May24

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Donald Trump, Weaselman

Donald Trump is in some ways a brilliant politician. He has an instinctive feeling for what his base wants to hear—and not hear. In particular, he knows how to skirt hot-button issues that could get him in trouble. Here are a dozen controversial issues where he tries to have it both ways:

• Contraception: When talking to a TV reporter in Pittsburgh this week, Trump said on the subject of restricting contraception: "We're looking at that, and I'm going to have a policy on that very shortly, and I think it's something that you'll find interesting. I think it's a smart decision. But we'll be releasing it very soon." That caused a huge uproar. Banning abortion is one thing. Banning contraception is a whole different ball of wax and even less popular than banning abortion. When Trump saw the reaction, he immediately walked it back. But his supporters got the message that he is open to banning (some forms of) contraception. Democrats are going to make sure that everyone else is also aware of this.
  
  
• Abortion pills: When asked in April about his views on mifepristone, which is used in 60% of all abortions in the U.S., Trump said: "Well, I have an opinion on that, but I'm not going to explain. I'm not gonna say it yet. But I have pretty strong views on that. And I'll be releasing it probably over the next week." But when he promises to release something, it never seems to happen. For example, his tax returns. Or his plan to replace Obamacare.
  
  
• A national abortion ban: Trump tried to finesse this by saying there aren't 60 votes in the Senate. That was Nikki Haley's line. But what if the Republicans abolish the filibuster and pass a bill? Will he sign it? He's not saying.
  
  
• The Comstock Act: Will he enforce the 150-year-old law that bans mailing contraceptives and abortifacients? He said: "I will be making a statement on that over the next 14 days. Yeah, I have a big statement on that. I feel very strongly about it. I actually think it's a very important issue." That was 7 weeks ago. No statement yet. Do you see a pattern here?
  
  
• Embryos' rights: Here he wants to leave everything to the states. But when a state does something that he doesn't like, like de facto banning IVF, he doesn't have an answer.
  
  
• Pregnancy monitoring: Some Republicans want to criminalize getting an abortion. That would be an electoral disaster. Trump again has tried to push that onto the states. But as soon as one pulls the trigger, he will try to finesse it.
  
  
• Florida's abortion initiative: Florida has an abortion initiative on the ballot. Will Trump vote for it? He refuses to say. So much for the idea of letting the states determine everything.
  
  
• Ukraine: Again, no position. He said: "I'm going to try and help Ukraine, but Europe has to get there also and do their job. They're not doing their job. Europe is not paying their fair share." That doesn't answer the question of whether he would sign or veto an aid bill if Congress passed it.
  
  
• Israel: He also won't say whether he would withhold aid to force Israel to agree to a cease fire.
  
  
• Taiwan: Here he said: "I won't say. I won't say. Because if I said, I'm giving away—you know, only stupid people are going to give that." Again, no answer.
  
  
• Striking autoworkers: More equivocation: "I'm on the side of making our country great. The autoworkers are not going to have any jobs when you come right down to it, because if you take a look at what they're doing with electric cars, electric cars are going to be made in China."
  
  
• Self pardons: When asked about self pardons, Trump merely said the 2020 election was rigged.
  

In short, on many hot-button issues, Trump simply avoids taking a position and hopes that his base understands in the end he will do what they want and that independents don't understand that. (V)