If there’s any news in the video, it’s that Trump is back to saying it’s a state issue, after flirting with a 15-week federal ban. But Trump doesn’t say how many weeks he would recommend for state abortion bans; it simply supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and maternal life, and asserts that babies should not be killed after birth (this is not the case).
Trump’s language is also vague enough that it’s not even clear that he opposes a federal ban. He simply says that his “view” is that “the States will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and that what they decide must be the law of the land.” This could be understood as a summary of the current situation, given that no federal action has taken precedence over the states.
It’s a remarkable microcosm of how frightened the Republican Party is by its newfound ability to restrict abortion rights, following the Supreme Court’s overturn. Roe v. Wade in 2022. Just days ago, the Republican Party’s preferred Senate candidate in Wisconsin – a swing state – said he supports protecting the right to abortion “early in pregnancy,” a once unthinkable position in the modern Republican Party. Now the presumptive Republican Party nominee for president is essentially trying to wash his hands of the issue.
We are a long way from decades of Republican messaging that abortion is murder.
And as Trump got to his “position,” he made it clear why he was doing it.
“You have to follow your heart on this issue, but remember: you also have to win the election…” Trump says in the video.
In a post featuring the video Sunday evening, Trump added that “we must exercise common sense in realizing that we have an obligation to the salvation of our nation…WIN THE ELECTIONS, without which we will have nothing but failure, death, and destruction. »
During a Fox News town hall earlier this year, Trump responded to a woman urging him not to compromise on abortion rights by repeating four times that the Republican Party must “win the election “.
“I like where you’re from,” Trump told the woman. “But we still have to win the election.”
Translation: I can’t say what you want me to say, because that would be politically unwise.
Credit for transparency, at least. It’s as if Bill Clinton simply said, “I’m triangulating.” Or as if Barack Obama had told the Russian president at a press conference rather than on a hot mic that he would have “more flexibility” after the election.
Abortion rights supporters see Trump’s comments as a wink and a wink to the anti-abortion movement — an implication that he will still do what he wants if elected , but that he can’t just come out and say that. And maybe.
But it’s also an issue on which Trump, once “very pro-choice,” has already moved in politically expedient ways. This suggests that he could indeed write off the movement as he believes it is the right political decision. After all, Trump’s common thread is what’s good for Trump.
It’s also important to note that anti-abortion groups are increasingly fighting a losing public relations battle. And the fact that the leader of the conservative movement – who last year called the six-week abortion ban “terrible” – refuses to press his line at this time is significant. This sends a signal to other Republicans: Maybe they, too, would be better off moving away from the far right.
It’s also not as if a federal ban on abortion is about to pass Congress; Trump’s keeping this idea at bay may well serve to extinguish this idea.
For now, Trump’s position seems politically expedient.
A KFF poll in February showed that only 19 percent of Americans wanted a federal law banning abortion nationwide. At least eight in ten preferred either federal protections (55%) or that the federal government take no action (25%).
A CNN poll from last year showed that only 34 percent of those who approved of overturning the Supreme Court Roe deer wanted politicians to push for nationwide restrictions; 66% of those surveyed preferred to leave it to the states, as Trump claims.
But it’s one thing to say that it’s a state question; it’s another to not even say what these states should do.
Trump’s home state of Florida has implemented a six-week ban — one he once called “terrible” — and voters there will decide in November whether to reject it and enshrine the right to abortion in law. This will literally be an issue that Trump will have to decide on in a vote, and he will apparently try to avoid saying what decision he will make.
Whatever you think of Trump’s true intentions, we must not lose sight of how he has just confirmed how radioactive this issue is for his party. And if anti-abortion groups give him a pass and allow him to maintain this posture, it will be a significant setback for a movement that is already losing enormous ground politically.
washingtonpost
