Texas GOP Lawmaker Triggers Firestorm
with Trump Baby Killing Post that's Stretch
Capitol Inside
August 25, 2024
An outgoing Texas lawmaker who's been the gold standard for conservative in Texas faced a monstrous backlash on social media during the weekend after interpreting a thinly-veiled Donald Trump pitch for female support as an admission that he's all for abortion.
Trump got a tizzy under way on Friday with a Truth Social post that could have been a talking point at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week. "My administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights," Trump asserted.
State Rep. Matt Schaefer of Tyler sparked a frenzy in MAGA ranks when he repost the message and paraphrased it in a way that made it appear like the former president was on the same page with Democratic adversary Kamala Harris on abortion. "Trump campaigning for the right to kill babies… God help us," Schaefer declared.
A 12-year House veteran who's the original chairman of the Texas Freedom Caucus, Schaefer appeared to be in line with pro-life groups and activists on the far right with the sensationalized condemnation of the Trump post. But Schaefer ignited a hornets nest with the tweet slamming Trump - which had drawn almost 42,000 views by Sunday night.
Trump apologists and defenders accounted for the lion's share of responses to the sizzling Schaefer post. Many explained that Trump has said all along that he doesn't support an outright federal ban because he believes the issue should be decided by individual states. A significant number of the responses to Schaefer sought to play the semantics card - saying that Trump simply has different meanings to terms like reproductive rights. Others suggested that the Trump post was a sly way of playing the issue to build support in areas where he's weak.
Vice-President nominee JD Vance promised on Saturday that Trump would veto such a proposal. Trump has said he supports exceptions for rape and incest - which makes his position dramatically softer than Texas allies like Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Neither Abbott or Patrick have raised any objections to Trump's position on abortion which is substantially less rigid than their own.
Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French's initial reaction to the Schaefer translation was denial. "I doubt that is what he means," French speculated on X. "Just because the left uses that language doesn't mean Trump is."
Former State Senate Republican Konni Burton appeared perplexed by the furor. "What the hell does that tweet even mean?" Burton wrote on X in response to Schaefer. "I mean, I see your interpretation and that could be it. But I honestly don't understand what he's even saying there."
Burton's post could have applied to Schaefer or Trump or both men perhaps. But Texas Republican Chairman Abraham George suggested that the Trump post on reproductive rights was nothing new. "He's made it clear he supports states' rights," George said on X. "He's not advocating for abortion."
The leader of anti-abortion group Live Action accused Trump of seeking to cozy up to pro-abortion forces. "Not only is it not principled, it’s not going to help the Trump campaign to be trying to sound like a Democrat right now,” LiveAction founder Lila Rose said in response to the former president's firestarting tweet.
Schaefer doesn't have as much incentive to be scared of Trump like his colleagues in Austin have been in recent years. The East Texan isn't seeking another term in the House this year. Schaefer is a lawyer who retired from the U.S. Navy Reserves. He made news around the world in 2017 as the author of the so-called Schaefer Amendment that turned a sanctuary cities ban into the most extreme piece of anti-immigrant legislation on the books.
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