Donald Trump and his campaign are suddenly at odds on the issue of abortion.
Speaking with NBC News, the Republican presidential nominee shared that he intended to vote in favor of abortion rights when it comes up on the ballot in Florida, believing that a “six-week [ban] is too short.”
“I’m going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” Trump told NBC on Thursday.
He also elaborated that he believed there should be exceptions in abortion restrictions in instances of rape or incest, and that medical intervention should be allowed to maintain the life of the person pregnant.
But that wasn’t what his campaign had expected him to say. In a statement to NPR, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt left the political decision ajar, insisting that “President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”
Florida’s abortion ban, which went into effect in May, is one of the most extreme in the nation. The new law prohibits abortion well before a lot of people even realize they’re pregnant, and just one week before drug store pregnancy tests can detect pregnancy hormones in their earliest, and least reliable, window. The restriction has forced patients in need of the procedure to seek treatment in North Carolina, where abortion is banned after 12 weeks, or even further.
Prior to the ban, Florida allowed abortion up to 15 weeks, making it a haven for people seeking the medical procedure in the South. The six-week ban passed alongside similarly restrictive bans in neighboring states, meaning that abortion access throughout the entire region has been crippled.
Backlash to Florida’s new law has been extreme, with more than a million Floridians signing a petition to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The effort has placed abortion rights on the ballot in November. That initiative, known as Amendment Four, would protect abortion until “fetal viability” at approximately 24 weeks. Still, a possible win in the second half of the year will come “on the backs” of people who have had to suffer in the interim, giving birth “when they didn’t want to,” executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund Megan Jeyifo told NPR shortly after the ban was enacted.
Trump has worked to soften his anti-choice position in recent weeks and appeal to women’s rights activists in an effort to draw more voters to his campaign—but his renewed rhetoric won’t change the practical effects of his presidency, not least of all instilling a hyper-conservative Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, which Trump has proudly taken credit for. In 2023, the former president also claimed that he should be celebrated for every single state abortion ban.
“I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” Trump posted on Truth Social last year, “and for the first time put the Pro Life movement in a strong negotiating position.… Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to.”
Donald Trump seemed well and truly out of it during a chaotic, self-aggrandizing speech in Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday.
Trump spoke at a private messaging event at Alro Steel, where he was meant to speak about the economy—but flanked onstage by a few dozen workers dressed in hard hats and neon vests, he barely mentioned the economy at all.
Having walked onstage more than half an hour late, Trump appeared shaken, and incoherently skipped through different talking points, repeatedly diverting to heap compliments on himself.
“We will bring back the American Dream, bigger, better, stronger, and just better, bigger, better, we love the American Dream,” Trump said in his opening remarks, appearing to immediately lose track of what he was saying. “You don’t hear about the American Dream. When was the last time you heard about the American Dream?”
Trump: We will bring back the American dream better, stronger and just better, bigger, better. They don’t talk about it. They copy every thing else I do so I guess that’ll be next. They’ll be copying saying the American dream. pic.twitter.com/d4Z1JHiEAw
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2024
Trump immediately began attacking his opponent, Kamala Harris. “The only good thing that she’s uh—flip-flopping,” Trump said, stammering. “She’s the greatest flip-flopper—things that she’s never even thought of. She probably goes back to her room and gets sick to her stomach when she says what she has to say.”
Trump: The only good thing she’s done— flip flopping. She’s the greatest flip flopper. She never even thought of pic.twitter.com/dhvjAre4at
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2024
Trump also diverted to criticize his former opponent President Joe Biden for “laying on a beach, sleeping all day long” as he vacations in Rhode Island this week. “No seriously, who the hell wants to sleep—and who wants to sleep in public?” Trump said incredulously. “He’s sleeping!”
Trump: Who the hell wants to sleep in public?!??! pic.twitter.com/7LbWSLKghH
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2024
The weak attack is especially weird coming from Trump, who reportedly fell asleep multiple times during his hush-money trial in New York.
During his rambling speech, Trump debuted a new blatantly false claim about Harris.
“Did you know that she was the leader of Defund the Police?” Trump asked, at one point.
“I said, ‘Why do I have to make a speech?’ All I have to do is say that ‘She was the leader of the Defund the Police movement,’ and then I say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much,’ and then leave, because when you hear that,” Trump said laughing.
