Here’s what Trump said about abortion at last night’s Fox town hall

Rebecca, a mom of six from Ogden, Iowa, asked this question of Donald Trump at last night’s Fox town hall event at the Iowa Event Center (where Pulse held their Christmas Gala in November):

“For me, it all comes down to this question: between you, sir, and Ron DeSantis, you both talk a lot about pro-life, your record. That’s my number one issue and the cry of my heart … is justice for all people … and I’ve been vocal celebrating with you all of your pro-life victories from the past.

But in this campaign, you’ve blamed pro-lifers for some of the GOP losses around the country and you’ve called Heartbeat Laws, like Iowa’s, terrible. And so I’d like some clarity on this, because it’s such an important issue to me. I’d like you to reassure me that you can protect all life, every person’s right to life, without compromise.”

Trump’s response

Here’s the transcript of former president Trump’s response:

“So … it’s a great question, and I appreciate it … you wouldn’t ask that question, even talk about the issue, because for 54 years they were trying to get Roe v Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it …

It was a miracle.

When I walked onto the stage today, a gentleman in the back … he probably works for Fox … nice guy … said, ‘sir, I’d like to thank you.’ I said, ‘for what?’ He said ‘you saved 2 million lives in the past three years.’

I said, ‘thank-you very much.’ I knew what he was saying. Two million lives. No one has done more in that regard than me.

Now, I happen to be for the exceptions, like Ronald Reagan, for the life of the mother, rape, incest. I have to be there, I feel. I think that somewhere like 78% of people polled … it was Ronald Reagan … he was for it, I was for it. But I will say this: you have to win elections. Otherwise, you’re going to be back to where you were. And you can’t let that ever happen again. Gotta win elections.

If you look at it, Ron DeSantis … I don’t know what he really believes. You never know with a politician. He’s just another politician as far as I’m concerned. But his poll numbers have gone down to a point where I think he’s going to be out of the race very soon. He’s going to be out very soon.

I watched him last night standing up in his shoes, his fancy shoes, he’s going to be out of the race some say before New Hampshire. I don’t know if that were the reason, I hope it’s not the reason, I hope it’s for other reasons, I can see a lot of other reasons why he shouldn’t be, but he’s doing very, very poorly. It happened to coincide with that because a lot of other people say that if you talk five or six weeks, a lot of women don’t know if they’re pregnant in five or six weeks.

I want to get something where people are happy. It’s been tearing our country apart for fifty years. Nobody’s been able to do anything. And again, you can only ask that question because … you ask it brilliantly, and I understand exactly where you’re coming from … I love where you’re coming from. But we’ve still got to win elections. And they’ve used this … you know we have some great Republicans and they’re great on the issues and you would love them on the issue, and a lot of them have just been decimated in the election. Decimated, I mean absolutely.

We’re going to come up with something people want and people like. I would love you … first, you’ve got to go with your heart, you have to go with your heart first, go with your heart, your mind, go with it. You do have to put in there a little bit, you do have to win elections. But if it weren’t for me, with Roe v Wade, you wouldn’t even be talking, asking the question.

Remember this: they are the radicals. We’re not the radicals. Because they’ll kill a baby. Remember, I had a debate with Crooked Hillary Clinton … I don’t call her ‘crooked’ anymore. I use that for Joe Biden, as you know. I call her Beautiful Hillary … she’s a beautiful woman. But in a debate with Hillary Clinton, I said, you know, she’s willing to rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month. And you know I never heard … it just came to me in that debate. I didn’t go up there thinking I was going to say that. And she even winced. Nobody wants to see that happening after a period of time. Nobody. They’re the radicals, because they’re willing to kill the baby in eight months, nine months, maybe even after birth. If you remember the former governor of Virginia, where he said, you kill the baby after the ninth month or even after you set the baby aside, and you have a conversation with the mother, and if the conversation … can you imagine?

These are the radicals. They are the radicals. We are not the radicals. But we’re living in a time when there has to be a little bit of concession one way or another. I want to get it right. But without what I did, you would never be asking the question because there was no chance that was going to happen.

For 54 years, they campaigned on that issue and nobody pulled it off but me. So I think you’re going to be happy in the end.

Thank-you very much.”

Reactions

This blog has a few quick reactions:

1. Yes, Mr. Trump deserves credit for appointing Constitutional judges who exposed the fraudulent thinking behind Roe, and who overturned it. We have no problem with him reiterating his contribution to this wonderful court decision.
2. Trump is wrong that abortion is a losing political issue, and that it is hurting Ron DeSantis, as this blog has reported on before.
3. The key is to remain on offense, as Trump did with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump has back-pedaled on the abortion issue this cycle, while DeSantis has remained on offense. Trump is correct that it is the other side that are the radicals, totally out-of-step with even rank and file members of their own party. THAT is what he should focus on. THAT is what Ron DeSantis has been doing.

Interestingly, the woman above who asked the question of Trump used to work for conservative talk show host, Steve Deace. We reached out to Steve to get his reaction to Trump’s abortion response in last night’s Fox town hall:

Steve Deace’s reaction

“Trump is clearly trying to make the GOP a pro-choice political party. He

Steve Deace

blamed pro-lifers, falsely, for the disappointing 2022 midterms that his candidates often failed to win. He’s attacked pro-life legislation, like Iowa’s heartbeat bill. And he gives non-committal answers, at best, when pressed by pro-lifers on the primary campaign trail. Trump clearly believes pro-lifers care more about him and having a seat at his table than babies, and he may sadly turn out to be right. There are reasons why it took us 50 years to get our stuff together and overturn Roe, despite all of our collective passion for a generation. Also note that one of Trump’s long-time confidants, Roger Stone, spent many years trying to get pro-life planks out of the GOP’s national platform back in the day.”

What do you think?

[Abortion hurts women, kills their kids, and tears families apart. What should YOU do about it? Watch our video series, “How to Raise Pro-Life Children” and change the culture.]