Is the ‘post religious-right’ emerging?
GOP’s abortion plank removal could decide election
Amber Rose spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, WI in July. The image is a screenshot of PBS NewsHour.
Amber Rose spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in late July.
She is a SlutWalk organizer and connected to OnlyFans, the adult content creation website and app. Rose’s claim to fame is having sex with rappers.
She is an atheist, called Jesus Christ a “cult leader,” and was complimentary of Satanism in March.
Rose embodies what Americans could be witnessing as a shift in the GOP.
Forty years ago–even 10 years ago–no one would have trifled with the “religious right” in presidential elections. In 2024, not so much.
Faithful evangelical Trump supporters face a decision: Do you sit out this election because the GOP removed the abortion plank? Or do you vote for Trump a third time because tyrannical Democrats must be stopped?
The answer to those questions could determine the 2024 presidential election.
Ryan Burge, who produces Graphs on Religion, revealed the voters the GOP has made the largest gains with between 2008 and 2022. Burge stated on X, “They have made huge gains among white voters who rarely attend religious services and have low levels of education.” Burge uses the phrase “post religious-right.”
Rose is black and an influencer, not white and uneducated.
The point is that Rose is an atheist and some in the GOP know this is where they are growing. Otherwise, there would be no speaking opportunity at the RNC. Democratic political strategist Van Jones said it was the one speech that could harm the Democratic coalition. Jones said on CNN: “And so to the extent that these guys are trying to bust up our coalition, that was a bunker buster right there.”
While Jones had that reaction to Rose, people who wanted a discussion on the abortion plank saw it differently. Chronicles magazine columnist Pedro Gonzalez wrote on X:
The RNC is quietly crushing those who don’t want the GOP to drift left while elevating people like Amber Rose, a speaker who in March praised Satanism as a ‘very rational, logical religion’ that helps ‘a lot of women to get abortions.’
This will go beyond social issues.
Abortions have risen since the June 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s researcher, revealed in May that from the Dobbs decision to May 2023 the nation saw the highest number and rate increase in abortions in more than a decade.
While that could explain why the GOP removed the abortion plank, it could have consequences for Trump. It could stifle his evangelical vote.
Gallup reported the following on the 2016 and 2020 elections:
Edison in 2016 showed an 80% vote for Trump among White evangelical Protestants and 16% for Hillary Clinton. That compares to Edison's 76% Trump and 24% Biden estimate this year.
Imagine a scenario where those numbers drop 2-4 percentage points in a close election because of the GOP abortion plank. The GOP took much heat from evangelicals for eliminating a party fixture since 1980.
Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.
Tony Perkins/X
Tony Perkins, the president of the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, said in an interview with The Christian Post: “I can assure you that if the GOP abandons the unborn in the Party Platform, it will dampen Bible-believing, conservative voter enthusiasm and turnout.”
Followers of Jesus Christ view abortion as a moral issue that became a political issue. They don’t view abortion as an issue where political expediency can serve as a factor because a child dies in an abortion. For millions of American Christians, abortion is about image bearers of God being killed for reasons of convenience or profit, as the Center for Medical Progress exposed with Planned Parenthood.
For the longest time, American pro-lifers wanted to see Roe v. Wade overturned. They went about winning hearts and minds through medical technology. Sonograms and ultrasounds reveal the development of a human being. States enacted a variety of restrictions to abortion.
Then, a Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court gave the issue back to states, but that is not how Planned Parenthood, the legacy media, and left-wing politicians view it. The Dobbs decision will forever be about “ending the right to female reproductive health care.”
The pro-life movement got what it always wanted, but it was unprepared for what happened next. Now, Americans are seeing the equal and opposite reaction that often comes with emotionally-charged issues. If perceived “rights” are being taken away, the politics can shift.
Gallup has chronicled that too. Megan Brenan and Lydia Saad wrote:
Gallup has gauged the importance of a candidate’s views on abortion among U.S. registered voters at least once during each presidential election cycle since 1992. The current 32% who say they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views is up four percentage points since last May and eight points since 2020.
Meanwhile, a diminished plurality of voters, 45% (down 11 points from last year), consider abortion to be just one of many important factors, the lowest reading since 2012. Another 19% (up five points) say it is not a major issue for them, which is the third consecutive reading under 20% and well below those taken between 1992 and 2020.
Christians will determine how to respond after the GOP made its choice.
Meanwhile, Team Biden has imprisoned several people for peacefully protesting abortions at abortion clinics in Tennessee and Washington, D.C.
Do you vote based on the abortion plank? Or do you vote because Kamala Harris can’t gain the reins of power?
The answer will be known soon enough.
