Seasoned Republican operatives are praising Donald Trump for delivering a carefully tailored message on an abortion issue that avoids cornering his evangelical supporters, who are crucial to victory in the Iowa Caucuses.
The care that the often improvisational Trump takes on the issue was on display Wednesday night at the Fox News town hall, where he gave a lengthy response that took credit for ending the issue. Roe v. Wade while exuding pragmatism and defending his positions in support of exceptions to the abortion ban.
‘Now I happen to be in favor of the exceptions, such as Ronald Reagan, with the life of the mother. Rape, incest, I just – I just have to be there,” Trump said.
He was responding to a question from an undecided Republican voter in Iowa, who told him, “I would like you to reassure me that you can protect all life and every human being’s right to life without compromise.”
Trump gave an answer that was all about compromise.
President Donald Trump gave a nuanced answer about abortion at the Fox News town hall in Iowa on Wednesday evening
“So far, it doesn’t appear that in either the national polls or the primaries or state-specific polls, including Iowa, Trump is paying no price for making some of these statements about… ‘Look, we need the exceptions. We need to find consensus on a federal solution to this. We need to let the state take the lead first and foremost,” said Ralph Reed, president of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.
He told DailyMail.com on a call with reporters that Trump has “probably handled things a little differently than he would have as a candidate eight years ago because he has a track record” that runs from defunding Planned Parenthood to appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who ultimately struck down Roe v. Wade.
Trump is functioning “more like a quasi-establishment president than a typical candidate for the nomination.” Trump addressed the issue in a ‘
“I think it’s honestly, I think it’s one of the most fascinating and interesting things about this process is that Trump has been able to address this issue in a very nuanced and sometimes amorphous way with an eye toward general and at least so far he hasn’t really paid a fine for it,” he said.
That was an assessment shared by one of Trump’s rivals, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who Trump sometimes insults by distorting his first name.
“It’s hard to imagine,” Hutchinson told DailyMail.com on Friday as he drove through the snowy roads of Iowa.
“It’s about the comfort level of someone who is a current office holder, a sitting president. And so it’s always difficult to loosen the support of an incumbent. And the burden of proof is on those who oppose it. And you know, he has a case for appointing conservative judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. And so people remember that and respect that. But what they need to understand is that he is using language that now undermines what the court is trying to do. And so I’m amazed at the evangelical community’s consistent loyalty to Donald Trump. I really believe it will change this year. And it starts in Iowa.
‘It’s hard to imagine,’ former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said of Trump’s appeal among evangelical Iowans
Trump has maintained strong support among evangelical voters through symbolism and conservative appointments to the courts
Pastor Paula White, left, and other faith leaders pray with President Donald Trump, center, during a rally for evangelical supporters at King Jesus International Ministry church, Friday, Jan. 3, 2020, in Miami
‘At a certain point you realize that he does not reflect our national character. He does not reflect the humility expected of public servants. There is arrogance. There is an ego that gets in the way and disrupts the achievement of the common good. And that’s becoming increasingly clear to the evangelical community,” said Hutchinson, who nevertheless attributes Trump’s rise to the lawsuits against Trump, which “strengthened rather than weakened him in the short term.”
Trump campaign strategist Chris LaCivita said Trump has been consistent on the abortion issue — even though Trump declared himself “pro-choice in every way” as early as 1999.
That preceded a 2016 campaign in which Trump embraced evangelical voters in Iowa, posed with a Bible and promised to install conservative judges on the courts.
Asked by DailyMail.com whether Trump was focusing on New Hampshire, where independents hold sway and Democrats can even change their registration to vote, LaCivita replied: “No, I think that has been his position from day one. I mean, if anyone ever asked him that position on abortion, I think he made the statement pretty clear over and over again. But he has always been convinced that there should be exceptions.’
He said pro-life voters “know, first and foremost, that Donald Trump’s appointment to the United States Supreme Court is why they’re having this discussion in the first place. They know that the president’s position is, quite frankly, very consistent. At the national level, where the majority of pro-life voters are, they would rather leave it to the states. Simply.’
Trump knows the power of social conservatives in Iowa. They carried Ted Cruz to a narrow victory in 2016, leading to a lengthy primary battle.
In his response to the pro-life woman in Des Moines, Trump called his own political achievement a “miracle” and said people credit him with saving two million lives in the late 20th century. Roe v. Wade.
But then he returned to the exceptions, on an issue where about two-thirds of Americans believe abortion should be legal, speaking in a state where Reed says 64 percent identify as evangelical (with Trump in 2016 accounting for a fifth of their won support). ).
‘Now I happen to be in favor of the exceptions, such as Ronald Reagan, with the life of the mother. Rape, incest, I just have to be there,” Trump said.
‘Ronald Reagan, he was for it. I was for it. But I will say this: you have to win elections. Otherwise you’ll end up back where you were and you can never let that happen again. You have to win elections,” Trump said.
He then bumped into Ron DeSantis, calling him “just another politician.” DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida.
“But his poll numbers have dropped so much that he will drop out of the race very soon. He will come out very soon. You know, I watched him last night, he stands up with his shoes, his nice shoes,” Trump said, offendingly.
He then cited abortion as a possible reason for his rival’s political problems.
‘I hope that wasn’t the reason. I hope it’s for other reasons. I saw many more reasons why he shouldn’t be. But he’s doing very, very badly. It just happened to coincide with that, because a lot of people say a lot: If you talk five or six weeks, a lot of women won’t know if they’re pregnant in five or six weeks,” Trump said.
“If you’re talking five or six weeks, a lot of women won’t know if they’re pregnant for five or six weeks,” said Trump, who criticized the six-week abortion ban signed into law in Florida by Ron DeSantis.
Then Trump, who is also campaigning for a crackdown on immigration and backed up previous comments about “retaliation” and being a “dictator” on “Day One,” cast himself as a big unifier on the abortion issue.
‘I want to achieve something that makes people happy. This has been tearing our country apart for fifty years. Nobody could do anything. And again, you can only ask that question and you ask it brilliantly, and I understand exactly where you’re coming from. I love where you come from. But we still have to win elections. And they’ve used this — you know, we have great Republicans and they’re great on this issue, and you would love them on this issue. And a lot of them just got decimated in the election, decimated — I mean, absolutely.
So we’re going to come up with something that people want and like. I’d like you to — first of all, you have to go with your heart, okay? You have to go with your heart first. Go with your heart, your mind, go with it. But you also have to put a little into it. You have to win elections. But without me with Roe v. Wade, you wouldn’t be talking about this subject – you wouldn’t be asking that question…’
He concluded with an optimistic prediction for the voter who wanted to protect life without compromise.
“I think you’ll be happy in the end,” he said.