for the next four years.”
Both the Southern Baptists who will hear Trump on Monday and Republicans at large are split on abortion politics, with some calling for immediate, complete abortion bans and others more open to incremental tactics. Polls over the last several years have found a majority of Americans support some access to abortion, and abortion-rights groups have won several statewide votes since Roe was overturned, including in conservative-led states like Kansas and Ohio.
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Like the GOP, the Southern Baptist Convention has moved steadily to the right since the 1980s, and its members were in the vanguard of the wider religious movement that strongly supported Republican presidents from Ronald Reagan to Trump. The Conservative Baptist Network, one of the event’s sponsors, wants to move the conservative denomination even further to the right.
Although they criticized President Bill Clinton’s sexual behavior in the 1990s, Southern Baptists and other evangelicals have supported Trump. That has continued despite allegations of sexual misconduct, multiple divorces and now his conviction on 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. Trump will give his address on the same day he appears virtually for a required pre-sentencing interview with New York probation officers.
Many Southern Baptists say they see him as the only alternative to a Democratic agenda they abhor.
H. Sharayah Colter, spokesperson for The Danbury Institute, said in a statement that the presidential race was a “binary choice” and said Trump has “demonstrated a willingness to protect the value of life even when politically unpopular.”
And Albert Mohler, longtime president of the denomination’s flagship seminary and once an outspoken Clinton critic, wrote a column after Trump’s conviction attacking Democrats for supporting transgender rights.
“Say what you will about Donald Trump and his sex scandals, he doesn’t confuse male and female,” wrote Mohler, who is a listed speaker for Monday’s event, along with others from the denomination’s right flank.
Trump has said he would not sign a national abortion ban and in an interview on the Fox News Channel last week, when commenting on the way some states are enshrining abortion rights and others are restricting them, said that “the people are deciding and in many ways, it’s a beautiful thing to watch.”
For over a year until he announced his position this spring, Trump had backed away from endorsing any specific national limit on abortion, unlike many other Republicans who eventually ended their presidential campaigns. Trump has repeatedly said the issue can be politically tricky and suggested he would “negotiate” a policy that would include exceptions for rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother.
Democrats and President Joe Biden’s campaign have tried to tie Trump to the most conservative state-level bans on abortion as well as a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that would have restricted access to in vitro fertilization and other fertility procedures that are broadly popular.
“Four more years of Donald Trump means empowering organizations like the Danbury Institute who want to ban abortion nationally and punish women who have abortions,” said Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for Biden’s campaign. “Trump brags that he is responsible for overturning Roe, he thinks the extreme state bans happening now because of him are ‘working very brilliantly,’ and if he’s given the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban. These are the stakes this November.”
When asked about his appearance before the Danbury Institute, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump “has been very clear: he supports the rights of states to determine the laws on this issue and supports the three exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
Leavitt also said, “President Trump is committed to addressing groups with diverse opinions on all of the issues, as evidenced by his recent speech at the Libertarian Convention, his meetings with the unions, and his efforts to campaign in diverse neighborhoods across the country.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc
"I’ll be with you, side by side”: Trump pledges to defend values of an anti-abortion coalition of Christian groups.
The Recount
Mon, June 10, 2024
Donald Trump on Monday pledged in a virtual speech to defend the values of the Danbury Institute, a coalition of Christian groups known to seek the end of abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.
“I know what's happening,” cited Trump in his virtual remarks that lasted less than two minutes. “I know where you're coming from, and where you're going, and I’ll be with you, side by side.”
Trump addressed the Danbury Institute’s Life & Liberty Forum in a pre-taped speech. Previously, Trump noted he would not sign a national abortion ban, but has called state abortion restrictions “a beautiful thing to watch.” While Trump did not comment explicitly on the group’s abortion stance, he vowed to “stand up for our values and for our freedoms.”
“We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life, and the heritage and tradition that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world,” Trump said. “But now we are, as you know, a declining nation. And, I might add, we are a seriously declining nation, seriously, seriously, and so sad.”
The Danbury Institute maintains a strong position on abortion, deeming it “child sacrifice.” The coalition’s website notes that they “will not rest until [abortion] is eradicated entirely.”
“[Democrats are] against religion. They're against your religion in particular,” Trump urged in his virtual remarks. “You cannot vote for Democrats, and you have to get out and vote.”
“I know that each of you is protecting those values every day,” Trump added. “These are going to be your years because you're going to make a comeback like just about no other group.”
Donald Trump on Monday pledged in a virtual speech to defend the values of the Danbury Institute, a coalition of Christian groups known to seek the end of abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.
