Here’s how Trump could energize the pro-life movement

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 25, 2017

If I were advising President Trump (which I am not), I’d tell him to start leaking the name of his Supreme-Court nominee on Friday, during the March for Life.

The President has said that he’ll announce the nominee next week. That’s fine; hold to that schedule. Actually unveiling the appointment during the March for Life would cause a sensation, but it would also enrage the opposition, and the opposition will already be fierce enough. Instead, just give a ‘sneak preview’ to a few influential pro-life leaders, and let the news seep out through the crowd. Send thousands of pro-lifers home with the confidence that the nomination is imminent, and that they’ll love it.

Then, when the announcement comes next week, the whole pro-life movement will be primed and ready to begin working for the nominee’s confirmation. Equally important, hundreds of thousands of social conservatives—who have been skeptical about campaign promises, and not without reason—will see the White House treating them as allies.