Connect with us

News

‘Pure Gibberish’: Trump Tried to ‘BS His Way Through’ Question About Abortion Drug

Published

on

Donald Trump appeared to be unfamiliar with the widely-used and extremely safe abortion drug, Mifepristone, when asked a question about it by a reporter Thursday afternoon at his Mar-a-Lago press conference. Critics are blasting his remarks.

The ex-president, who is currently down in the polls as Vice President Kamala Harris has flipped the trajectory of the election, pushed though his answer while leaving the impression he would support banning the drug, effectively moving the country closer to a nationwide near-total ban on abortion, while also supporting having the general public vote nationally on the issue.

Trump has repeatedly bragged he ended Roe v. Wade by putting three right-wing justices on the U.S. Supreme Court who stripped away the constitutional right to abortion. But as public opinion has come out sharply against that ruling he has tried to sidestep it, angering anti-abortion activists and his evangelical Christian base.

On Thursday, asked if he would “direct your FDA, for example, to revoke access to Mifepristone?” Trump interrupted the reporter to provide an answer (video below).

READ MORE: Harlan Crow Helped Fund Swiftboating. Trump Campaign Continues That Legacy in Walz Attack

“You could do things that will be, would supplement. Absolutely. And those things are pretty open and humane. But you have to be able to have a vote, and all I want to do is give everybody a vote and the votes are taking place right now as we speak. There are many things on a humane basis that you can do outside of that, but you also have to give a vote and the people are going to have to decide.”

Trump appeared to be suggesting he would order the FDA to ban the abortion drug Mifepristone, while claiming there are alternatives to it, which defeats the intended purpose of a ban. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of all abortions in the U.S. are done via medication abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In 2020 that number was 53%.

There is no medical evidence that would necessitate banning Mifepristone.

The ex-president also appeared to be unaware that, outside of a constitutional amendment and elections, the U.S. has never held a national referendum on any issue, and there is no constitutional method to “give a vote” so “the people” can decide the issue.

Strong majorities of Americans support the right to abortion, and even stronger majorities oppose a national abortion ban, the Associated Press reported last month.

Many of those who watched the former president Thursday and remarked on social media expressed astonishment at his response.

“Preceding the question,” noted Los Angeles Times columnist Jackie Calmes, “Trump says Harris isn’t smart. Then he takes the mifepristone question: He clearly has no idea what he’s talking about–the drug used in 2/3 of abortions today–& seems to suggest, yes, his FDA will revoke it (as the right wants).”

“It’s like bad improv at this point,” commented U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) “Not funny, not present, doesn’t understand the word the audience just tried to prompt him with… but massively overconfident in his skills.”

RELATED: Is Donald Trump ‘Quiet Quitting’? Here’s What His ‘Meltdown at Mar-a-Lago’ Reveals

“He has no idea what mifepristone is,” remarked columnist and former Jezebel editor-in-chief Laura Bassett.

“Trump’s answer is pure gibberish. He has no idea what mifepristone is or what he’s saying,” wrote communications strategist Laura Chapin.

“Sweet Jesus,” exclaimed communications professor and McClatchy News columnist Issac Bailey. “This dude is trying to BS his way through important policy questions, which he clearly knows next to nothing about.”

“Yeah,” wrote Jessica Mason Pieklo, Executive Editor and senior vice president of the Rewire News Group, “this man has no idea what mifepristone is lol.”

“He tried to couch it in nonsensical double-speak,” noted political strategist Maya Rupert, “but here is Trump confirming that he would direct his FDA to revoke access to medication abortion NATIONWIDE. This is a national abortion ban. This is what we are voting on.”

“If any other presidential candidate gave a non-answer this incoherent, it would lead the news for like 5 days,” remarked author and University of Pennsylvania scholar and instructor Brian Rosenwald. “I mean I’ve seen toddlers be more coherent. Does he know what Mifepristone is?”

Watch the video of Trump below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump ‘Too Old’ Majority Now Say as Health, Mental Fitness Increasingly Worry Voters

 

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Do What Leaders Do’: Dem Leader Scorches ‘Missing in Action’ Trump

Published

on

House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted President Donald Trump for being “missing in action” and not acting like a leader as the federal government shutdown entered its twenty-eighth day.

Senate Democrats are demanding negotiations with Republican Majority Leader John Thune to find a way to restore the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, without which millions of Americans will lose health care coverage, and even more could see premiums skyrocket. Republicans are refusing to negotiate unless Democrats first vote to reopen the government.

“Convene the appropriators,” Jeffries insisted, referring to the budget committee.

“Do what leaders do in moments like this, as opposed to being missing in action now for 28 days, while finding $40 billion to bail out a right-wing, wannabe dictator in Argentina, and destroying the historic parts of the White House in real time, so that he can construct a ballroom, where he will be celebrated like a wannabe king,” the Democratic Leader said.

READ MORE: ‘We Can Do as We Want’: Trump Boasts He Can Deploy Troops Into U.S. Cities However He Likes

“This is all outrageous stuff.”

“And the American people see it unfolding before their very eyes, and they know that Donald Trump and Republicans have not been serious about doing what is necessary to enact a spending agreement that actually improves the quality of life of hardworking American taxpayers.”

Also on Tuesday, Politico reported that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy had suggested “that a Trump administration effort to scrounge together money to pay air traffic controllers during the federal shutdown is dead.”

“Duffy said he had examined the FAA’s budget to see if he could find any available funds, but ‘there’s not a lot of leeway that we have to get people paid.'”

