The campaign of Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis responded to former President Trump’s comments on abortion during an NBC interview conducted by “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker.
“NEW: Trump says he will compromise with Democrats on abortion so that they’re nice to him: ‘Both sides are going to like me,’” commented the DeSantis War Room X account in a Sunday post with 3.4 million views.
“Then he says it’s “a terrible thing” babies with heartbeats are protected in Iowa, Florida, and South Carolina. @RonDeSantis will NEVER sell out conservatives to win praise from corporate media or the Left.”
Andrew Romeo, DeSantis’ communications director, also used the platform to underscore previous occasions when Trump’s concessions resulted in outcomes that were not in line with conservative principles.
“We’ve already seen the results of Donald Trump compromising with Democrats: over $7 trillion in new debt, an unfinished border wall, and the First Step Act releasing violent criminals back onto the streets,” Romeo said.
“Republicans nationwide trust that Ron DeSantis will remain steadfast.”
The DeSantis team’s comments were in reaction to an interview on “Meet the Press,” during which Welker asked Trump about his endorsement of a 15-week abortion ban.
“Well, people are starting to think of 15 weeks, that seems to be a number that people are talking about right now,” the former president responded.
“I would sit down with both sides, and I’d negotiate something and we’ll end up with peace in that issue for the first time in 52 years,” continued Trump. “I’m not going to say I would or I wouldn’t.”
Trump clarified that there exists a negotiated timeframe in weeks or months for legal abortion, which, if established, would satisfy the majority of people.
“Because 92 percent of the Democrats don’t want to see abortion after a certain period of time,” he claimed.
During the same interview, Trump also discussed the Florida governor’s newly enacted six-week abortion prohibition, signed into law in April.
“I mean ‘DeSanctus’ was willing to sign a five-week and six-week ban,” Trump said, referring to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). “I think what he did was a terrible thing and a mistake.”
Trump asserted that his administration would identify a numerical threshold that could garner agreement from both sides, thus facilitating the country’s progression beyond the abortion debate.
“But at the same time, Democrats won’t be able to go out and six months, seven months, eight months and allow an abortion,” he demurred.
