Bruce Rauner was Donald Trump before Donald Trump was cool. He was a wealthy businessman who was going to throw the rascals out and drain Illinois’ swamp of career politicians through term limits and a pro-growth agenda. He was going to be Scott Walker 2.0, unshackling Illinois from union control and returning power to the people. But that was then and this is now.

Now, Bruce Rauner is just another politician more interested in keeping his job than doing his job, willing to sell out his most ardent supporters to save his political hide. He has proven politically powerless, both to change the makeup of the Illinois legislature, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party and their union bosses. But also to block their big-spending budget in a bankrupt state with junk status bonds.

He also is morally clueless, embracing the Democratic mantra that abortion is health care, and breaking  a promise, despite his own personal pro-abortion views, to veto a bill that not only says Illinois will be a pro-abortion state even if Roe v. Wade gets overturned, but the Illinois taxpayers will be on the hook for these abortions:

The bill Rauner has signed into law was advertised as a measure to ensure that abortion would remain legal in Illinois in the event the Supreme Court should strike down Roe v. Wade. But it does a great deal more than that: It secures a longtime goal of the abortion lobby by putting state taxpayers on the hook for funding abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Under this law, not only could a child be put to death an hour before it would otherwise be born -- which is monstrous enough on its own -- the people of the state of Illinois would be implicated in that crime by underwriting it with their tax dollars.

As Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass observes, Rauner is political burnt toast, a prime target of Democrats and an albatross for what’s left of the Republican Party in Illinois:

"The Rauner experiment is over," state Rep. Peter Breen, a Republican from Lombard, told me after Rauner signed the bill. "He lied to us, he lied to the people, he even lied to Cardinal Cupich. And now, as far as re-election, I don't think he has a chance. It's done."

Breen is not alone. From the moment Rauner with his long sad expression said he would sign the bill, Republicans were calling him out for betrayal and saying they could not support his re-election.

One is state Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon.

"Several months ago he (Rauner) promised over 23 legislators he would veto the bill," Bivins said in a statement. "Today he said he has to stand by what he believes is the right thing to do. Today I will also stand on what I believe is the right thing to do. I will not support this governor for re-election."

And after Rauner's news conference, Cupich tweeted -- yes, tweeted -- a response by the Catholic Conference of Illinois.

It marked the governor as an oath breaker and said he had committed a "grave moral error."

"We are deeply disturbed that Governor Rauner has broken his word and firm public promise to veto HB 40," the statement read, adding that the bill would "now force Illinois taxpayers to pay for the taking of human life, in this case of a defenseless child in the womb."

Later, Cupich told the Tribune that he had spoken to Rauner and reminded him of his promise to veto the bill.

Rauner has apparently bought the line that abortion, which kills unborn women, is health care which is sometimes necessary to save the life or preserve the health of the mother. The “health of the mother” is a loophole you could drive the proverbial truck through. It includes factors beyond physical health, but also including psychological, emotional and familial considerations. In other words, you can kill a preborn child if you fell being a mom is too much of a hassle.

As Dr. Nancy Romer, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wright State University; Pamela Smith, director of medical education in obstetrics at Mount Sinai in Chicago; and Dr. Joseph Cook, a specialist in fetal medicine at Michigan State, stated in the Wall Street Journal on Sept. 19, 1996:

“Contrary to what abortion activists would have us believe, partial-birth abortion is never medically indicated to protect a woman’s health or fertility. In fact, the opposite is true: The procedure can pose a significant threat to both the pregnant woman’s health and her fertility.”

Even if Roe V. Wade is overturned, abortion will not be outlawed. Abortion will return to status quo ante, once again being a matter for states to decide. That part is fine. Requiring taxpayers to compromise their religious liberty and religious conscience to pay for it is not.

Liberals and RINOs are right to be worried. We may be only one or two more Supreme Court justices away from the fetus’ right to life being guaranteed in law, for Roe V. Wade to be tossed on the ash heap on wrongly decided decisions just like Dred Scott. When President Trump issued an executive order restoring the Mexico City policy on funding of organizations that provide abortions, we got a clear message on his view of the humanity of the unborn.  As The Hill reported:

 President Trump on Monday reignited the war over abortion by signing an executive order blocking foreign aid or federal funding for international nongovernmental organizations that provide or "promote" abortions.

The so-called Mexico City policy, established by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984, blocks federal funding for international family planning charities that provide abortions or actively promote the procedure…

I think the president, it’s no secret, has made it very clear that he’s a pro-life president,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first briefing Monday afternoon.

“And I think the reinstatement of this policy is not just something that echoes that value, but respects taxpayer funding as well, and ensures that we’re standing up not just for life of the unborn, but for also taxpayer funds that are being spent overseas to perform an action that is contrary to the values of this president.”

On the wall of the Jefferson Memorial are the words: “God who gave us life gave us liberty.” The two are inseparable. Slaves were once considered something less than human, as the unborn currently are. The Supreme Court, which gave us Roe V. Wade, once gave us the Dred Scott decision. A new one may soon correct another gross injustice.

Meanwhile the state of Illinois and its governor have proven to be politically, financially and morally corrupt.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.