Thread by @eLouSedator

"If I believed fetuses were people I'd sacrifice a lot to save them." - Well, 'person' & 'personhood' are a problematic because they're oft used as synonyms for 'someone' or just for other humans, but there are technical meanings in law & philosophy that differ radically.

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I can't say if I believe them to be people unless it's clear which sense is used. I can say that I see them as fellow members of society, just less developed, precisely as I do infants - and entitled to similar protection. You're right about how such a view implies that the

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issue must be deemed a top priority. In 2014, the last yr I have data about, more human lives were lost to abortion than anything else - in fact more lives than every other cause combined including old age & natural death (approx 56/110M). I think you're woefully misinformed

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about the realities of American politics.

"choose a particular immigration and policing policy so strongly over a pro-life majority" - You're positing a choice that just doesn't exist. There's a) people's political preferences b) their voting priorities c) our bipartisan

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political system and the resulting red/blue cultures built around coalitions d) that RvW made SCOTUS noms the keystone of abortion politics

There is only a pro-life majority in terms of A (approx 52-58%), but not B. In terms of whose vote depends on the issue it's maybe

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half of that. The other half certainly prefer pro-life to pro-choice policies/laws, but vote based on other priorities. Among this latter group, the positions that they will vote for don't just differ- the priorities of some directly conflict with the others.

Let's call the

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people who'll only vote for pro-life politicians P and those w/ only a preference Q. The same for pro-choice we'll call M and N. P+Q is bigger than M+N, but Q isn't a coalition. Q & N both have members w/ priorities that are on the left and others w/ priorities on the right

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More of Q is on the right. More of N is on the left. Left leaning Q (and that is probably half my own family FWIW) vote w/ M more than P. Right leaning N (eg, socially liberal people who prioritize conservative economics) usually vote in the coalition that includes P. In

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theory there might be a potential coalition that would be pro-life and that you would find acceptable on immigration and policing, but not in practice. The polarization due to C has calcified over a quarter century. Even if that weren't the case, D specifies that certain

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coalitions just aren't possible no matter how you reshuffle things. Group P can't vote with the people who want more Justices like RBG, and that appears to be what the people in group Q that you approve of want for SCOTUS.

Finally, I think you have the wrong impression of

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what happened in 2016. Group P was essential to getting Trump elected Pres; that's true. Given Clinton's positions they couldn't vote for her - by definition of what P means. You seem to think they were also essential to choosing Trump in the primary. That is incorrect.

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Remember, Trump didn't win a majority of the primary vote. He won a plurality. Before FL, the leading candidates were Trump, Rubio & Cruz. What were the only statistically significant differences between Trump supporters and supporters of Rubio & Cruz?

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Bear in mind that Rubio & Cruz represent the moderate and more conservative ends of mainstream GOP thinking whereas Trump is a significant departure. Also, they're both Latinos. There were two significant differences in the views of Trump supporters. First, they rejected

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the GOP orthodoxy on free trade. Second, they were far more likely to be pro-choice or not see abortion as an important issue. If the nominee had been chosen by group P, they'd have rejected Trump. Most voted for him out of necessity in the general but a lot chose neither.

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sorry I'm so long winded
this should be easier to read
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