Donald Trump spoke at a conservative event last week and shared some thoughts on the politics of abortion rights. As the former president put it, “explaining” the conservative position “properly” is “an extremely important thing.”
He added that he’s heard many Republicans talk about their positions, “and they don’t know what to say.”
There was a degree of irony to the comments — because if anyone is struggling to know what to say about abortion, it’s Trump.
This came into sharper focus over the weekend, when Trump appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and said all kinds of strange things about the issue. The Republican — after complaining that members of his own party “speak very inarticulately” about abortion — said he’d somehow figure out a way to make “both sides“ happy with a compromise solution he didn’t identify.
Just as notably, the former president went on to denounce plans to ban abortions “without the exceptions” and described Florida’s unpopular six-week ban as a “terrible thing.”
This, predictably, has created a new political mess — Trump’s rivals are telling the party’s socially conservative base that the former president isn’t a reliable enough ally on the issue — which the GOP frontrunner is clearly aware of. The Hill reported overnight:
Former President Trump on Tuesday sought to clarify his position on abortion after facing a backlash from some conservatives for calling Florida’s ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy a “terrible thing.”
As part of a trio of missives published to his social media platform, Trump again took credit for eliminating the Roe v. Wade precedent, before arguing that Republicans have to recognize the political peril associated with the issue. But he concluded by pretending that Democrats are the “true Radicals” because they support, among other things, “the killing of babies … even after birth.”
While I appreciate the appeal of the partisan controversy — it’s plausible that Trump’s clumsy rhetoric might even cost him some support ahead of the upcoming presidential primaries and caucuses — it’s this ugly lie that stands out as especially notable. In fact, the former president has been pushing the lie with unnerving vigor lately, insisting to multiple audiences that Democrats are advocates of “after-birth” abortion. There is no such thing. The claim is simply insane. As an NBC News fact-check report explained, “While some Democrats support broad access to abortion regardless of gestation age, infanticide is illegal, and no Democrats advocate for it.” Too many Republicans “don’t know what to say” about abortion? Perhaps not, but to say this is indefensible.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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