Abortion: Trump struggles to navigate defining 2024 campaign issue

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CNN —

A year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision largely made possible by Donald Trump, the former president found himself struggling with how to navigate one of the defining issues of the 2024 presidential campaign: abortion.

And it goes unnoticed.

Anti-abortion activists watched nervously as Trump dodged questions about how he would handle a federal abortion ban. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his main rival in the GOP presidential primary, sought to outdo Trump on the issue and embraced it as a key feature of his campaign.

Trump’s appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices during his time in the White House made him the architect of the post-Dobbs world, a decision that rattled a large faction of the Republican Party and many of the evangelical Christian voters Trump looked to. as central to his 2016 presidential win and his 2024 campaign.

But while he wanted to take credit for the decision that changed the political and legal landscape of abortion, the former president privately blamed abortion hard-liners for the party’s lackluster 2022 midterm results and tried to avoid the issue in the campaign. trail, offering only a series of muddled responses when pressed on whether he would sign into law a federal abortion bill that many within the conservative movement see as the next frontier in this fight.

What Ill do is negotiate to make people happy, Trump told CNNs Kaitlan Collins during a network town hall in New Hampshire last month.

In this post-Dobbs world, Trump has told allies and advisers that abortion is not a winning campaign issue for Republicans, and that tacking too far to the right on abortion policy could result in spending on he has support from key voters especially among White women outside the city, a demographic he has long coveted.

CNN interviewed five people close to Trump who have long spoken with the former president about his anti-abortion views. Many of them have described Trump’s current refusal to publicly support a national ban as driven by his own political instincts and a desire to avoid a political landmine.

Trump will do and say whatever he needs to do to win the nomination. He doesn’t think going for a federal ban is a good idea politically, one of the sources said.

Behind closed doors, Trump and his advisers have acknowledged that they need to broaden his base if he is to win not just the GOP nomination, but the general election, and that they fear alienating large swathes of voters with harsh language about abortion.

All this was only encouraged by Trump, who did not want to step into the general election trap, a Trump ally told CNN.

Some Trump advisers insist the former president knows the importance of supporting a national abortion ban, especially in the primary, as other GOP candidates such as DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson sought to run on the former president’s right on the issue. And Trump remains eager to take credit for overturning Roe v. Wade and use his role to prove his conservative chops to certain groups.

Several things could happen at once, says an adviser to the former president. He is the best president for the pro-life movement in history. He supports exceptions. He’s not opposed to a federal role, but he also doesn’t think it’s a winnable issue.

Trump has so far refused to answer whether or not he supports a federal abortion ban, but he may be forced to confront the issue head-on sooner rather than later.

Former presidents’ ambiguity on the issue will be front and center this weekend, when the 2024 GOP presidential contenders gather at the Road to Majority conference in Washington, DC. The Faith and Freedom Coalition, the organizers behind the event, touts the conference as the largest public policy gathering of conservative and Christian activists in the country.

The topic of abortion will be a key focus of the conference, event organizers told CNN, and when Trump takes the stage Saturday, many will be watching to see if he uses the opportunity to clarify his position or finally walks out. in support of a national abortion. prohibition

Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and a longtime Trump ally, told CNN, Republicans need to get off their heels and take offense about abortion.

As for where the party and its future presidential nominee stand on the issue, Reed said, It’s going to be a very organic process with the candidates, their campaigns, the pro-life movement, and the Republican Party likely to get there. in a message emphasizing mostly state-level action, some common federal standards and a ban on taxpayer funding for abortion. Then hammer away at how extreme the liberals’ position is.

Abortion politics, like all politics, is simple: when you explain, you lose, he added.

DeSantis, who will address the conference on Friday, signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida earlier this year, a proposal that goes beyond the 15-week ban that many other Republicans have embraced and described by Trump is too harsh. The ban still faces an additional hurdle at the Florida Supreme Court, which is considering a challenge to the state’s 15-week ban enacted last year. The six-week ban will not take effect until after a court ruling on the case.

Regardless, DeSantis expects to announce the passage of that bill during his keynote, a source familiar with his comments tells CNN.

The Florida governor has also been highly critical of Trump’s reluctance so far to support a federal ban and recently told The 700 Club that he believes the former president has gone soft on the issue.

Some Trump allies and conservative leaders who, like DeSantis, have taken notice of Trump’s vague rhetoric on abortion politics, have recently tried to intervene.

Anti-abortion leaders huddled with the former president at his Mar-a-Lago home in May and tried to convince him to firm up his stance on the issue and embrace a 15-week national abortion ban. However, Trump has refused to do so, even though some of his top advisers and allies have told him that he would ultimately have to support such a proposal, sources familiar with the conversations told CNN.

The meeting was arranged by Trump’s ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, the creator of the 15-week abortion bill, and with Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

It served in part as an attempt for Dannenfelser to smooth things over with the former president after he publicly criticized his 2024 campaign for saying abortion should be decided at the state level, saying it’s a moral no-no. defensible position for a self-identified pro-lifer. presidential candidate to hold.

Anti-abortion leaders also used the meeting to try and persuade Trump to take a harder position on abortion. According to two sources with direct knowledge of the events, Dannenfelser, Perkins and Graham walked the former president through polls that showed a majority of voters thought abortion should be limited after the first trimester. .

Trump has made it clear that whatever position he ultimately takes must include exceptions for the life of the mother, rape and incest, a distinction he believes is important to remaining politically popular but has refused to commit to a federal abortion ban.

[Trump told them] that instead of hanging on at 12 weeks, 15 weeks, 16 weeks, her limit is when the baby can feel pain, said one of the sources.

Following the meeting, Dannenfelser issued a statement calling it a very productive session and gave a vague indication that Trump would support some form of federal action.

But a few days later, Trump again cast doubt on his stance, refusing to say at what point in a pregnancy abortion should be banned.

Some people are at six weeks, some people are at three weeks, two weeks, Trump told CNN’s town hall. President Trump will make a decision on what he thinks is good for the country.

Some Trump advisers acknowledge that the former presidents’ response lacked clarity, which means he will need to address the issue more directly as the campaign progresses. When he does, some allies say they expect him to support a federal ban.

Trump will likely promise 15 weeks at the end of the campaign, but he knows Congress can’t pass it, and he doesn’t want to upset people, a source close to the former president said following the town hall.

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