“I know what's happening,” cited Trump in his virtual remarks that lasted less than two minutes. “I know where you're coming from, and where you're going, and I’ll be with you, side by side.”
Trump addressed the Danbury Institute’s Life & Liberty Forum in a pre-taped speech. Previously, Trump noted he would not sign a national abortion ban, but has called state abortion restrictions “a beautiful thing to watch.” While Trump did not comment explicitly on the group’s abortion stance, he vowed to “stand up for our values and for our freedoms.”
“We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life, and the heritage and tradition that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world,” Trump said. “But now we are, as you know, a declining nation. And, I might add, we are a seriously declining nation, seriously, seriously, and so sad.”
The Danbury Institute maintains a strong position on abortion, deeming it “child sacrifice.” The coalition’s website notes that they “will not rest until [abortion] is eradicated entirely.”
“[Democrats are] against religion. They're against your religion in particular,” Trump urged in his virtual remarks. “You cannot vote for Democrats, and you have to get out and vote.”
“I know that each of you is protecting those values every day,” Trump added. “These are going to be your years because you're going to make a comeback like just about no other group.”
Trump set to speak before group that calls for abortion to be ‘eradicated’
Sarah Fortinsky
THE HILL
Mon, June 10, 2024
Trump set to speak before group that calls for abortion to be ‘eradicated’
Former President Trump is slated to speak virtually Monday at an event hosted by a Christian nonprofit group that calls for abortion to be “eradicated entirely.”
The Danbury Institute — which describes itself as “a conservative Christian coalition for life and liberty” — says on its website that abortion is “the greatest atrocity facing our generation today.”
“Abortion must be ended. We will not rest until it is eradicated entirely,” the site also says.
The group is hosting the event in Indianapolis in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, The Associated Press reported.
The event has the potential to bolster Democratic efforts to make abortion a central issue ahead of the November election. Even as polls have the two major parties’ presumptive nominees locked in a close race, voters have consistently said they trust Democrats more than Republicans to deal with the issue of abortion. Republicans are usually favored on issues related to the economy and immigration.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022, abortion bans or restrictions have taken effect in 21 Republican-led states.
Trump frequently takes credit for overturning Roe by noting he nominated three conservative justices who voted with the majority to reverse the federal right to an abortion. But he has shied away from embracing a national abortion ban, saying the issue should be left up to states.
Democrats have already taken aim at the presumptive GOP nominee for his appearance at the Danbury Institute.
“Four more years of Donald Trump means empowering organizations like the Danbury Institute who want to ban abortion nationally and punish women who have abortions,” said Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for Biden’s campaign, according to The Associated Press. “Trump brags that he is responsible for overturning Roe, he thinks the extreme state bans happening now because of him are ‘working very brilliantly,’ and if he’s given the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban. These are the stakes this November.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, when asked about Trump’s Monday appearance, told the AP the former president “has been very clear: he supports the rights of states to determine the laws on this issue and supports the three exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
“President Trump is committed to addressing groups with diverse opinions on all of the issues, as evidenced by his recent speech at the Libertarian Convention, his meetings with the unions, and his efforts to campaign in diverse neighborhoods across the country,” she added.
Mon, June 10, 2024
Trump set to speak before group that calls for abortion to be ‘eradicated’
Former President Trump is slated to speak virtually Monday at an event hosted by a Christian nonprofit group that calls for abortion to be “eradicated entirely.”
The Danbury Institute — which describes itself as “a conservative Christian coalition for life and liberty” — says on its website that abortion is “the greatest atrocity facing our generation today.”
“Abortion must be ended. We will not rest until it is eradicated entirely,” the site also says.
The group is hosting the event in Indianapolis in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, The Associated Press reported.
The event has the potential to bolster Democratic efforts to make abortion a central issue ahead of the November election. Even as polls have the two major parties’ presumptive nominees locked in a close race, voters have consistently said they trust Democrats more than Republicans to deal with the issue of abortion. Republicans are usually favored on issues related to the economy and immigration.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022, abortion bans or restrictions have taken effect in 21 Republican-led states.
Trump frequently takes credit for overturning Roe by noting he nominated three conservative justices who voted with the majority to reverse the federal right to an abortion. But he has shied away from embracing a national abortion ban, saying the issue should be left up to states.
Democrats have already taken aim at the presumptive GOP nominee for his appearance at the Danbury Institute.
