Talk about gimmicks – former president Donald Trump seems to be making an effort to paint himself as a moderate on the controversial issue of abortion, which has long been a thorny subject that has divided liberals and conservatives for decades.
What Did Donald Trump Say?
Despite having appointed three Supreme Court justices – Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 – who voted to overturn the Roe vs. Wade ruling that closed the doors of so many abortion clinics all throughout America and sent pro-abortion and women’s’ rights activists in a frenzy, Trump thinks that he would be a great moderator and mediator in bringing Democrats and Republicans together to put the issue of abortion “behind us.”
“I think they’re all going to like me. I think both sides are going to like me,” the former chief executive told Kristen Welker in a recent interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” segment.
While Trump blasted Democrats whom he said supported abortion at any stage in a woman’s pregnancy up to the point of even infanticide, he also criticized Republicans who imposed flat out, no-exception bans on abortions.
“The radical people on this are really the Democrats that say after five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, and even after birth, you are allowed to terminate the baby,” Trump said of liberals who support abortion.
Of conservative all-out bans on abortion procedures he said, “I watch some of them without the exceptions, etc., etc. I said: ‘Other than certain parts of the country, you can’t — you’re not going to win on this issue. But you will win on this issue when you come up with the right number of weeks.”
Trump also took the opportunity to criticize Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his top and closest rival for the GOP presidential nomination. DeSantis signed a law banning abortions on pregnancies six weeks and up in the state. That law, Trump said, was a “terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”
Trump also implied in the interview that he was willing to discuss allowing abortions up to 15 weeks.
“People are starting to think of 15 weeks, that seems to be a number that people are talking about right now,” he said.
Pro-life activists, though, did not take kindly to Trump’s comments on abortion, saying that such sentiments were “garbage” such as Liz Wheeler, a prominent conservative and political analyst and commentator.
Another pro-life activist, Nicholas Sandmann, called Trump out for the comments, as the former president attended a March for Life where he lauded the potential of the unborn.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, rose to DeSantis’ defense, saying that Florida’s Heartbeat Protection Act was based on science and would save countless lives.
Tim Ramos has written for various publications, corporations, and organizations – covering everything from finance, politics, travel, entertainment, and sports – in Asia and the U.S. for more than 10 years.
