THE MAN WHO essentially ended the federal right to abortion thinks that he can now run for president in 2024 as a “moderate” on the issue.
In recent weeks, according to two people familiar with the matter, Donald Trumphas privately remarked that several anti-abortion leaders — people who spent the past year pushing him to commit to enacting a draconian national ban — now have no “leverage” to force him to do anything.
Despite their very public pressure campaign for that abortion ban, the former president insists that they will all fall in line and back him soon enough — with or without specific policy promises — in large part because they have nowhere else to turn. Trump has also mocked certain “disloyal” and “out of touch” leaders in the movement for tacitly supporting Florida governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, who has failed to loosen Trump’s grip on the party, one of the sources adds.
According to the two sources and other Trump allies and aides familiar with the situation, Trump and his team are looking past the primary towards a general-election fight against President Joe Biden — and they think they can somehow run the former president as a supposed “moderate” (as three sources put it) on abortion, at least compared to the majority of the 2024 Republican field. For months, the sources tell Rolling Stone, Trump and some of his closest aides — such as top campaign adviser Susie Wiles — have planned for the ex-president to position himself in a way that “makes both Republicans and Democrats very happy,” as Trump is fond of saying.
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Article URL : https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/donald-trump-abortion-moderate-run-2024-election-1234893936/