Trump Takes Victory Lap After Supreme Court Overturns 'Roe'

Trump Takes Victory Lap After Supreme Court Overturns 'Roe'


Former President Donald Trump took credit for Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion everywhere in the country in 1973.

In a statement, Trump noted that he was responsible for successfully nominating three of the six conservative justices who signed onto the decision.

“Today’s decision, which is the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation, along with other decisions that have been announced recently, were only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court,” he said, according to The New York Times, which added:

Mr. Trump supported abortion rights for many years, although he said he abhorred the procedure. In 2011, preparing for a possible campaign, he reversed course and told a conservative political conference that he opposed abortion rights. And throughout his political career, he has privately called it a “tough issue” and publicly struggled to discuss it.

In an interview with The New York Times in May, Mr. Trump uttered an eyebrow-raising demurral in response to a question about the central role he had played in tipping the balance on the Supreme Court and paving the way for the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“I never like to take credit for anything,” Trump said at the time, prompting the Times reporter to press him to elaborate on how he felt about having a major role in shaping the current constitution-deferring majority on the nation’s highest court.

“I don’t know what the decision is,” he said regarding the unprecedented leak early last month of the draft ruling that also overturned Roe. “We’ve been reading about something that was drawn months ago. Nobody knows what that decision is. A draft is a draft.”

Earlier, the Times reported that some of the former president’s closest advisers had urged him not to say anything about the draft decision ahead of the court’s official ruling, as it could be seen as him attempting to influence the outcome. But the paper also reported that Trump has privately lamented to his advisers the ruling could hurt Republicans in the fall midterms, especially with suburban women who helped elect President Joe Biden in 2020.

That said, Democrats used the decision in an immediate appeal to donors, hoping that it would result in greater Democratic enthusiasm in November.

For now, however, there is no indication that abortion is going to be a major concern, though that could change somewhat following Friday’s ruling.

In May nearly two weeks after the draft decision was leaked, the number one issue concerning Americans, according to the left-leaning Pew Research Center, was inflation, and by a lot.

Inflation was followed by healthcare affordability, violent crime, gun violence, the federal budget deficit, climate change, the quality of public school education, illegal immigration, and racism, in that order. ‘Abortion’ did not make the list of the top 12 issues.

“With few exceptions, Republicans and Democrats differ over what they see as major national problems. Inflation is by far the top concern among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 84% of whom say it is a very big problem in the country today,” the research firm noted.


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