Backing Away From the Hyde Amendment Is a Big Deal

The anger among conservatives about President Trump’s comments on the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used for abortion, is not insider Beltway baseball. It’s not a splinter in the MAGA coalition, generously salted by mainstream media outlets. It’s a historic departure on one of the clearest moral issues in conservative orthodoxy.

Two-thirds of Republicans believe abortion is always, or almost always, morally wrong, according to Pew Research. No Republican president has ever waffled on his support of it — until now. “You have to be a little flexible on Hyde, you know that,” Trump told congressional Republicans at a retreat this week. “You gotta be a little flexible. You gotta work something … we’re all big fans of everything. But you have to have flexibility.”