Recognizing the vast majority of Americans remain committed to abortion as a constitutional right yet desperate to appeal to his base, Donald Trump is now taking direct credit for the U.S. Supreme Court having overturned Roe v. Wade last year while falsely claiming many in the “pro-life” movement sees a six-week ban, which his likely 2024 opponent Ron DeSantis recently signed into law, as too extreme.
“I was able to get us to the table by terminating Roe v. Wade. That’s the most important thing that’s ever happened for the pro-life movement,” Trump told The Messenger, a new news outlet that launched Monday.
He did not stop there.
“I know it’s shocking. But it’s happening,” Trump told The Messenger’s Marc Caputo. “For 50 years, they’ve been trying to get rid of Roe v Wade. I was able to do it. Nobody else could have done that but me. And I was able to do it [by nominating] three excellent judges on the Justices of the Supreme Court. And I was able to do that. What it did more than anything else is it gave us a tremendous power of negotiation, which we didn’t have, the pro-life movement, a tremendous power of negotiation. … Now the pro-life movement has the power to negotiate a deal that’s acceptable for them.”
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The “pro-life” movement, which does not consist of any one particular organization, largely demands a compete and total ban on all abortion. Many also demand no exceptions for rape or incest, and rarely exceptions of the life of the mother.
Worse, as The New York Times reported in January, even in states that have banned abortion but allow exceptions, few are actually granted.
Caputo asked Trump specifically about Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, expected to formally announce his 2024 presidential run within days. DeSantis, behind closed doors surrounded by several dozen anti-abortion activists, quietly signed a six-week ban into law last month.
“Well, he has to do what he has to do,” Trump said of the Florida far-right governor. “If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don’t even know if he knew what he was doing. But he signed six weeks, and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh.”
Republican turned Democrat Ron Filipkowski, a former federal prosecutor and current frequent political commentator and activist, says this interview “out today from Trump really has the pro-lifers upset.”
“He is muddling around trying to find a path to take on the abortion issue, which he blames for their poor showing in the midterms. This nonsense answer satisfies nobody and has them pretty confused.”
“When he says ‘many people within the pro-life movement,’ there is NOBODY in the pro-life movement who feels this way,” Filipkowski adds. “This is the way HE feels because he knows that is what the polls show.”
Asked if he thinks six weeks is too harsh, Trump tells Caputo, ““I’m looking at all alternatives. I’m looking at many alternatives. But I was able to get us to the table by terminating Roe v. Wade. That’s the most important thing that’s ever happened for the pro-life movement.”
Trump refused to be pinned down.
When asked if he would sign a six-week ban, all he would say was, “I’m looking at all [options].”