When I left the NRLC office in Washington, DC this morning to grab a cup of coffee, I glanced at my watch. It read exactly 8:05.
I felt a single drop of rain fall on my sleeve. Since rain was in the forecast, I feared the inauguration might be bathed in showers. But as far as I can tell, we were moisture-free for the next four hours.
After now-President Donald Trump had delivered his speech, there were a series of stirring prayers (as there had been earlier). The Rev. Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, came second.
He began by noting, “Mr. President, in the Bible, rain is a sign of God’s blessing. And it started to rain, Mr. President, when you came to the platform. And it’s my prayer that God will bless you, your family, your Administration, and may He bless America.”
Our family has lived in the Washington, DC area since 1981. As trite as it sounds (and I know it does), the peaceful transfer of power (the best efforts of angry protestors to the contrary notwithstanding) never fails to send a chill up my spine. Watching the ceremonies on television, I felt proud of my country.
If you did not hear his speech today, go to YouTube and watch. The reasons President Trump won are there is bold relief.
This was a rough election, with bad feelings abounding. A year ago no one, and I do mean no one beyond Mr. Trump, thought he could be elected President for all the reasons we are all familiar with.
But he did win 304 electoral votes, a victory so stunning, so unexpected, so counter the media consensus, that many who are not professional Trump-haters remain stunned. I don’t think it would be ungracious to say they are not accepting defeat graciously.
Looking forward, single-issue pro-lifers are ecstatic. Here’s why.
Let’s start with something that simply is not given the importance it deserves. No major pro-life candidate for President has ever been as bold, as straightforward, and as unambiguous about his pro-life credentials as President Trump.
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I remember what Trump said simply and without hesitation when interviewed by a hostile Leslie Stahl, of 60 Minutes.
As lead in, we were told, “What we discovered in Mr. Trump’s first television interview as president-elect, was that some of his signature issues at the heart of his campaign were not meant to be taken literally, but as opening bids for negotiation.”
Pro-abort to the core, Stahl quickly found, however, that characterization surely did not apply to Mr. Trump’s position on abortion. Here’s the exchange on the program that aired November 13:
Lesley Stahl: One of the things you’re going to obviously get an opportunity to do, is name someone to the Supreme Court. And I assume you’ll do that quickly?
Donald Trump: Yes. Very important.
Lesley Stahl: During the campaign, you said that you would appoint justices who were against abortion rights. Will you appoint– are you looking to appoint a justice who wants to overturn Roe v. Wade?
Donald Trump: So look, here’s what’s going to happen– I’m going to– I’m pro-life. The judges will be pro-life. They’ll be very—
Lesley Stahl: But what about overturning this law–
Donald Trump: Well, there are a couple of things. They’ll be pro-life, they’ll be– in terms of the whole gun situation, we know the Second Amendment and everybody’s talking about the Second Amendment and they’re trying to dice it up and change it, they’re going to be very pro-Second Amendment. But having to do with abortion if it ever were overturned, it would go back to the states. So it would go back to the states and–
Lesley Stahl: Yeah, but then some women won’t be able to get an abortion?
Donald Trump: No, it’ll go back to the states.
Lesley Stahl: By state—no some —
Donald Trump: Yeah.
Donald Trump: Yeah, well, they’ll perhaps have to go, they’ll have to go to another state.
Lesley Stahl: And that’s OK?
Donald Trump: Well, we’ll see what happens. It’s got a long way to go, just so you understand. That has a long, long way to go.
Over the course of the campaign, Mr. Trump made a series of very explicit promises to the pro-life community. It begins with the aforementioned promise to nominate only pro-life justices to the Supreme Court. In his first press conference after the election, then President-elect Trump said that would make his first nomination (to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia) “within two weeks” of his inauguration.
Mr. Trump also vowed to sign into law the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would end painful late-term abortions nationwide, defund Planned Parenthood as long as they continue to perform abortions, and reallocate their funding to community health centers that provide comprehensive health care for women.
And as we know from previous changes in administrations, there is a bevy of Executive Orders that can be taken soon to begin to heal some of the damage inflicted by pro-abortion President Barack Obama.
A final thought about President Trump’s speech. Having listened to President Obama talk about himself unceasingly, it was refreshing and heartening that President Trump rarely used the word “I.”
The speech was brief and vintage Trump. There were few rhetorical flourishes –but they were very good–and many, many promises to keep faith with the American people. Most specifically that “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”
And no one has been more forgotten, more neglected, or treated more unfairly than the unborn child.
Congratulations President Donald Trump.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