Trump then went from criticizing Harris to complimenting himself. “With me, I make a speech, I speak for two hours, everybody loves it,” Trump said. “I got thousands of people, by the way, outside trying to get in.”
“They never said Trump’s a great speaker, I don’t even want that, but I must be a great speaker right? We got thousands of people!” Trump said.
Trump: I make a speech, I speak for two hours. Everybody loves it. I got thousands of people, by the way, outside trying to get in. I never— they never said Trump’s a great speaker. I don’t even want that. But I must be a great speaker, right? pic.twitter.com/HGMDnRCDL6
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2024
The event was not open to the public, but a crowd of more than 100 people gathered outside. Trump later claimed that there were people “as far as the eye could see” gathered outside of the event.
“But no, I don’t care about that,” Trump said, suddenly serious. “I care about uh, winning for our country. I care about making America great again.”
Brian Pannebecker, swagged out in an Auto Workers for Trump T-shirt and visor, was called on stage at one point to criticize electric vehicle mandates. Pannebecker reportedly once called former President Barack Obama “a race hustler,” and was possibly behind a review praising KKK Grand Wizard David Duke’s memoir. Pannebecker has previously been invited on stage to speak at rallies in Waterford Township, Michigan, in February, and again in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in July.
Back behind the mic, Trump made lengthy remarks about trucks, complained about being the most persecuted American president in history, and whined about Harris’s interview with Dana Bash scheduled to air Thursday evening. Finally, he got to his big announcement—which he had more or less spoiled in a pre-speech interview with NBC.
Trump announced that under his administration, the government would pay for IVF treatments—or mandate insurance companies to pay, but he didn’t seem clear on which. He also did not acknowledge that his administration’s policies and the Supreme Court justices he appointed are the reason IVF is currently under attack from his own party.
“Because we want more babies, to put it nicely,” Trump said.
“And for this same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes. So that parents that have a beautiful baby … will be able … so, we’re pro-family, nobody’s ever said that before,” Trump said, sounding confused.
“I’ve been in favor of IVF right from the beginning,” Trump claimed, after months of waffling on his position ever since fertility treatments became a political liability for Republicans earlier this year.
“They have ads like I’m against it, it’s just the opposite. By comparison, they’re against it. But I’m totally in favor of it,” Trump said.
Not dwelling on his major announcement for long, Trump quickly changed subjects to inflation and the so-called “migrant invasion.” Although he mentioned he would soon be concluding, he carried on complaining about several different issues including an altercation Monday, in which Trump’s staffers reportedly shoved an employee at Arlington National Cemetery who was trying to prevent them from illegally filming after a memorial for 13 service members killed during the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trump’s response was nothing short of extreme.
“Joe Biden killed their children, by incompetence. Shoulda never happened. Kamala killed their children. Just as though they had a gun in their hand, by gross incompetence,” Trump said, blaming his opponents for their deaths.
J.D. Vance is begging his old friend Peter Thiel to help Donald Trump win the 2024 election.
The co-founder of PayPal and Palantir has helped swing elections in the past, but previously stated that he would sit this one out. However, Vance is trying to capitalize on their long-standing relationship to get Thiel “off the sidelines” and funding the Trump-Vance campaign, according to the Financial Times.
“I’m going to keep on talking to Peter and persuading him that—you know he’s obviously been exhausted by politics a little bit—but he’s going to be really exhausted by politics if we lose and if Kamala Harris is president,” Vance told the FT in an interview published Thursday.
“He is fundamentally a conservative guy, and I think that he needs to get off the sidelines and support the ticket.”
Vance was once Thiel’s pupil in Silicon Valley, and when Vance started his own fund, he was financially supported by the PayPal founder, whom he considered a mentor. When Vance ran for Senate in 2022, Thiel shelled out a record-breaking $15 million to secure his victory. Trump and Vance reportedly initially met through a meeting put together by Thiel himself.
The billionaire venture capitalist and Trump have fallen out in recent years, and Thiel did not financially support Trump in 2020. Last year, Thiel said he wouldn’t give “any money to Republican politicians in 2024,” but left the door open, saying “there’s always a chance I might change my mind.” Many have seen Trump’s pick of Vance as a nod toward Silicon Valley right-wingers like Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Elon Musk.
In July, after Trump announced his V.P. pick, Thiel hinted that he could be swayed. “I always try to resist getting swept up in excitement,” he told The New York Times.
