Donald Trump, who believes he’s the only Republican who knows how to talk about abortion, just gave President Joe Biden and Democrats all the ammunition they need on the issue. In a lengthy interview with TIME, Trump refused to say he would veto a federal abortion ban … three times.
The question wasn’t hard the first time; a simple “yes” or “no” would have done the trick. “Will you veto any bill that imposes any federal restrictions on abortions?”
“You don’t need a federal ban. We just got out of the federal. You know, if you go back on Roe v. Wade, Roe v. Wade was all about—it wasn’t about abortion so much as bringing it back to the states,” Trump replied.
Since that wasn’t an answer, TIME asked again, “People want to know whether you would veto a bill, if it came to your desk, that would impose any federal restrictions. This is really important to a lot of voters.”
Trump refused to answer for the second time.
“But you have to remember this,” Trump said. “There will never be that chance because it won’t happen. You’re never going to have 60 votes. … But with all of that being said, it’s all about the states, it’s about state rights. States’ rights.”
And then he dropped this bit of Trumpian wisdom:
And you know what? That’s taken tremendous pressure off everybody. But we—it was ill-defined. And to be honest, the Republicans, a lot of Republicans, didn’t know how to talk about the issue. That issue never affected me.
Never mind that the last time Trump tried to put the question to rest, he failed. Badly. So badly that TIME had to ask the question again, for the third time.
“So just to be clear, then: You won’t commit to vetoing the bill if there’s federal restrictions—federal abortion restrictions?”
“I won’t have to commit to it because it’ll never—number one, it’ll never happen. Number two, it’s about states’ rights,” Trump said.
The man with “the best words” about abortion just stumbled again, leaving the door open for a national abortion ban.
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