{"id":115443,"date":"2020-02-05T00:29:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T07:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=115443"},"modified":"2020-01-27T20:50:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T03:50:04","slug":"the-abortion-is-our-number-one-priority-shell-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2020\/02\/the-abortion-is-our-number-one-priority-shell-game.html","title":{"rendered":"The “Abortion is Our Number One Priority” Shell Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A reader writes:<\/p>\n

Mark\u2026.the Catholic Bishops have declared that abortion for us voters is the \u201cmost important issue\u201d for citizens to consider while casting a vote. Pope Francis has agreed with statement. END OF DEBATE\u2026Vote as you wish Mark but on our faith will follow Holy Father and US Bishops guidance\u2026.CASE CLOSED\u2026.Next Thank You for playing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I agree that abortion is the most important issue.<\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s the thing: There are two parties. One is the party that established our abortion regime (with Roe<\/em>) and entrenched it (with Casey<\/em>).<\/p>\n

One party has refunded Planned Parenthood for 40 years and consistently refused to undo the abortion regime it created and entrenched.<\/p>\n

One party has taught the \u201cprolife\u201d movement to, like you, pit the unborn against <\/em>every other form of human life it wants to rob, harm, bomb, poison, torture, sexually assault, and murder.<\/p>\n

One party that has re-funded PP at least ten times since Trump took office.<\/p>\n

One party has raised PP funding 8% last year and will give them $550 million more this year, because their <\/em>number one priority is not abortion, but building Trump\u2019s Wall.<\/p>\n

The other party is the Democrats.<\/p>\n

Think about that last point concerning the Wall, because it lays waste the ridiculous fiction that dominates the MAGA Christian claim that abortion is their #1 priority and that they are \u201cjust listening to the bishops\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another reader remarks:<\/p>\n

During Pres. Trump\u2019s first year in office, when the GOP controlled both chambers of Congress, the White House, and had a favorable Supreme Court, what was accomplished in terms of federal legislation on abortion? A third trimester ban? Mandatory ultrasounds? Waiting periods? Defunding of Planned Parenthood?<\/p>\n

Answer is: none of the above.<\/p>\n

In 2019, under President Trump, Planned Parenthood received its highest ever level of government funding and performed a record number of abortions.<\/p>\n

Actions > Words<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What was the #1 priority of the MAGA Cult when they had the votes to do some real damage to abortion? Repealing Obamacare and, failing that, giving a gigantic tax cut to the 1%. Planned Parenthood was funded again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again (the last time having that funding raised by 8%).<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget the Cult Leader is giving PP $550 million more <\/em> this year. Why? you may ask.<\/p>\n

Gather round, children, and I will tell you how the MAGA \u201cprolife\u201d cult actually functions.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Trump wants to build a wall to keep out the browns and the poors.<\/li>\n
  2. MAGA prolife cult loves that project literally more than life itself.<\/li>\n
  3. Trump goes to Congress for budget and demands wall.<\/li>\n
  4. Congress says, \u201cWhat will you give us in return?\u201d<\/li>\n
  5. Trump says, \u201cI\u2019ll refund Planned Parenthood again for the 10th time. Plus, I\u2019ll raise it 8%. And next year, I\u2019ll give \u2019em $550 million more!\u201d<\/li>\n
  6. Congress says, \u201cOkay. Have some wall.\u201d<\/li>\n
  7. MAGA cultists cheer because hating and punishing browns and poors means more to them than a bunch of stupid babies they long ago stopped caring about except as human shields for all the hatred and cruelty that means more to them than life itself.<\/li>\n
  8. MAGA cultists declare Trump Most Prolife President Ever as their reward for betraying everything they lie they stand for and officially turn their phony March for Life into a Trump Rally.<\/li>\n
  9. Abortion continues unabated. Roe<\/em> remains, as it has since 1973, 100% the creation of the GOP, carefully entrenched by the GOP, and lovingly protected by the GOP.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That is the standard shell game every time a MAGA Christian lies that he is \u201cprioritizing\u201d abortion.\u00a0 The trick that is played is that the unborn are not prioritized, the defense of whatever evil Trump is up to today is prioritized and the unborn are brandished as human shields for that evil.\u00a0 This is achieved by pitting the unborn against<\/em> the human beings the MAGA cult wants to rob, harm, kidnap, sexually assault, unjustly punish, bomb, poison, or kill instead of relating them to<\/em> these people.<\/p>\n

    So, for instance,\u00a0 to be a \u201cprolife\u201d MAGA Catholic and support the death penalty you must embrace three positions.<\/p>\n

    1. War with the Magisterium of the Church.
    \n2. War with the Magisterium of the Church in order to kill people who do not need to be killed.
    \n3. War with the Magisterium of the Church in order to kill innocent people so that you can kill people who do not need to be killed.<\/p>\n

    Or you could just try listening to and obeying the Magisterium and then take all the time you waste making war on the Magisterium of the Church in order to kill innocent people so that you can kill people who do not need to be killed and spend it on defending the unborn you claim<\/em>\u00a0are your Number One priority.<\/p>\n

    Similarly, when Trump deports a mother and her two sick kids back to Honduras<\/a>, what the MAGA cultist spends his real time and energy on is defending that act of sadism, not the unborn.<\/p>\n

    When Trump is impeached, the MAGA cultist wastes his time shrieking that Jesus Christ is being impeached<\/a>, not defending the unborn.<\/p>\n

    When the Cult needs to defend Trump\u2019s sadism to a mother and her newborn baby, then that, not the unborn is Priority #1:<\/p>\n

    \"Image<\/p>\n

    When Trump destroys 50 years of clean water protections with the stroke of a pen, defending that, not the unborn, is the #1 priority of the MAGA cult.<\/a><\/p>\n

    And on and on.\u00a0 The MAGA cult is not about the sanctity of human life.\u00a0 It is about the power and glory of Donald Trump and his GOP Crime Syndicate. And it is not, by the way, about fidelity to the Magisterium or the Holy Father either:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s what the MAGA cult has actually done: it has accepted the Nine Rings of Power from Trump thinking that it can now finally defeat abortion.\u00a0 Instead, it has become a slave to his will.\u00a0 They will give him everything.\u00a0 He will take everything from them.<\/p>\n

    There are still people who believe that human life is sacred from conception to natural death. But they are not among the slaves who support Trump.<\/p>\n

    To get a man\u2019s soul and give him nothing in return\u2013that is what truly gladdens the heart of Our Father Below. \u2013 Uncle Screwtape<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A reader writes: Mark\u2026.the Catholic Bishops have declared that abortion for us voters is the \u201cmost important issue\u201d for citizens to consider while casting a vote. Pope Francis has agreed with statement. END OF DEBATE\u2026Vote as you wish Mark but on our faith will follow Holy Father and US Bishops guidance\u2026.CASE CLOSED\u2026.Next Thank You for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1071],"class_list":["post-115443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-the-cult-of-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nThe "Abortion is Our Number One Priority" Shell Game<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A reader writes: Mark....the Catholic Bishops have declared that abortion for us voters is the "most important issue" for citizens to consider while\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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