In his third White House campaign, Donald Trump has adopted a rather odd strategy that would appear to be a stark transformation.
So far, he’s chosen to make his entire 2024 campaign about destroying the only other America First candidate who could eventually be President with blatantly false left-wing talking points.
And now Donald Trump once again sided with Democrats to attack Ron DeSantis. But the Governor retaliated by exposing the elephant in the room.
A big swing and miss for Trump
According to former President Donald Trump, most pro-life Americans don’t actually want to protect all human life.
During an interview with The Messenger, the former President attacked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for signing The Heartbeat Protection Act, a six-week abortion ban passed by the state legislature, into law.
As the legislation’s title indicates, by the sixth week of a pregnancy, the child has developed to the point of having a heartbeat, hence the reason pro-lifers have largely supported such bans.
Nevertheless, Trump believes that’s not the case, and insisted that “many in the pro-life movement” felt DeSantis’ signing of the bill was “too harsh” – while also claiming the Governor, who has long been one of the top pro-life politicians in America, may have somehow not known what he was actually signing.
“He has to do what he has to do,” Trump told The Messenger. “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.”
Who exactly these people in the pro-life movement who believe Governor DeSantis’ pro-life legislation is “too harsh” actually are, no one actually knows – maybe not even the former President himself.
But while he has largely chosen to simply ignore many of Trump’s attacks against him, DeSantis didn’t let this one slide.
DeSantis turns the tables on Trump
In response, the Governor pointed out that “probably 99% of pro-lifers support” banning abortions once a heartbeat has developed, and that other Republican Governors had signed similar legislation without a peep from the former President.
“Protecting an unborn child when there’s a detectable heartbeat is something that probably 99% of pro-lifers support,” DeSantis told reporters when asked to respond to Trump’s claim. “It’s something that other states, like Iowa under Governor Kim Reynolds, have enacted.”
But Governor DeSantis also pointed out the big pink elephant in the room when it comes to Trump and the issue of abortion – the former President is suddenly refusing to take a position on the matter.
After previously declaring himself “the most pro-life President ever,” since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade – outside of claiming he was solely responsible for such a ruling – Trump has avoided stating a position on whether he supports pro-life efforts to place restrictions on abortions, like the 6-week, 12-week, and 15-week bans instituted by many states, or if he agrees with Democrats that abortion should continue to be available on-demand right up until the moment of birth, and sometimes after.
As DeSantis pointed out, during the interview in which he attacked Florida’s six-week abortion ban, Trump continued to avoid answering where he stands on the matter and simply declared himself a “believer in the exceptions” instead.
“I think that, as a Florida resident, you know, he didn’t give an answer about, ‘Would you have signed the Heartbeat bill that Florida did?’” DeSantis noted. “I signed the bill, I was proud to do it, and he won’t answer whether he would sign it or not.”
And it’s not just the Governor who is noticing Trump’s apparent shift in his stance on abortion – major pro-life organizations have also taken note, and they aren’t mincing words.
“It is sad and disappointing to see a candidate attack the people of Florida for protecting pre-born Floridians with a detectable heartbeat,” Live Action Vice President of Communications told The Daily Signal.
Trump also previously came under fire from almost every major pro-life organization after Roe v. Wade was overturned for refusing to voice his opposition to Democrat efforts to pass legislation that thwarted Republican-led states’ efforts to limit abortion by guaranteeing abortion-on-demand nationwide.
At that time, the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America organization called Trump’s silence a “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate.”
Based on Trump and his campaign’s statements on the matter of abortion – or lack thereof – many pro-lifers have come to believe he’s simply choosing political expediency over principle.
In their eyes, he chose to go all-in on the pro-life movement when it benefited him in 2016 but is now seemingly choosing to reject pro-lifers because he believes many RINOs and independents he needs to defeat President Joe Biden won’t vote for a pro-life candidate.
And only time will tell how Donald Trump’s seemingly overnight transformation on abortion will impact the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary.
Before It’s Banned will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story – before it’s banned.
