There is no shortage of fools serving in public office in Washington, DC, but Sen. Mike Braun is doing his best to show he’s near the top of the heap. The Republican senator from Indiana didn’t just walk right into a reporter’s trap on Tuesday, he actually set the trap up himself and then jumped into the middle of it.

While on a conference call discussing the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, Braun decided that it would be “hypocritical” of him to say Roe v. Wade should be overturned without also supporting the overturning of other cases which federalized certain issues. One of those cases he cited? Loving v. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage nationally.

Behold, the absolute brilliance of the GOP establishment.

When asked by a reporter whether he would consider the Supreme Court potentially striking down Roe this year to be “judicial activism,” Braun said he thought what justices did in 1973 to pass Roe was “judicial activism.”

“That issue should have never been federalized, [it was] way out of sync I think with the contour of America then,” he said. “One side of the aisle wants to homogenize [issues] federally, [and that] is not the right way to do it.”

Individual states, he said, should be able to weigh in on these issues “through their own legislation, through their own court systems.”

The same reporter asked Braun whether he would apply the same judgment to Loving, and Braun said “yes.”

“I think that that’s something that if you’re not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you’re not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too,” he said. “I think that’s hypocritical.”

It is hard to put into words how stupid and self-defeating that answer from Braun is. Not only is it politically idiotic given almost everyone in the nation (including myself) supports the right for people of two different races to marry, but abortion and interracial marriage are not at all comparable.

Abortion is killing a baby in the womb. The other is a personal decision between two people that harms no one. There is no reason to even accept the premise that it’s hypocritical to support the overturning of one but not the other because, and stick with me here, it’s not at all. Braun’s answer is reminiscent of Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s reason for vetoing a bill to protect womens’ sports last year. Hutchinson claimed at the time that if he signed the bill into law, he would be a hypocrite because Republicans are supposed to be for small government.

That’s the kind of asinine thinking that permeates much of the Republican establishment, and it’s exactly why Donald Trump rose to prominence. GOP voters are sick and tired of cowardly politicians who won’t just make meaningful distinctions and defend them.

In regards to abortion, no one cares about Braun’s pathetic attempt to preserve his libertarian-style credibility. The right answer to any question about abortion is simple: Abortion is wrong, it kills a child, and it should be opposed by any means necessary. We have federal laws against murder just as we have state laws against murder. It is not hypocritical to say that the Constitution protects the right for two people of different races to marry but does not protect the right to nuke a child before birth.

I shouldn’t be surprised, though. Mike Braun is the same genius who came out in support of Black Lives Matter back in 2020. He’s the epitome of GOP weakness, unable to actually stand for anything because he’s too busy worrying about what others may think of him.

Can you tell I’m a little incensed by this? Conservatives have worked too hard to fight back against the pro-abortion lobby to have imbeciles like Braun blow it up by pretending Roe v. Wade is on the same plane as Loving v. Virginia. I’m sick and tired of Republicans who can’t just speak plainly about abortion and instead hide behind false arguments in order to make killing babies in the womb a philosophical disagreement instead of a moral one. Stand up and be counted for once. Take the heat that comes because it’s heat worth taking.

Instead, Braun took the coward’s way out and walked right into a buzz saw regarding interracial marriage. Now, he’ll reap the whirlwind and be accused of racism. And you know what? He deserves it. Let him burn.