One of the reasons Trump has appealed to "straight talking, straight shootin'" conservatives is that he appears fearless. He tells the truth as he sees it. He shoots from the mouth and the hip. He doesn't care who he offends. To change the metaphor, Trump is the great commander who shouts, "Full speed ahead, and damn the torpedoes."
At least that's why a lot of mid-America likes him, we suspect. If so, what on earth are we to make of this interchange with “Face the Nation” host, John Dickerson of CBS News.
DICKERSON: Let me ask you last about abortion. What would you do to further restrict women’s access to abortions as President?
TRUMP: Look, look, I just . . . I mean I know where you’re going, and I just want to say: a question was asked to me, and it was asked in a very hypothetical, and it was said, illegal, illegal. I’ve been told by some people that was a older line answer, and that was an answer that was given on a, you know, basis of an older line from years ago, very, on a very conservative basis. But —
DICKERSON: Your original answer, you mean.
TRUMP: My original. But it was —
DICKERSON: About punishing a woman.
TRUMP: — but I was asked as a hypothetical. Hypothetically. Hypothetically. The laws are set now on abortion. And, that’s the way they’re gonna remain, until they’re changed.
DICKERSON: ‘Cause you had said, you wanted, you told Bloomberg in January that you believed abortion should be banned at some point in pregnancy. Where would you do the ban?
TRUMP: Well I, first of all, I would have liked to have seen, you know, this be a states’ rights. I would’ve, I would’ve preferred states’ rights. I think it would’ve been better if it were up to the states. But right now, the laws are set, and that’s the way the laws are.
DICKERSON: But do you have a feeling how they should change? There are a lot of laws you want to change. You’ve talked about them on everything from libel to torture. Anything you’d want to change?
TRUMP: At this moment, the laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way.
DICKERSON: Do you think it’s murder? Abortion?
TRUMP: [Pause] Uh, I have my opinions on it, but I’d rather not comment on it.
DICKERSON: You said you were very pro-life. Pro-life means that it’s abortion. That abortion is murder.”
TRUMP: I mean, I do have my opinions on it. I’d rather, I just don’t think it’s an appropriate forum.
DICKERSON: But you don’t disagree with that proposition, that it’s murder?
TRUMP: What proposition?
DICKERSON: That abortion is murder.
TRUMP: No, I don’t disagree with it.
Donald Trump is now operating way beyond his pay-grade level and it shows. If Barack Obama was aptly characterised as an Empty Suit, Donald Trump warrants characterisation as an Empty Suit in an Echo Chamber.
DICKERSON: You said you were very pro-life. Pro-life means that it’s abortion. That abortion is murder.”
TRUMP: I mean, I do have my opinions on it. I’d rather, I just don’t think it’s an appropriate forum.Republican candidates for the past ten years have had no problems answering this kind of question without the least hint of mumbling equivocations. Suddenly, Trump's destroyer is in full reverse and the torpedoes have hit target. What happened to the "straight talker"?
His recent mumblings have left him without being able to complete his sentences, let alone present a cogent argument. Donald Trump: six opinions, eight positions. Follow the thimble, folks.
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