“Four more years of Donald Trump means empowering organizations like the Danbury Institute who want to ban abortion nationally and punish women who have abortions,” said Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for Biden’s campaign, according to The Associated Press. “Trump brags that he is responsible for overturning Roe, he thinks the extreme state bans happening now because of him are ‘working very brilliantly,’ and if he’s given the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban. These are the stakes this November.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, when asked about Trump’s Monday appearance, told the AP the former president “has been very clear: he supports the rights of states to determine the laws on this issue and supports the three exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
“President Trump is committed to addressing groups with diverse opinions on all of the issues, as evidenced by his recent speech at the Libertarian Convention, his meetings with the unions, and his efforts to campaign in diverse neighborhoods across the country,” she added.
Trump says he'll work "side by side" with religious group that wants to "eradicate" abortion
Marin Scotten
Tue, June 11, 2024
Donald Trump JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump said he’ll work “side-by-side” with a newly formed religious group that wants to ban abortion if he is re-elected in November.
At its inaugural Life and Liberty Conference in Indiana on Monday, the group, dubbed The Danbury Institute, played a two-minute recording of Trump saying he will work with it to defend the values of “religious liberty, free speech, innocent life,” though he avoided using the word abortion, The Oregonian reported.
The Danbury Institute is an association of churches and organizations that says abortion is “the greatest atrocity facing the United States.” The Life and Liberty conference was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.
On its website, the Danbury Institute says the organization stands “for life from conception to natural death.” It advocates for “every person’s rights to be respected from the moment of conception, meaning that each pre-born baby would be treated with the same protection under the law as born people.”
“These are going to be your years because you’re going to make a comeback like just about no other group,” Trump told attendees in the recording. “I know what’s happening. I know where you’re coming from and where you’re going. And I’ll be with you side by side.”
He then urged The Danbury Institute and members of the church to vote for him in November.
“You just can’t vote Democrat. They’re against religion. They’re against your religion in particular,” Trump said.
Democrats have already criticized Trump’s connections to the group.
“Four more years of Donald Trump means empowering organizations like The Danbury Institute who want to ban abortion nationally and punish women who have abortions,” Sarafine Chitika, a spokesperson for Biden’s campaign told the Associated Press. “Trump brags that he is responsible for overturning Roe, he thinks the extreme state bans happening now because of him are ‘working very brilliantly,’ and if he’s given the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban. These are the stakes this November.”
OPINION
No One Should Be Confused About Where Trump Stands on Abortion
Donald Trump JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump said he’ll work “side-by-side” with a newly formed religious group that wants to ban abortion if he is re-elected in November.
At its inaugural Life and Liberty Conference in Indiana on Monday, the group, dubbed The Danbury Institute, played a two-minute recording of Trump saying he will work with it to defend the values of “religious liberty, free speech, innocent life,” though he avoided using the word abortion, The Oregonian reported.
The Danbury Institute is an association of churches and organizations that says abortion is “the greatest atrocity facing the United States.” The Life and Liberty conference was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.
On its website, the Danbury Institute says the organization stands “for life from conception to natural death.” It advocates for “every person’s rights to be respected from the moment of conception, meaning that each pre-born baby would be treated with the same protection under the law as born people.”
“These are going to be your years because you’re going to make a comeback like just about no other group,” Trump told attendees in the recording. “I know what’s happening. I know where you’re coming from and where you’re going. And I’ll be with you side by side.”
He then urged The Danbury Institute and members of the church to vote for him in November.
“You just can’t vote Democrat. They’re against religion. They’re against your religion in particular,” Trump said.
Democrats have already criticized Trump’s connections to the group.
“Four more years of Donald Trump means empowering organizations like The Danbury Institute who want to ban abortion nationally and punish women who have abortions,” Sarafine Chitika, a spokesperson for Biden’s campaign told the Associated Press. “Trump brags that he is responsible for overturning Roe, he thinks the extreme state bans happening now because of him are ‘working very brilliantly,’ and if he’s given the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban. These are the stakes this November.”
OPINION
No One Should Be Confused About Where Trump Stands on Abortion
Melissa Gira Grant
THE NEW REPUBLIC
Tue, June 11, 2024
Trump is supposedly trying not to seem “extreme” on abortion. So when news broke last week that he would be speaking to a group that demands abortion be “eradicated entirely,” this somewhat complicated the narrative: Why would Trump, who is trying to stick to a simple “leave it to the states” script, seek the support of a group that considers abortion “child sacrifice”? And, conversely, why would the Danbury Institute—a new group with ties to the more conservative factions of the Southern Baptist Convention—accept the leadership of a man just convicted of 34 felony crimes in connection with covering up sex with a porn performer? In truth, none of this is very surprising.
