Former President Trump on Monday spoke virtually to a conservative Christian interest group He told the organization’s members that if he were re-elected, they would “make a comeback like no other group.”
Trump delivered a two-minute video message at the Danbury Institute’s Life and Liberty Forum, in which evangelists and Christian leaders spoke. He made no Mention of abortion in his remarks to the group, although he vowed to defend “innocent life” in case of re-election.
“These are difficult times for our nation and your work is so important. We cannot afford to have anyone left out,” said Trump, the likely Republican nominee for November’s presidential election. “Now is the time for all of us to stand together and stand up for our values and our freedoms. And you can’t just vote Democrat.”
Trump claimed that Democrats are “against religion,” even though President Biden often talks about his Catholic faith.
“We must defend religious freedom, free speech, innocent life and the heritage and tradition that made America the greatest nation in the history of the world. But now, as you know, we are a nation in decline,” Trump told the group.
“I know that each of you defends these values every day, and I hope that we will defend them side by side over the next four years,” he continued. “These will be your years, because you will make a comeback like few other groups.”
Trump’s virtual appearance at the Danbury Institute made headlines given the group’s tough approach on certain issues.
The group describes itself as “committed to truth and virtue in a world that accepts absurdity as normal and ridicules what was taken for granted 10 years ago.” Its website compares abortion to “child sacrifice on the altar of the self” and claims that marriage is “a one-time union between a man and a woman for life, and sexual intimacy may only be expressed within that marital relationship.”
During the campaign, Trump repeatedly took credit for ending Roe v. Wade by appointing three conservative justices to the Supreme Court. But he also refused to take a position on a federal cap on abortion, saying instead that it should be up to individual states to decide how to handle the procedure by law or referendum.
Trump also argued that Republicans must consider the political implications of their abortion messages.
“You have to follow your heart on this issue, but remember, you also have to win elections to restore our culture and actually rebuild our country, which is currently and unfortunately a nation in decline,” Trump said in a Video statement from April on the subject of abortion. “Our nation needs help. It needs unity, it needs the close cooperation of all of us.”
Democrats have repeatedly linked Trump to restrictive abortion policies in Texas, Florida and other conservative states, highlighting stories of women who have been unable to obtain adequate health care because of them.
The Biden team has sought to draw a clear contrast between Trump’s record on abortion and that of the Biden White House, which took steps to protect access to the procedure and abortion drugs after the Roe ruling was overturned.
“If you want to know who Trump will fight for in a second term, look at who he is talking to: anti-abortion activists who call abortion ‘child sacrifice’ and want to ‘eradicate’ abortion ‘completely,'” Biden campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said Monday in response to Trump’s comments.
“A second Trump term will surely bring even more extreme abortion bans with no exceptions, women will be penalized for seeking necessary care, and doctors will be criminalized for providing treatment,” Chitika added. “Women can and will stop him by re-electing President Biden and Vice President Harris in November.”
