It wasn’t so long ago that Donald Trump made history by being the first sitting president to show up at a National March for Life.

Donald Trump’s pro-life stance was a concern to the right in 2016, because he didn’t have a record on the subject. We only knew what he was telling us, and we had to wait to see actual results. The results, as we all know, ended up being more than just lip service and a speech given at the March for Life in 2020.

One of the lasting legacies of Donald Trump are the three Supreme Court justices who ended up ruling in Dobbs to overturn Roe v. Wade.

So, why is Trump now undermining everything that he helped achieve? He gave an interview to Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” yesterday, and those of us who are pro-life and supported Trump should be very, very upset.

Former President Donald Trump declined to stake out a clear position on the future of abortion rights in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” but he repeatedly expressed interest in serving as a mediator between “both sides” to reach an agreement.

“I think they’re all going to like me,” he said. “I think both sides are going to like me.”

Trump declined to endorse a standard number of weeks after which abortion would be illegal, with some exceptions, and he similarly refused to say whether he feels the issue would best be settled at the state or federal levels.

“We’re going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it,” Trump said. “And both sides are going to come together and both sides — both sides, and this is a big statement — both sides will come together. And for the first time in 52 years, you’ll have an issue that we can put behind us.”

In response, Welker asked whether such an agreement would take place at the federal level.

“It could be state, or it could be federal,” Trump said. “I don’t, frankly, care.”

And then we get to what this was really about – Trump attacking Ron DeSantis from DeSantis’s left.

Welker then asked if Trump would sign a 15-week ban, after previously asking if he would sign a 15-week complete ban.

“Well, people are starting to think of 15 weeks, that seems to be a number that people are talking about right now,” Trump said. “I would sit down with both sides, and I’d negotiate something and we’ll end up with peace in that issue for the first time in 52 years. I’m not going to say I would or I wouldn’t.”

Trump used the exchange to go after the Florida governor’s six-week ban, a policy that was signed in April.

“I mean ‘DeSanctus’ was willing to sign a five-week and six-week ban,” Trump said. “I think what he did was a terrible thing and a terrible mistake. But we’ll come up with a number. But at the same time, Democrats won’t be able to go out and six months, seven months, eight months and allow an abortion.”

This is a huge problem for the pro-life movement. The entire point of the Dobbs decision was to return abortion laws to the states. While a federal ban after 15 weeks could be something that Congress passes at some point, it could also be challenged by the left under the Dobbs ruling to prevent ANY national law from being passed. Ron DeSantis had a good grasp of that argument during the first primary debate in August, when he pointed out that the laws in one state, like Florida, may not work in a different state. But now we have Donald Trump, who sees Ron DeSantis as his only primary challenger, attacking DeSantis for backing and signing a law that was passed in his own state, after he demurs and says he “doesn’t care” if laws are settled at the state or the federal level!

And you can’t argue that this is about just leaving it to the states because Trump specifically says it’s a “terrible thing” for a state Governor to sign such a bill after an overwhelming Republican victory….

— AG (@AGHamilton29) September 17, 2023

This is an untenable position for Trump. You can’t be “the most pro-life president ever” and then say that you want to broker a deal for peace on the abortion issue. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the LEFT’S position on abortion. One of the core tenets of the Democratic party has become “abortion on demand with no limits.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed his support for a 15 week ban, and was immediately forced to retract it. Kamala Harris cannot say at what point in a pregnancy she would support an abortion ban. The left HAS NO LIMIT. If they did, they would SAY it, and then there could be discussions about laws and limits. We can’t have that discussion because the left refuses to offer a starting point. And there is no way that Donald Trump can bridge that gap.

Of course, what Trump supporters are trying to do is point out the “electability” issue. They say that DeSantis is just too pro-life to ever be elected on a national ballot, and that by saying things like this, Trump is demonstrating that Trump is cognizant of the reality of the situation. Then Trump needs to SAY things like that, instead of attacking DeSantis and calling heartbeat laws “terrible.”
https://twitter.com/Chris_Nich0ls/status/1703578704490742243
Trump could have said that he didn’t think a federal ban was politically possible. Fine. But to say that he could achieve a deal where “both sides are going to like me”? That’s straight up delusional. The left has zero incentive or inclination to bend on abortion, not when they can make California and New York into their abortion utopias. And there was no need to trash DeSantis and Florida for their law, except to continue the DeSantis attacks.

Mr. President, you came into office in 2016 without a record. Now you have one. And even if you decide to throw it all away in hopes of “being liked by both sides,” you still have that record, and now neither side feels like you can be trusted. The left is not going to give in on this issue – witness their absolute meltdown over Dobbs – and all you have done here is make it harder for red states to push for limits on abortion. How does that square with being “the most pro-life president ever”?

Were I POTUS – perish the thought – and a fifteen week federal ban landed on my desk, I would be overjoyed to sign it.

Even happier, a twelve week ban.

Six weeks, happier still.

I would gladly take any win on the issue and rejoice at every life saved.

Compromise is a good… https://t.co/10zGjYfoeC

— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) September 18, 2023

Jeremy Boreing’s full tweet reads:

Were I POTUS – perish the thought – and a fifteen week federal ban landed on my desk, I would be overjoyed to sign it.

Even happier, a twelve week ban.

Six weeks, happier still.

I would gladly take any win on the issue and rejoice at every life saved.

Compromise is a good thing if it furthers your goals. Where an outright ban is possible, get it. Where a third trimester ban is as far as you can go, go there. Then keep fighting.

I would never compromise the principle, though. Abortion must ultimately be banned per se. Every step in that direction is a good, but insufficient, one.

Donald Trump cannot just say that because Donald Trump does not believe it.

It’s simple. If you’re pro-life, then you defend life, and the laws that make it possible to defend life. And gambling that Donald Trump is only saying this in order to win votes, but that he will totally be pro-life if reelected – is that the gamble that everyone really wants to take?

Featured image: Donald Trump by Gage Skidmore on Flickr, cropped, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)