Trump’s prerecorded video, played toward the close of an hours-long “luncheon” organized by the Danbury Institute, defied what has become the narrative on Trump and abortion: that Trump must maintain careful distance from committing to any particular stance on abortion, lest he risk losing Republican voters who feel that anti-abortion laws have gone too far since the end of Roe. His remarks Monday were very brief, and included a pledge to “defend life.” That may seem vague, except if you recall that he’s saying it to a group that defines “defending life” as “abolishing abortion.”
Evoking notions of spiritual warfare, the Danbury Institute in its mission statement calls on supporters to act as “honorable patriots” and “heavenly citizens.” The group lists numerous opponents, from transgender women to socialism. It laments that “63 million babies have died on our nation’s altar to ‘women’s rights.’” The group was launched earlier this year but draws leadership from Christian-right stalwarts like Richard Land and has garnered the support of the James Dobson Family Institute. Its event featuring Trump was held alongside the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis and was co-sponsored by some more familiar names: Liberty University, the Family Research Council, Students for Life America, and the Promise Keepers (seemingly back from the 1990s). Guests were told the event would feature “opportunities” to advance their project of asserting “Judeo-Christian values” that they claim the United States was built on. There was no subtlety at the event: Speakers likened abortion to the Holocaust, said it must be brought to an end, and said that the people in the room will end it.
Ahead of the event, multiple outlets suggested there was some tension here with Trump’s allegedly more moderate stance. “Trump’s position stands in stark contrast from the group hosting Monday’s event,” USA Today reported. Politico went further, saying that Trump and the Danbury Institute held contradictory stances on abortion, reporting last week, “Donald Trump is courting a Christian advocacy organization that wants to ban all abortions and calls the procedure ‘child sacrifice,’ a stringent position that contradicts his own less restrictive approach and stated intention to let states decide the issue.” Many noted Trump’s seeming resistance to taking a stand on abortion at all. “For over a year until he announced his position this spring, Trump had backed away from endorsing any specific national limit on abortion,” the AP reported ahead of Trump’s remarks. Trump’s campaign helped cement the narrative by repeating on Monday the claim that Trump wants to leave abortion up to the states. It’s a statement well undermined by the fact that there is a plan for Trump, authored by former Trump administration officials: Project 2025, which makes the highly contested argument that a national abortion ban is already on the books and all Trump needs to do is enforce it.
Trump’s remarks were provided to some news organizations before the luncheon attendees saw the video he’d recorded. “We can’t afford to have anyone sit on the sidelines—now is the time for us all to pull together and stand up for our values and our freedoms,” the provided remarks read. “We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life, and the heritage and traditions that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world.” In the video, Trump seemingly riffed—“You just can’t vote Democrat, they’re against religion, they’re against your religion in particular”—before getting back on script. “I know that each of you is protecting those values every day—and I hope we’ll be defending them side by side for the next four years.” It’s a mess, but it sounds the right notes: religious liberty and innocent life, the two pillars of the Danbury Institute’s event and core concerns of the Christian right.
Maybe you think that, alone, wouldn’t be enough to recommend Trump to the kind of Christian that imagines this nation can only be restored to its divine origins once these particular Christians assume leadership over all. Project 2025, for example—the Heritage Foundation–led effort to guide Trump—puts “Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children” at the top of its list of concerns.
But the Christian right has been inclined to offer Trump broad latitude so long as it’s in service to its goals. “Many Americans, including large swaths of White Christian nationalists, seem to accept that the figure who is asked to protect the purity of the national family may overstep the bounds of purity himself to do so,” the professor of religious studies and former Christian nationalist Bradley Onishi writes in his 2023 book tracing and critiquing that movement. “This transgression is viewed not as an unforgivable sin but as a sign of virility and power.” In Trump, they have found their latest perfectly impure leader. “Like a good strongman, he is seen as the head and protector of the American family,” Onishi writes. “His transgressions are not only forgivable; they are signs that he is up for the job.” Even “family values” Christians may follow such a leader—not because they have no other choice, but because he fits the part.
Trump, in his way, nodded to this relationship in the rambling prophecy at the end of his remarks. He promised his audience that their power would return, with him: “These are gonna be your years, because you’re gonna make a comeback like just about no other group … and I’ll be with you, side by side.”
Tue, June 11, 2024
Trump is supposedly trying not to seem “extreme” on abortion. So when news broke last week that he would be speaking to a group that demands abortion be “eradicated entirely,” this somewhat complicated the narrative: Why would Trump, who is trying to stick to a simple “leave it to the states” script, seek the support of a group that considers abortion “child sacrifice”? And, conversely, why would the Danbury Institute—a new group with ties to the more conservative factions of the Southern Baptist Convention—accept the leadership of a man just convicted of 34 felony crimes in connection with covering up sex with a porn performer? In truth, none of this is very surprising.
