Jail the Women

There's evidence now that Donald Trump did not intend to win the Republican nomination when he began his campaign. He wanted to finish second (as a protest candidate). That might explain why he opposes NATO and supports allowing South Korea to develop nuclear weapons. It might explain why he has attacked and alienated women, Latinos, gays, Moslems, the Pope, etc., while being soft on support for Israel and fetal rights. He's desperate not to win the nomination--but he can't afford to ruin the Trump brand. He can't look like a total loser. (He makes his living by franchising his name out to companies that sell water, wine, steaks, and so on.) Trump is caught in a bind.

Most recently Trump said that if it were illegal to have an abortion, then a woman who had one would have to be punished. That is logical, but of course almost no one is willing to jail half the women I know. (Some might like to suppress the women's vote, in the same way that the Black voters have been suppressed and disenfranchised.) 

Trump has since retreated to the standard Republican position, which is that only the doctor who performs the abortion should go to jail. The woman, Republicans claim, is a victim. All she has done is find an abortion provider, driven to his office, and paid him good money  to do as she asks. She's a victim. Now, as it happens, I can remember back when abortions were illegal. I knew a young woman who gave herself an abortion. Would Trump put her in prison while refusing to punish the victim? (We'll never know.)