Former President Trump on Monday fired back at GOP criticism of his position on abortion, arguing he “won” against the Democrats, whom he claimed were “reeling” after his statement on the subject earlier in the day.
“You know the Democrats are ‘reeling’ when they have no response to my recent Statement on Abortion, other than, ‘He’s only kidding. He will change it’ or, ‘He won’t do that, he’ll do something else,’ Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “I guess this means that we’ve WON because they are so bad on everything else that this is the only Issue they are focused on!”
Trump’s statement, in which he said the issue should be left to states, prompted a flurry of attacks from Democrats, who argued Trump was siding with states that had enacted severe restrictions on abortion and imposed punishments for doctors who performed the procedure.
In his video statement, Trump said he was proud to have appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that had allowed legal abortions across the country.
But he expressed support for exceptions to laws forbidding abortion that would allow them in cases of rape, incest or to save a mother’s life, and he did not back a ban on abortions after 15 or 16 weeks.
He took to social media following criticism from some Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who said he disagreed with Trump’s choice to decline the endorsement of a national 15-week abortion ban. The South Carolina Republican argued leaving the issue to the states “runs contrary to an American consensus that would limit late-term abortions.”
In one lengthy post, the former president argued others who publicly favor stricter abortion laws were committing political malpractice and claimed Graham was “doing a great disservice to the Republican Party, and to our country.”
Trump also contended Democrats would not approve of any legislation Graham favors restricting abortion and have already benefitted politically from the conservative push to restrict the medical procedure.
“They love this Issue, and they want to keep it going for as long as Republicans will allow them to do so,” he said.
“Terminating Roe v. Wade was, according to all Legal Scholars, a Great Event, but sometimes with Great Events come difficulties,” he continued in another post. “Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency.”