READ MORE: Trump Admin Blames Dems’ Immigration and Trans Policies for Food Stamp Shut Off

Jeffries’ remarks came around the same time as Vice President JD Vance told reporters, after attending the weekly GOP luncheon, that the White House has found a way to pay the troops again, as Punchbowl News’ Max Cohen reported.

Bobby Kogan, the senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, responded to President Trump paying the troops:

“Huge contrast with illegally refusing to make SNAP payments. What we’re seeing from the White House is them moving heaven and earth to pay what they want to pay, even if it’s illegal — and moving heaven and earth to NOT pay what they don’t want to pay, even if it’s illegal.”

READ MORE: ‘Refrain From Any Action’: Congressional Vets Warn Trump on Using Troops Against Americans

 

Continue Reading

News

‘He Wants the Pain’: Former GOP Congressman Blasts Trump’s ‘Sadism Dressed Up as Politics’

Published

on

Republican former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger sharply condemned President Donald Trump and his onetime GOP colleagues, accusing the president of “sadism” for refusing to release what experts say are legally mandated funds to sustain food stamp payments once they’re cut off on November 1.

Warning that “millions of Americans will stop receiving food stamps” if Congress does not act, Kinzinger explained that “mothers won’t be able to buy groceries. Veterans won’t be able to feed their families. Children will go hungry — not because of some natural disaster or accident of bureaucracy, but because our leaders made a deliberate choice.”

“I’ve been in Congress,” he wrote. “I’ve sat in those rooms where politicians calculate pain — where they decide that hurting ordinary Americans might be good for their ‘message.'”

READ MORE: Johnson Says Trump ‘Trolling’ on Major Constitutional Question

Indeed, on Tuesday afternoon, Politico reported that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told his GOP conference to sit tight as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food stamps shutoff hits.

“‘Things are getting real’ this week,” Johnson said, as Politico noted, adding that “he braced his members for some of the worst real-world fallout of the shutdown so far.”

Johnson “urged Republicans to stay in lockstep as ‘pressure mounts on Democrats’ — including key deadlines that will impact millions of low-income Americans.”

“’The pain register is about to hit level 10,’ Johnson said, adding that ‘sadly’ 42 million Americans will be hit this weekend when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits run out of money.”

Kinzinger pointed out that President Trump “has a choice” in this.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Blames Dems’ Immigration and Trans Policies for Food Stamp Shut Off

“He can use emergency funds to keep food assistance flowing while negotiations continue. He could say, ‘Not on my watch will people go hungry.’ But he isn’t. He is choosing not to — because he wants the pain. He wants the headlines. He wants to point to struggling families and say, ‘Blame the Democrats.'”

“That’s not leadership,” the former lawmaker lamented. “That’s sadism dressed up as politics.”

Expressing anger over Trump’s $300 million ballroom, and possible $250 million Department of Justice settlement for being investigated, Kinzinger said, “I’ve seen what shutdowns do.”

“I’ve seen families line up at food pantries because their pay got delayed. I’ve heard from single parents who rely on SNAP to get through the week. These are not ‘lazy’ people. They’re workers — often working full-time — who still fall below the poverty line because the system rewards wealth, not work.”

He added that “what government is supposed to do” is “protect its citizens in hard times. Not turn hunger into a political weapon.”

Denouncing the “moral bankruptcy” of congressional Republicans and President Trump, Kinzinger wrote, “When you see a president who intentionally withholds help to make a point, you’re seeing the moral rot that now defines the GOP. The cruelty isn’t a side effect — it’s the strategy.”

READ MORE: Data Analyst Reveals Which Trump Policy Faces Sharpest Backlash Among Americans

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

Johnson Says Trump ‘Trolling’ on Major Constitutional Question

Published

on

President Donald Trump has repeatedly talked about running for a third term, but Speaker of the House Mike Johnson does not appear to be taking him very seriously.

“I would love to do it,” Trump recently told reporters.

“Trump again declines to rule out unconstitutional third term,” Axios reported on Monday, adding: “Trump has said he’s ‘not joking’ about a third term.”

The U.S. Constitution is clear.

“The 22nd Amendment plainly states that no one can be elected president more than twice,” The New York Times reported.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Blames Dems’ Immigration and Trans Policies for Food Stamp Shut Off

Trump’s allies have also been pushing for a third term.

Steve Bannon, in particular, has recently said they are looking at ways to have him run in 2028.

“Trump is going to be president in ’28,” Bannon said. “At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is.”

Asked on Tuesday about the President running for a third term, the Speaker of the House, a constitutional attorney, appeared to smirk before pushing back.

“Well, there is the 22nd Amendment,” Johnson told reporters. “I spoke with the president about an hour ago. It’s late in the evening in Japan. He’s working around the clock, serving the American people.”

After rattling off a list of how the Republican Party under Trump has “delivered,” while neglecting to mention that the federal government has been shut down for four weeks, Johnson added: “It’s been a great run, but I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about the constrictions of the Constitution.”

READ MORE: ‘We Can Do as We Want’: Trump Boasts He Can Deploy Troops Into U.S. Cities However He Likes

“As much as so many American people lament that, the ‘Trump 2028’ cap is one of the most popular that’s ever been produced,” he observed. “And he has a good time with that trolling the Democrats, whose hair is on fire, about the very prospect.”

“I do believe that we’ve got three extraordinary years ahead of us,” he projected. “And, I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution, because it takes about ten years to do that, as you all know, to allow all the states to ratify, what — two-thirds of the House and three-fourths of the states would approve.”

“So, I don’t see the path for that, but I can tell you that we are not going to take our foot off the gas pedal,” he insisted. “He’ll have four strong years.”

READ MORE: ‘Refrain From Any Action’: Congressional Vets Warn Trump on Using Troops Against Americans

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.