What, exactly, is Donald Trump thinking when he puts out statements like this regarding his stance on abortion policy?

Late Sunday night, this appeared on Truth Social from Trump. And it got quite a bit of reaction when it was reposted on Twitter/X.

“Abortion Rights”……? pic.twitter.com/ehpVXxg4Js

— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) April 8, 2024

The post reads in full:

I will be putting out my statement on Abortion and Abortion Rights tomorrow morning. Republicans, and all others, must follow their hearts and minds, but remember that, like Ronald Reagan before me, I, and most other Republicans, believe in EXCEPTIONS for Rape, Incest, and Life of the Mother. Great love and compassion must be shown when even thinking about the subject of LIFE, but at the same time we must use common sense in realizing that we have an obligation to the salvation of our Nation, which is currently in serious DECLINE, TO WIN ELECTIONS, without which we will have nothing other than failure, death, and destruction. We will not let that happen. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Why is Donald Trump putting this statement out right now? Does it have anything to do with the current situation in Florida, where the state Supreme Court upheld a 15 week ban, but is also allowing a vote to go forward on putting a “right to abortion” in the Florida constitution? That vote will require a 60 percent super-majority to pass, and Governor Ron DeSantis is adamant that the proposal is too “radical” for Florida.

One of the ballot initiatives would enshrine abortion rights in the Constitution and the other would authorize recreational marijuana for people ages 21 and older.

“Once voters figure out how radical both of those are, they’re going to fail. They are very, very extreme,” DeSantis said when asked about the proposals during an appearance in Davie on Thursday.

DeSantis also turned his vitriol on the proposal to “limit government interference with abortion,” which will appear on the ballot as Amendment 4, calling it “very, very extreme in a number of different ways.” DeSantis predicted the amendments will fail.

“I think Florida voters over the past, you know, four or five (election) cycles have developed the skepticism on these amendments generally because they’re always written in ways that are confusing. So I think that there’s a certain segment of voters, they default to just vote no on these things,” DeSantis said.

While I hope that Governor DeSantis is correct, there is a trend of red states swinging wildly the opposite way when it comes to abortion laws. Ohio and Kansas both come to mind. The varying patchwork of state laws allows for the media to run with misleading narratives that we have seen exploited by activist groups and Joe Biden himself, as we saw with the confusion in Alabama over IVF procedures following a court ruling that had nothing to do with abortion law. The Democrats have gone all in on abortion on demand. The days of the Democrats hedging with “safe, legal, and rare” are long over – the party has forced out all pro-life members and allows for no dissent on the subject.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, wants to claim credit for the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, while simultaneously wanting to find some way to split the difference on abortion. In this moment, when pro-life protestors are getting more jail time than actual criminals, the pro-life movement is not in the mood to find a way to find common ground and give Trump a pass. Especially when this entire debate is unnecessary to begin with.

None of them will. Trump is letting himself be baited into making this an issue when “it’s a state issue and I will not sign a federal ban so no worries” is the easiest layup imaginable.

Even a 20-week ban proposal will be fodder for the left’s coming ad onslaught. https://t.co/rldnXLVLlw

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 8, 2024

All Trump has to do is demur and say that with the repeal of Roe v. Wade via the Dobbs decision, abortion is now in the hands of the states. Frankly, a national abortion ban at any time, or a national abortion law, might end up being ruled unconstitutional under Dobbs, since the entire point was to return abortion law to the states. I am sure at some point, one side or the other will test the Dobbs ruling. But it doesn’t have to be Trump, and he doesn’t have to hand ammunition to the other side. Because it doesn’t matter what he says – anything he says will become ad fodder.

Case and point, Biden’s RR director: pic.twitter.com/BeL0lJmHYK

— John Hasson (@SonofHas) April 8, 2024

Wouldn’t it be highly ironic if Donald Trump ended up sounding exactly like Nikki Haley, when she talked about finding consensus on abortion policy?

What Haley said repeatedly on the stump during the primary season sounds a whole lot closer to what Donald Trump is saying than he probably wants to admit. Both Haley and Trump were/are concerned that a debate over abortion may end badly for Republicans – and they very well could be right. They both approached the topic from the same angle, as you can see in Trump’s words and Haley’s debate answer – this subject has to be handled with sensitivity and compromise. However, Trump is the nominee, not Haley. His concerns, in his own words, seem to stem more from his worry that this issue might cost him votes. Winning the election, in his mind, is worth making the compromise. But where is he going to draw the line?

Donald Trump may come out with a perfectly reasonable statement that backs off on a national ban on abortion, while invoking Reagan and Haley’s perspectives. It is still going to be a political headache for him, because he didn’t NEED to say anything. As was also pointed out, there might not even be presidential debates, so Trump could have avoided this altogether. Why he is handing this issue to the Democrats to make political hay out of, I have no idea. We will have to wait and see what he says.

UPDATE 9:30 am PT
The statement is out.

WATCH: Trump releases new statement on abortion policy, saying abortion restrictions should be left to states. Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/hCv13xgt1h

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 8, 2024

“My view is…the states will determine by legislation or vote or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state. Many states will be different, many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others, and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people,” Trump said in the statement. “You must follow your heart or, in may cases, your religion or your faith. Do what’s right for your family and do what’s right for yourself…do what’s right for our country.”

Is this position – which works in line with the Dobbs decision – one that will satisfy either side?

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