The man who arguably bears the most responsibility for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade is confident that—somehow—he’ll be able to come up with a policy solution on abortion that “the whole country can agree with.”
Appearing on Newsmax Tuesday, former President Donald Trump was asked about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
“Do you think that six weeks is going too far as to doom Republicans with the moderates in this country when it comes to 2024?” Newsmax host Rob Schmitt wondered. On Monday, Trump had suggested that the timeframe was “too harsh,” which prompted DeSantis to criticize the GOP presidential candidate for not offering limits of his own.
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Trump, who has been trying to appease hard-line evangelicals who say he’s too soft on the issue, said of DeSantis’ measure, “Other people agree with it and a lot of people don't.”
“We’re in a position now, and I’m going to be leading the charge…where we can get something that the whole country can agree with,” Trump claimed, as if the issue hasn’t been one of the country’s most divisive in the fifty years since the Roe v. Wade ruling was issued.
According to an April NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll, about 6 in 10 Americans support abortion rights, while just under 4 in 10 oppose them. Also, a majority of those surveyed oppose limiting abortions up until six weeks, as is now the case in Florida. (Only 40 percent of Republicans support doing so.)
Furthermore, Democrats are seen as being more trustworthy on the topic of abortion than Republicans, outpolling them 41 percent to 25 percent.
Trump didn’t spell out his solution, but had no problem continuing to brag about the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer.
“What I did on Roe v. Wade…for fifty years they had been trying to do it. I got it done and now we’re in a position to make a really great deal, and a deal that people want,” he asserted.
But in light of the extreme measures that Republican-controlled state legislatures have taken and how those laws have negatively affected women in those states, it remains doubtful that the “whole country,” as he put it, will agree on whatever the GOP candidate comes up with.
