Some Republicans appear to be finally recognizing that their abortion policies are not the big electoral winner that maybe they had hoped. And there are some who have strategies to try to allay concerns amongst voters that they're too extreme on these topics. [00:00:16] And so we need to talk about Kellyanne Conway, who seems to be kind of the smart one amongst the GOP on this particular topic. So she's apparently been going around to Republicans and saying, here is how we get people to not be horrified by us on this. [00:00:33] We're gonna pivot to contraception and actually embracing it. So she's reportedly been telling GOP lawmakers to outwardly support birth control and work on expanding access to contraception. That way, when Republicans get questions about their opposition to abortion, [00:00:48] they can point to their efforts to prevent the need for abortion in the first place. And signal that they're not part of the overly restrictive and religious faction of the GOP. I will say I think a better strategy is to not outlaw it in the first place. [00:01:04] I want to be very clear about this. It is health care. It is a human right. It is utterly barbaric that Republicans have stripped away those rights. But if they've stripped those away, it would seem wise to not create a situation where there's a bunch of abortions that are necessary. [00:01:20] And the thing is, lots of Republicans, as we'll get to, are fighting against access to birth control. So in this way, Nina, Kellyanne Conway appears to at least be thinking a little bit about this. What do you think? On this issue she's absolutely right. And I've had the opportunity to be behind the scenes, [00:01:38] as I was sharing with you, John, during our breaks with Kellyanne Conway, as we have navigated, national media or mainstream media outlets. And I found her to be a very pleasant person. That's not to say that we agree on every issue. On this issue, she's right. [00:01:53] In fact, if the Republicans are gonna continue to rail against abortion, it just makes common sense, of which my grandmother said, common sense is not that common. But just makes common sense that you would want to try to, if you're against abortion, you would try to decrease the likelihood that a woman would need an abortion. [00:02:11] And one way to do that is through contraceptives. It's like why doesn't this make sense? This makes a whole lot of sense. So being against birth control in any of its forms is illogical to what they say that they believe in the first place. [00:02:26] So kudos to Kellyanne Conway on this one. >> Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it's wise in terms of the numbers. Take a look at this polling. So this is support amongst different political groups for different forms of birth control. [00:02:43] So condoms all about 90% support for both Democrats, Republicans and independents. Birth control pill, interestingly, Republicans are actually slightly higher than Democrats in their support for the birth control pill. IUD is super high all around 80%, give or take. [00:02:59] Even plan B obviously, Democrats are in support of it. More than 60% of Republicans are in favor of plan B. And I want you to remember that, when you talk to regular Republicans, they are reasonable on these topics. [00:03:15] Because it is not the case that outside of Kellyanne Conway, most republican pundits and politicians are in favor of these things, that the vast, vast majority of even their constituents are in favor of. Mike Johnson is now one of the most powerful Republicans of the state. He has been fighting against birth control for a very long time. [00:03:33] He's obviously an absolute out of control zealot in terms of his conservative Christianity. So bear that in mind. When there was a vote on ensuring the right to contraception, all but ten House Republicans voted against it. [00:03:48] So he's not even that rare when it comes to Republicans. You have people like Elon Musk, who has a lot of cachet on the right saying that birth control is gonna lead to the end of civilization. And their intellectuals on the right, like Steve Bannon, Ben Shapiro, Tim Poole, [00:04:03] have all been making content demonizing birth control over the past six months. Michael Knowles is making videos about how there's no real right to it. It was just invented by the Supreme Court. And they have a number of different conservative women that they bring on their shows to demonize using birth control as well. [00:04:20] So Kellyanne Conway is like trying to save them from themselves, and they seem dead set on ensuring that every American knows how radically out of touch they are on this topic, Nina? >> Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's almost, as you were looking at my notes, I was thinking, the political class of the GOP are out of touch with the voters. [00:04:38] The data you just put out there shows it clearly. And even in my state of Ohio, as you know, just the recent election in November, where they were soundly rejected in my state by not just Democratic voters, Republican voters, independent voters, believing that the legislature in Ohio had went too far. [00:04:57] And so Kellyanne Conway, as you summed it up, is trying to save them from themselves. We'll see if she's successful in that. >> Speaker 1: I'm guessing not [LAUGH] if I had to guess. But anyway, Kellyanne, come on the show. We can discuss it. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, Kellyanne come on show. >> Anyway. [00:05:12] [MUSIC]