Trump’s prerecorded video, played toward the close of an hours-long “luncheon” organized by the Danbury Institute, defied what has become the narrative on Trump and abortion: that Trump must maintain careful distance from committing to any particular stance on abortion, lest he risk losing Republican voters who feel that anti-abortion laws have gone too far since the end of Roe. His remarks Monday were very brief, and included a pledge to “defend life.” That may seem vague, except if you recall that he’s saying it to a group that defines “defending life” as “abolishing abortion.”
Evoking notions of spiritual warfare, the Danbury Institute in its mission statement calls on supporters to act as “honorable patriots” and “heavenly citizens.” The group lists numerous opponents, from transgender women to socialism. It laments that “63 million babies have died on our nation’s altar to ‘women’s rights.’” The group was launched earlier this year but draws leadership from Christian-right stalwarts like Richard Land and has garnered the support of the James Dobson Family Institute. Its event featuring Trump was held alongside the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis and was co-sponsored by some more familiar names: Liberty University, the Family Research Council, Students for Life America, and the Promise Keepers (seemingly back from the 1990s). Guests were told the event would feature “opportunities” to advance their project of asserting “Judeo-Christian values” that they claim the United States was built on. There was no subtlety at the event: Speakers likened abortion to the Holocaust, said it must be brought to an end, and said that the people in the room will end it.
Ahead of the event, multiple outlets suggested there was some tension here with Trump’s allegedly more moderate stance. “Trump’s position stands in stark contrast from the group hosting Monday’s event,” USA Today reported. Politico went further, saying that Trump and the Danbury Institute held contradictory stances on abortion, reporting last week, “Donald Trump is courting a Christian advocacy organization that wants to ban all abortions and calls the procedure ‘child sacrifice,’ a stringent position that contradicts his own less restrictive approach and stated intention to let states decide the issue.” Many noted Trump’s seeming resistance to taking a stand on abortion at all. “For over a year until he announced his position this spring, Trump had backed away from endorsing any specific national limit on abortion,” the AP reported ahead of Trump’s remarks. Trump’s campaign helped cement the narrative by repeating on Monday the claim that Trump wants to leave abortion up to the states. It’s a statement well undermined by the fact that there is a plan for Trump, authored by former Trump administration officials: Project 2025, which makes the highly contested argument that a national abortion ban is already on the books and all Trump needs to do is enforce it.
Trump’s remarks were provided to some news organizations before the luncheon attendees saw the video he’d recorded. “We can’t afford to have anyone sit on the sidelines—now is the time for us all to pull together and stand up for our values and our freedoms,” the provided remarks read. “We have to defend religious liberty, free speech, innocent life, and the heritage and traditions that built America into the greatest nation in the history of the world.” In the video, Trump seemingly riffed—“You just can’t vote Democrat, they’re against religion, they’re against your religion in particular”—before getting back on script. “I know that each of you is protecting those values every day—and I hope we’ll be defending them side by side for the next four years.” It’s a mess, but it sounds the right notes: religious liberty and innocent life, the two pillars of the Danbury Institute’s event and core concerns of the Christian right.
Maybe you think that, alone, wouldn’t be enough to recommend Trump to the kind of Christian that imagines this nation can only be restored to its divine origins once these particular Christians assume leadership over all. Project 2025, for example—the Heritage Foundation–led effort to guide Trump—puts “Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children” at the top of its list of concerns.
But the Christian right has been inclined to offer Trump broad latitude so long as it’s in service to its goals. “Many Americans, including large swaths of White Christian nationalists, seem to accept that the figure who is asked to protect the purity of the national family may overstep the bounds of purity himself to do so,” the professor of religious studies and former Christian nationalist Bradley Onishi writes in his 2023 book tracing and critiquing that movement. “This transgression is viewed not as an unforgivable sin but as a sign of virility and power.” In Trump, they have found their latest perfectly impure leader. “Like a good strongman, he is seen as the head and protector of the American family,” Onishi writes. “His transgressions are not only forgivable; they are signs that he is up for the job.” Even “family values” Christians may follow such a leader—not because they have no other choice, but because he fits the part.
Trump, in his way, nodded to this relationship in the rambling prophecy at the end of his remarks. He promised his audience that their power would return, with him: “These are gonna be your years, because you’re gonna make a comeback like just about no other group … and I’ll be with you, side by side.”
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