Deace: Trump ’24 is not the same guy

Harsh truth: Donald Trump 2024 would get his butt kicked by Donald Trump 2016.

What other conclusion can I draw when the guy who won seven years ago, promising to build a border wall and throw Hillary Clinton in jail, now thinks he can make people who vote religiously to support baby-killing not despise him while he takes credit for overturning Roe v. Wade?

It would be like General Sherman marching across Georgia during the Civil War and burning Atlanta to the ground, only to turn around and appeal to displaced southerners to vote for him amid the ashes of their incinerated former homes.

How does that make sense? It doesn’t, and here’s why: the moderate abortion voter does not exist. There are moderates on abortion who vote, but they don't vote on abortion.

If you are voting on baby-killing, your options are limited. You're either with Planned Parenthood or you are not. You are either very pro-life or you are very pro-death.

When it comes to abortion, Trump is either being fed very bad information from the likes of Laura Loomer and Roger Stone or he's simply lying. It’s difficult to imagine any other scenario.

Why do Democrats every election go to single women and say, “Republicans are going to take abortion away”? Because it works.

Trump’s job is to counter those turnouts with a turnout of his own. He cannot win by demoralizing his base pandering to the baby-killers.

Because Republicans in Washington, D.C., love to lose for whatever reason, we didn’t get a red wave in 2022 after overturning Roe v. Wade. It wasn’t because Republicans angered single women who will never vote for the GOP under any circumstance. It was because “Glitch” McConnell (H/T Emerald Robinson) and company ran nationally on no coherent message at all.

So, Trump wants to run that game plan back?

Right. He’s gonna drain the swamp for sure this time, y’all!

Trump is just not the same guy he was in 2016. Trust me, I ran against him with the Ted Cruz campaign and got my butt kicked up close and personal. I took those punches to the face daily.

But this guy? Trump today? We would have beat him all day long. Because this is the reality of “New York values.”

Trump is actually putting out statements defending his labeling of six-week abortion bans as “terrible” by telling his base he’s sorry they are mad — but they are the ones who are really to blame for not being reasonable enough.

To Trump, “reasonable” means the 90% of all abortions that happen in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy — which is his stated preference for drawing a line in the sand — would remain on the table for undiscriminating slaughter.

Never in my life have I seen someone run for office by trashing the greatest accomplishment of his previous term. I've never seen anything like this. It is biblical. It’s practically King Saul-level stuff, where the ego so overtakes the man at the core of who he is that he’s simply not the same guy he used to be.

He just isn’t.

Trump always had a healthy ego. He always had more than a morsel of narcissism. But it appears that’s all that’s left now. He's just not the same guy.

The guy I tried to beat in 2016 was a hell of a lot smarter and cleverer than this. He cared more about his base than this — or at least did a better job of pretending to. Back then, he always attacked from the right. Now he attacks from the left.

This is a sure loser. No amount of groveling by Trump in defense of abortion will ever persuade the other side to say, “You know, I've found a strange new respect for you on this issue.” Nope. Not a chance. And if you don’t believe me, ask Presidents McCain and Romney how it worked out for them.

You’re either for saving babies or for killing them. There is no in-between.

Trump knew this once. In 2016, he vowed to appoint justices who would overturn Roe. And, blessedly, he did. Thanks to Trump, we got to see that ultimate idol of the Spirit of the Age smashed like the shibboleth of the damned it was.

Now Trump condemns the very legislation that allowed his judicial appointments to overturn Roe.