Garrett Soldano is a Republican candidate for governor of Michigan. He was recently on a podcast expressing his thoughts regarding women, rape, pregnancy, and adoption in the context of some of his personal experiences. A clip was tweeted by Heartland Signal this week, and it quickly went viral.
It's fairly obvious why it did go viral — there were a ton of tripwire issues packed into what Soldano said. It would be difficult for anybody not to have an emotional response. I didn't want to add fuel to that fire, but there was one point I took issue with.
Some seem to feel that Soldano has been unfairly attacked for expressing his opinion. If he were just an ordinary citizen, I might agree. But he's not. He's running for governor. And as a candidate running for public office, his opinions inform voters of his intentions. In this case, the intention seems clear — make abortion, even for rape victims, illegal.
His freely expressed opinion quickly became a thinly veiled threat.
John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
