(LifeSiteNews) – In the wake of the results of the 2022 midterm elections, which sorely disappointed conservatives, most concluded that Trump’s extensive involvement in selecting and endorsing candidates hurt the Republican Party. Statistical analyses show that, in 2022, Trump’s endorsement cost candidates between 5% and 7% in competitive races. That gap has persisted in polls, with Trump’s likely primary opponent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, running about 6% ahead of Trump. It is due to Trump’s very low – under 40% – favorability ranking, and his extremely high 57% unfavorable rating (including 50% who have a very unfavorable view).
For his part, Trump blames Republicans’ poor 2022 midterm performance on social conservatives. In a January 1 Truth Social post, Trump stated: “It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms. . . It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters. Also, the people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the U.S. Supreme Court, & just plain disappeared, not to be seen again.”
Trump’s strategy of blaming conservatives for Republicans’ electoral woes – and apparently plotting his own leftward shift – has intensified in the past few weeks. In an April 20 Washington Post article, Trump’s campaign ruled out any federal restrictions on abortion – a position immediately blasted by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America as “unacceptable.”
UPDATE (3/30/23): Fr. Fidelis is jailed along with another pro-life hero
Father Fidelis has been sentenced to 270 days in jail by a Michigan court, while fellow Red Rose rescuer Matthew Connolly was sentenced to 90 days in jail and told to pay fines.
The CFR priest will serve his sentence (90 days per 3 charges) concurrently, so he will be behind bars for 3 months.
Like their companions Elizabeth Wagi and Jacob Gregor, who received lighter penalties, Moscinski and Connolly were pronounced guilty of “trespassing, resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace/interfering with a business” on February 24, 2023 at the 46th District Courthouse in Southfield, Michigan.
Wagi received 18 months’ probation with fines and was ordered not to go anywhere near an abortion facility or her co-defendants. Gregor got 12 months’ probation with fines and 10 days community service. He was told not to speak to convicted church members.
LifeSiteNews is still awaiting news of Dr. Monica Miller and Laura Gies, who were found guilty of trespassing and resisting arrest.
The Southfield trial stemmed from a Red Rose Rescue at the Northland Family Planning abortion center, one of three abortion centers owned and operated by Renee Chelian, on April 23, 2021.
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UPDATE (1/24/23):
Pro-life priest and Red Rose Rescuer Fr. Fidelis Moscinski has been found guilty of violating the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Yesterday Fr. Fidelis was convicted of the federal crime for a July 2022 “lock and block” rescue he conducted at a Planned Parenthood in Hempstead, New York. The priest is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24 and faces up to six months in federal prison.
Sign the petition to let Fr. Fidelis know you support him and are praying for him.
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UPDATE (10/26/22):
A Pennsylvania court issued a split ruling against a pro-life Franciscan priest and activist arrested after he entered an abortion clinic to help women choose life.
Father Christopher “Fidelis” Moscinski was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges and not guilty of a felony trespass and a misdemeanor resist, for participating in a Red Rose Rescue at a Planned Parenthood.
Fr. Moscinski entered the clinic on August 27, 2021 with red roses and pro-life literature ready to hand out to women and persuading them to choose life for their children.
Fr. Fidelis has participated in many Red Rose Rescues at abortion centers, and for this has been imprisoned multiple times.
He was also previously arrested for trying to save babies in Ohio in June 2021 and in New Jersey in January 2020.
After the court decision, Fr. Fidelis urged people to “continue keeping all pro-lifers anywhere who are facing charges, especially federal charges, in your prayers, and that God can bring some good out of this unjust persecution.”
Sign this petition today to let Fr. Fidelis know you stand with him and his heroic fight to save unborn lives from abortion.
Fellow pro-life activist and Red Rose Rescuer Will Goodman told LifeSite’s Jim Hale that the court’s ruling to drop one felony and reject another was a “big victory.”But the crackdown on pro-lifers continues!
Just recently the Biden administration targeted Fr. Fidelis and other pro-life activists for Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) violation charges.
This same law was also used by the FBI to raid the home of pro-life Catholic dad Mark Houck last month.
It’s really a disgrace that in America pro-lifers are increasingly being attacked and persecuted simply because they stand for life.
Fr. Fidelis Moscinski needs your prayers and support now more than ever as he continues to fearlessly battle for the unborn.
SIGN THIS PETITION TODAY to tell Fr. Fidelis you stand with him and his courageous fight!
MORE INFORMATION:
‘Big victory’: Felonies tossed in split verdict for priest attempting rescue of unborn
BREAKING NEWS: Father Fidelis Legal Verdict reaction LIVE by Legal team
FBI charges pro-life priest with violating abortion access law one week after Mark Houck raid
It’s not just pro-life issues. Trump has zealously taken the side of Walt Disney in its fight with DeSantis over DeSantis’s bill to allow only “age appropriate” sex education for elementary school students. Disney opposed that bill, advocating that teachers should be able to craft sexually explicit lesson plans for young children. In response, DeSantis has sought to revoke Disney’s state privileges.
In that fight, Trump is a loud ally of Disney. “DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney,” he wrote on Truth Social. “This is all so unnecessary, a political STUNT!” Trump’s advisor Kellyanne Conway echoed her boss, declaring that DeSantis “spends way too much time on the culture wars, and that begins with Disney and includes many other things.” Trump takes campaign contributions from Disney, explaining at least some of his support for the media conglomerate.
In keeping with Trump’s leftward shift, his son, Donald Trump Jr., recently announced, “I’m fairly liberal on the issue” of transgenderism. He called for ending the boycott of Bud Light over its hiring of transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney saying, “I’m not, though, for destroying an American, an iconic company for something like this.”
Trump’s leftward shift is not just confined to culture war issues. In a recent attack on Florida as “tumbl[ing] into complete and total delinquency and destruction,” Trump criticized DeSantis for not constructing enough public housing, citing a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a far-left group. He attacked DeSantis for allowing home property values to rise, for not enacting protections against “elder abuse,” and for not raising teacher pay. He cited a report from Disney-owned ESPN calling Florida “the worse place in the country to die,” due to having (among other things) too few “green burial options.” This points to a large-scale leftward shift on economic issues. All in a desperate bid to win the presidency despite having a 50% “strong disapproval” ranking.
Trump’s strategy of moving sharply to the left is unlikely to win a general election, given his baked-in disapproval among Democrats and Independent voters. Indeed, Democrats freely admit that Trump is the only thing holding their coalition together. Biden advisors are confident that they can beat him in 2024. And if the primary is close, Democrats’ dark money groups will probably start spending for Trump. Democrats tried this strategy of backing Trump-endorsed candidates in their primaries, and it paid big dividends. Indeed, three-in-four voters who view both Trump and President Joe Biden unfavorably plan to vote for Biden. In short, Trump is very likely to lose again in 2024. DeSantis, by contrast, leads Biden in most polls.
Some of Trump’s biggest fans are nonetheless embracing Trump’s leftward shift as a positive development that can move the Republican Party permanently leftward on social issues. Thus, the 2024 primary is shaping up to be a referendum on the Republicans’ approach to the culture war. Is Trump right, and Republicans should give up on cultural issues in an (almost certainly doomed) effort to restore Trump to the White House? Or does DeSantis offer a path forward that would allow for Republicans to both push back against woke capital and win the presidency? This primary will be a referendum on those two strategies.